Minnesota is laying close to three touchdowns at home on Saturday to an Eastern Michigan squad that beat FCS foe Howard by just 10 points in Week 1 of the college football season.

So it should be an easy victory for the Golden Gophers, right? Maybe not.

The final score in Eastern Michigan’s 33-23 win over Howard is a bit misleading.

The Eagles jumped out to a 23-0 lead and were up comfortably at halftime, 30-9, before coasting the final two quarters.

Eastern Michigan is my sleeper in the MAC this season with seven starters returning on defense and QB Austin Smith back from injury.

Minnesota was lucky to escape with a Week 1 win after to another Nebraska late-game meltdown.

The Gophers’ offense averaged just 3.6 yards per play and mustered only one field goal before scoring 10 points in the final 2:32.

This line feels a bit high for a Minnesota team that really struggled to move the ball in its opener.

Granted, they step down in class here, but I think the Eagles can hang around.

Eastern Michigan has been a great underdog team under coach Chris Creighton, going 6-2 ATS in its last eight games versus Power 5 teams.

I’ll grab the points with the pesky road ’dog.

The play: Eastern Michigan +20.5