New Mexico State vs. Minnesota Prediction, Odds, Spread and Over/Under for College Football Week 1

While some matchups in Week 1 of college football are marquee matchups, other times we have lopsided non-conference meetings.

Minnesota hosts New Mexico State with one of the biggest spreads of the Week 1 slate. The Gophers are hoping to take a step forward on offense with running back Mohamad Ibrahim back from injury and Kirk Ciarrocca back in control of the offense after a few years elsewhere.

Can the Gophers cover this massive spread against already 0-1 New Mexico State? Let's check out the odds and find out:

New Mexico State vs. Minnesota Odds, Spread and Total

New Mexico State vs. Minnesota Betting Trends

• New Mexico State went 7-5 against the spread (ATS) last season
• Minnesota is 9-5-1 ATS in non conference play under PJ Fleck
• Minnesota went 1-3 ATS as a home favorite last season

New Mexico State vs. Minnesota Prediction and Pick

This should be a routine victory for Fleck and co. as they should have little issue disposing of New Mexico State. The Aggies played in Week 0, losing by 11 to a rebuilding Nevada team as 7.5-point underdogs.

Jerry Kill started Diego Pavia at quarterback, but then went to redshirt freshman Gavin Frakes in the second half, who looked much better throwing the ball. However, this is a significant jump in talent for Frakes and I expect Minnesota to shut down the NMSU offense.

On defense, the Gophers should be passing the ball more with Ciarrocca back as the play caller, but this should be a run first style game. NMSU allowed Nevada to run for 179 yards in the opener and the Minnesota offensive line should have a massive size advantage.

I expect the Gophers to build an early lead and bleed this clock out. For what it's worth, New Mexico State also played at a slow tempo against Nevada as first year head coach Jerry Kill has preached ball control in the offseason.

The total has been coming down from the opener of 58, now at 53, but there's still room to go down to the key number of 51.