The No. 2 TCU Horned Frogs out of the Big 12 and the Big Ten’s Minnesota Golden Gophers help kick-off the start of a new season of college football this Thursday night at TCF Bank Stadium. Game time is set for 9 p.m. (ET) and it will be broadcast nationally on ESPN.
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TCU comes into the new season as one of the top teams in the country behind Heisman hopeful Trevone Boykin. Last season as a junior he threw for 3,901 yards and 33 touchdowns while completing 61.2 percent of his 492 passing attempts. He also added another 707 yards and eight scores on the ground on 152 rushing attempts. The Horned Frogs were one of the most prolific scoring teams in the nation last season with an average of 46.5 points a game.
Their lone setback against 12 straight-up wins in the 2014 season was a wild 61-58 loss to Baylor on Oct. 11 as seven-point road underdogs. They went on to cover against the spread in four of their last five games to finish the season a highly profitable 11-2 ATS. The total went OVER in eight of TCU’s 13 games.
Minnesota jumped out to a 6-1 SU record in its first seven games last season, but it went on to drop four of its last six outings including a 33-17 loss to Missouri in the Florida Citrus Bowl as a three-point underdog. The Golden Gophers went 8-5 ATS last season with the total going OVER in three of their last four games.
Junior quarterback Mitch Leidner is back to lead Minnesota’s offense after throwing for 1,798 yards and 11 touchdowns last season. He had his issues with consistency after completing just 51.5 percent of his 237 passes and he was also picked-off eight times. The Golden Gophers averaged over 215 yards on the ground last season, but they will have a huge hole to fill with the loss of running back David Cobb to the NFL. Leidner was actually the team’s second leading rusher with 452 yards on the ground.
The Horned Frogs are 5-0 ATS in their last five nonconference games and they are 13-3 ATS in their last 16 games overall. The total has gone OVER in five of their last six road games.
The Golden Gophers ended last season on a 4-1 run ATS in their last five games and the total went OVER in three of those five games.
These two met last season with TCU rolling to a 30-7 victory as a 17-point home favorite. The total stayed UNDER the closing line of 50 points.
