Ohio State (21-4) and Minnesota (17-8) Square Off

Filed under Game Preview on February 13th, 2012

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Expect an exciting game at Williams Arena on Tuesday as Ohio State travels to meet Minnesota in a Big Ten showdown. It all starts at 9:00 EST and you can catch it on ESPN.

Ohio State is 1st in the Big Ten and Minnesota is in 7th. Both teams continue to jockey for position. Minnesota is #58 in the RPI rankings, meaning Ohio State is putting its 8-4 record against RPI Top 100 teams on the line. The 6th ranked Buckeyes check in at 21-4 overall including 9-3 in the Big Ten. Meanwhile, the Golden Gophers have a record of 17-8 and are 5-7 in the conference.

The edge here goes to Ohio State.

You'll find Ohio State has an edge in a single key statistical area, scoring, where the Buckeyes outperform the Golden Gophers, 75 pts/game to 68 pts/game. The Buckeyes went 2-0 against the Golden Gophers last year, with an average eight point margin of victory. Over the last four seasons, Ohio State is 6-3 against Minnesota, including 1-3 at Williams Arena.

• We make our fans proud. Ohio State has a better record at home than Minnesota this season (16-1 vs 12-3).
• We beat real teams. Ohio State has more wins against the RPI Top 50 than Minnesota this season (6 vs 3).
• Ohio State is better under pressure, and has defeated Minnesota in 3 out of 5 games decided by 5 points or fewer.
• We're so much better than you, we get lazy. Ohio State has come back to win after being down at half against Minnesota 3 times since 1999.

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