Benster and D Pick Your Games -- Are The Vikings In A Tougher Place Than Most People Think Edition

Welcome back, and while what happened to the Badgers last week was a hard watch in the 2nd half, a Very Special Comment would be unfair considering that the Domers look like a team on a mission. 

Catholics are fond of mission trips, even to exotic Lambeau.

 As for the Vikings, they have made a lot of changes and decisions that I ended up talking to someone I trust who can answer those questions for us. 

I suspect I know the fount of wisdom in this case.

 I am feeling the HYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPEEEEEEEEEEEE! and ready to pick some games. Watch me work.

 Mississippi State Clanga (+1) vs. Minnesota Golden Elite Rowers of the Boat I have to give the Gophers credit for scheduling a sneaky good non conference home and home with the Bulldogs, and will give the Bulldogs credit for being willing to travel up north. College football can benefit from teams deciding to do at least one interesting non conference game a year besides the cupcake games, and this will give some direct SEC vs. Big Ten comparisons on the field to start the season off. I also have been critical of the SEC not playing 9 league games in the past, so I will give the SEC credit for going to 9 conference games. As for the game, I think that the Gophers looked good last week, and Drake Lindsey looks like he is going to be the best quarterback that PJ has had in his time with the Gophers. The Bulldogs look like they are going to be a middle of the pack SEC outfit, and think that the Gophers are going to play well and get a good non conference win. Row Row Row Your Boat Elitely 27, More Cowbell 21. 

It pains me to say it, because ol' Peej drives me nuts, but the guy can coach and he's done a good job of establishing a consistently competent and often very good program here. The Gophs have talent on both sides of the ball this year and a number of guys with NFL ability. If Lindsey turns out to be one of those guys, the Gophers could make some noise in the conference. Gophers 24, Mississippi State 21.

  Western Illinois Leathernecks (+39.5) vs. Beloved Wisconsin Badgers I will give the Badgers credit for hanging in there until Colton Joseph threw the pick 6 last week, but obviously we all knew that beating the Irish would be difficult. I will say that I did see something that looked like Wisconsin football. The bottom line is that for Luke Fickell to keep his job, he needs to win 8-9 games and beat at least one if not both of Iowa and Minnesota. I will say that Shawn Eichorst being AD makes me nervous given what he did with Nebraska, and hope that I am wrong. Western Illinois is your typical tuneup game, and I think that the Badgers should have a get right game. Hopefully it is a low stress game. Badgers 49, Leathernecks 0. 

If the Badgers don't breeze in this one, the voices will be getting louder. For now, all quiet on State Street except for faint rumbling. Wisconsin 42, Western Illinois 7.

Glorious Green Bay Packers (+1.5) vs. Minnesota Vikings So the Vikings ended up deciding to give Kyler Murray the keys to the quarterback position and put JJ McCarthy in the third string role. Given that the Vikings had a busy offseason full of questions about how they would line up against the Packers, I decided to bring in an expert who follows the Vikings. 

Mrs. D, a/k/a Mom, is a Vikings fan as longtime readers know. When I asked her about what she thought about the Vikings offseason, she mentioned she thought that it was a good idea to have McCarthy be the third string quarterback and get to learn the position better. She is also hoping for a successful season which she says is winning a playoff game. 

You should listen to your mother.

Well, I do, but I've learned to tune out the Geritol Fan when necessary.

I'll allow it.

My take on the Vikings is that they need to win a playoff game, because it is hard to believe that KOC has yet to win a playoff game. I get the sense that his seat is slightly hotter than people around here want to admit. As for the Packers, I think LaFleur is going to need to really improve on some things. I personally think that LaFleur has taken a step backwards, and the same mistakes keep piling up. Call me arrogant, but the Packers are an organization that expects to win Super Bowls. The nature of the Josh Jacobs suspension isn't known at this time, but I assume he will be suspended and he deserves to be suspended because of the choices he made back in May. I'm worried about the Packers being banged up along the offensive line against Brian Flores, but on the flip side I think that Jonathan Gannon knows exactly what to expect from Kyler Murray, given their history together in Arizona. Packers 25, Vikings 22. 

It's a good test for both teams. Kyler Murray has never had a better supporting cast than now and he will certainly have his moments. The danger the Vikings face is they have three quarterbacks on the roster and they all have significant injury histories. I thought the team picture they took was particularly interesting: 

Kyler, Carson and 9 on the march, wobbling a bit

 I also wonder if the running game will have enough juice to keep the Packers from going all out on the pass rush. Without Josh Jacobs, the Packers have a similar issue, so this could be a game with a lot of balls in the air. Jordan Love has seen plenty of the Vikings and he's smart enough to anticipate the tricks that Brian Flores will have. Will it be enough? Vikings 27, Packers 24.

 Enjoy your football this weekend. Ben out.