Both Minnesota and Northwestern have been "surprise" teams in the Big Ten this year. Tim Brewster took over at Minneapolis last year following Glen Mason who had taken the Gophers to seven bowl games in his last eight years at the school. Nothing went right for Minnesota last season, as the Gophers ended the year on a 10-game losing streak and finished with a 1-11 mark.

Northwestern wrapped up a 6-6 season in 2007, going bowl-less for the second straight year after making three bowl appearances from 2000-05. Not much was expected from either team but the Wildcats opened 5-0 before dropping two of their last three. Minnesota finds itself at 7-1 heading into its Homecoming game with Northwestern, having only lost at Columbus to Ohio State (34-21). The Gophers are also 6-1 ATS, with the team's lone ATS loss coming in its season-opening 31-27 win over Northern Illinois (were nine point favorites).

The Gophers are currently ranked 20th in the AP poll (the school's highest ranking since the final poll of the 1999 season) and 17th in the latest BCS standings. That's pretty heady territory and one wonders if the Gophers could be a little over confident. While that's possible, I don't see it happening.

QB Adam Weber (67.1 percent / 10 TDs and just three INTs) and WR Eric Decker (66 catches) are the best QB/WR combo in the Big Ten, while it looks as if Northwestern comes in without RB Tyrell Sutton (expected to miss the remainder of the season with a wrist injury) and QB C.J. Bacher hobbled by a hamstring injury. Sutton missed six games with injuries last year after gaining 1,474 yards as a freshman and 1,000 yards as sophomore. He has 776 YR (5.0 YPC) so far this year and his loss is huge.

Bacher continues to have an interception problem, following last year's 19 picks with 11 more this year (just 10 TDs). In last week's 21-19 loss at Indiana (Hoosiers were 0-5-1 ATS in 2008 coming in), the Wildcats had five giveaways and no takeaways. That spells bad news vs the Gophers, who lead the nation with 24 takeaways and in turnover margin (1.88 per game). Lay the points.

Free Pick: Minnesota -7 (-110)