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New Mexico State at Gophers, Thursday 8:00 PM, Huntington Bank Stadium, BTN, 100.3-FM

The Gophers kick off their sixth season under coach PJ Fleck with an opener that normally wouldn’t involve much intrigue. However, that changed when the state of New Mexico hired coach Jerry Kill, who led the 2011-15 Gophers and repeated comments about his distaste for Fleck, his former assistant at Northern Illinois.

Three big storylines

Will Fleck and Kill shake hands?

Since the Aggies are 36½ point underdogs, the Kill vs. Fleck kerfuffle might be the most interesting subplot on Thursday. Fleck says he’s never shaken an opponent’s hand, even though there have been fly-bys. Kill softened his comments about Fleck and Minnesota after the Aggies opener, so stay tuned.

What does the passing game of Gophers look like?

With sixth-year senior QB Tanner Morgan reunited with offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca, the Gophers are sure to open things up this season, passing more than the 19.8 times per game they did last year. Don’t expect Mike Leach’s Air Raid on Thursday, though. They’ll probably save the fun stuff to use later.

What will Mohamed Ibrahim and Trey Potts look like?

The Gophers’ two best running backs were injured at the end of the season and looked like their old selves in the limited glimpse of training camp. Neither need to be 30 Thursday, though Fleck and his staff want to see what they can do with extended action.

Two important similarities

Gophers Defense Line vs. New Mexico State Offensive Line

With ends Boye Mafe and Esezi Otomewo and tackles Micah Dew-Treadway and Nyles Pinckney graduated, the Gophers need to fill in gaps. Coordinator Joe Rossi is confident in an eight-to-ten rotation, but the proof will come against an offensive line that helped the Aggies gain 303 yards in their opener, a 23-12 loss to Nevada.

Gophers Recipients vs. New Mexico Secondary State

Nevada held the vanilla against the Aggies by passing just 23 times versus 45 rushes, but the secondary NMSU helped limit his opponent to 3.4 yards per pass attempt. Gophers wideouts Chris Autman-Bell, Dylan Wright and Mike Brown-Stephens will provide a much stiffer test.

One stat that matters

159 Career games played by the Gophers’ “Encore Four” of sixth-year Morgan, Ibrahim, Autman-Bell and center John Michael Schmitz. Each has been a starter for at least three seasons.

The Gophers will win if… they excel at the basics and give the Aggies no hope in the form of multiple turnovers. Upset losses to Bowling Green and Illinois last year depended on a combined four interceptions and 10 sacks by the visitors. The fact that the Aggies had four turnovers and still lost only 11 points to Nevada showed that Kill let his team play hard.

The Aggies will win if… they get those turnovers, shorten the game with ball control and the Gophers don’t take them seriously. Quarterback is a bit of a mystery with mobile junior Diego Pavia, who threw three interceptions before being pulled into the opener, and real freshman Gavin Frakes, who completed nine of his 13 passes.

Forecast

There is a reason for the spread of the large point. The Gophers are a veteran team expected to compete for the Big Ten West title, and they face an opponent who was 2-10 last year, operating under a new coaching staff and playing for the second time in six days. .

The Gophers will want to see what the passing game looks like under Act II of Ciarrocca’s tenure as offensive coordinator and whether Wright can be a consistent addition to Autman-Bell. They will also test the new offensive line and see how Ibrahim and Potts handle live contact.

Where things can get interesting is when the Gophers take a big lead and have a chance to raise the score. Fleck has taken the main road this summer, while Kill brought up old grievances when he got the chance. However, the Gophers coach has shown he can also make a point, as he did after last year’s win over Nebraska, calling it a win on skill, presumably a shot at Huskers coach Scott Frost for earlier comments.

My expectation: Fleck will keep it business. The Aggies can cover that spread, but the Gophers will win.

Gophers 38, Aggies 10