Andy Lyons/Getty Images After Ohio State fell to Virginia Tech in Week 2, it took two months, a handful of blowouts and a convincing victory over Michigan State for Urban Meyer’s squad to truly reenter the College Football Playoff race. The Buckeyes, who ascended six spots to No. 8 in this week’s rankings, will need to bring their best to Minneapolis this weekend to keep pace in an ever-narrowing sprint to the finish line. What’s waiting for them this Saturday is a feisty Minnesota team coming off its best performance of the year—a 51-14 demolition of the surging Iowa Hawkeyes. The Gophers, now 7-2 on the year, are hoping to derail Ohio State just a week after it got back on track. Are the Buckeyes destined for a dreaded hangover game after avenging last year’s loss to the Spartans? Meyer is working hard to prevent that. “We spend every second of our day on trying to make sure that a hangover doesn’t happen,” Meyer said, according to Tim Shoemaker of Eleven Warriors. “You watch the video tape, and here’s a team that’s won a bunch of games, and their last game was their best game against Iowa.” Adam Bettcher/Getty Images Mitch Leidner threw for four touchdowns and had a game-high 77 rushing yards in Minnesota’s 51-14 victory over Iowa. They looked so good against the Hawkeyes, in fact, that the Gophers popped up in this week’s playoff rankings, coming in at No. 25. This is certainly a team that has improved drastically since the Buckeyes last saw it in 2008, when they cruised to an easy 38-7 victory in Columbus. So how did Minnesota emerge from a bottom-dwelling Big Ten team to a legitimate threat? Credit for that belongs to head coach Jerry Kill, who took over in 2011 and improved the program incrementally during his tenure. The Gophers won just three games in his first season, but they registered six victories in 2012 and broke out for eight in 2013. Saturday, they’ll be looking for a program-defining win over Ohio State. The Gophers will lean on their 21st-ranked defense and a strong running game fueled by running back David Cobb—who ranks eighth nationally with 1,205 rushing yards—to pull the upset. But will they have enough firepower to keep pace with a Buckeyes team that is hitting on all cylinders? The good folks in Las Vegas don’t think so…
Continue Reading: Ohio State Football: Can Minnesota Spoil the Buckeyes’ Playoff Hopes?
