MINNEAPOLIS -- Saturday's game between Minnesota and TCU can be looked at in a variety of ways.
It's Big Ten vs. Big 12. It's a team that struggled last season and won just four games going up against a team that thrived and had eight victories. It's two longtime friends turned head coaches facing off against each other.
And if you want to look at it as an underdog hitting the road to travel to Texas to face a Horned Frogs team favored by 14 points, that's just fine with the Gophers if that's your perspective.
"I'd rather be the underdog, actually," said Minnesota tight end Maxx Williams. "Because then no one expects you to do something great and you did something awesome."
The Gophers don't seem to be buying into the hype of just how big Saturday's nonconference game is, but there's no question it's a significant step up in competition from the past two weeks. Minnesota opened the 2014 season against Eastern Illinois, a Football Championship Subdivision school. Jerry Kill's team followed that up with a game at home against Middle Tennessee, a Conference USA school that went 8-5 last year.
And then there's TCU, which was playing in -- and winning -- the Rose Bowl as recently as four seasons ago and has produced notable NFL talent such as Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton. The Horned Frogs are in the Big 12, a Power Five conference. They have a head coach in Gary Patterson who has been there for more than a decade and has had many 10-win seasons during his tenure.
But TCU is coming off its worst season under Patterson since he took over in late 2000. The Horned Frogs finished just 4-8 in 2013. So while outsiders try to build up Saturday's game as a big opportunity and an early test for the Gophers, they're doing their best to downplay all of that.
"You can't really play the name game. I don't do it. Our staff doesn't do it," said Gophers senior defensive tackle Cameron Botticelli. "This opponent this week is going to be a challenge. The past two weeks, those were also challenges. Every week is going to be a challenge. TCU likes to run the three-step drop passing game. They like to push the tempo. It's in Texas, so there's going to be a little heat.
"I'm excited for the challenge. I can't wait to go down there and put all our hard work and preparation to the test."
Regardless of whether or not Minnesota's players buy into the hype, there's no doubt Saturday will be a barometer for a Gophers team sitting at 2-0 after facing two lesser opponents. Minnesota's passing game was nowhere to be found in either of its wins, while its rushing attack thrived. The Gophers and quarterback Mitch Leidner -- who is expected to play despite suffering a knee injury last weekend -- will have to be able to establish something through the air in order to keep the chains moving.
Defensively, there's little doubt that TCU will present Minnesota with its toughest test yet. The Horned Frogs, Kill said, like to snap the ball every 15 seconds or so, keeping the tempo fast on offense. The heat might not be as much of a factor Saturday as initially thought (forecasts for Fort Worth call for temperatures in the 70s for kickoff) but that up-tempo offense will keep Minnesota's defense on its toes.
"Our secondary has played quite a few snaps the last two games and so you worry about things you can control," said Gophers defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys. "So the tempo will be like Texas Tech from the bowl game (in 2012) and hurry to the line, so it will be a little faster than what we're normally used to. But in the past, sometimes it takes a couple of series to get adjusted to just how fast that's going to go. You hope you can survive those first couple of series and hang on and move from there."
TCU and quarterback Trevone Boykin will run a lot of pass plays that involve three-step drops, making it tough for opposing defenses to get into the backfield or collapse the pocket. Minnesota's defense had five sacks in its first two games, but could be hard-pressed to get to Boykin if they can't disrupt the pocket early.
After all, Samford -- TCU's opponent in the season opener -- was able to get to the quarterback twice in their 48-14 loss to the Horned Frogs.
"It's punishing the O-linemen. You're still going to run up and hit him, and they don't like that necessarily," Botticelli said. "If you can collapse that pocket and make him feel a little pressure, that might not make an impact on every play, but your effort and your energy level has to be on its top level every play because there's the possibility that you can impact that play."
Kill was asked this week about Saturday's matchup and said it's "no doubt" the toughest nonconference game he's coached since his first game as the Gophers head coach back in 2011. That was on the road against a USC team that was ranked No. 25 at the time and went on to finish 10-2 that season. Minnesota nearly pulled the upset, losing 19-17 after a late drive ended with an interception.
The Gophers have another chance now to go on the road and win as the underdog against a big-name school -- they're just not viewing it that way.
"Anything can happen on Saturday. A Division II school could go out there and play the No. 1-ranked team in the country and win," Williams said. "You go out there on Saturday to play the best you can."
Follow Tyler Mason on Twitter
