Jared Thomas, a former Northwestern All-Big Ten center and captain, analyzes Wildcat football for WildcatReport.

Northwestern went 3-2 against Minnesota during Jared Thomas' five years in Evanston from 2015-19, including a 39-0 rout in 2017. But the game he remembers most vividly was a 29-12 loss in 2016 in which he didn't even play.

Why? Because of a brief moment that Thomas, then a redshirt freshman, thought he would have to go in for starting center Brad North. He was nowhere near ready.

Thomas thought he knew what cold weather was like until he got up to Minneapolis that Nov. 19. He didn't wear gloves or bulk up with clothes under his uniform because he figured he wouldn't need them.

"I thought it couldn't get much worse than Chicago, but I was sadly mistaken," said Thomas. "The tundra in Minnesota is different."

The game kicked off at 2:30 p.m., so by the second half the sun had gone down and the temperatures dropped even further. Thomas said that his toes and his hands were "frozen solid" by that point.

North had a habit of "getting up super-slow and looking hurt," even though he usually stayed in the game. At some point in the second half, however, North appeared to be injured for real, and it looked like Thomas would have to sub for him.

Panic set in. "I was thinking, oh Lord, my hands are frozen," he said. "I didn't even know where my snaps were going to go."

Luckily, North wound up getting back up and never missed a play. Thomas was relieved.

He also learned a lesson about dressing for the elements. "I finally defrosted my hands about halfway home on the flight," he said.

Thomas feels like this Minnesota -Northwestern game will be like most of them over the years. "They're never real sexy," he said, noting that both teams will want to do the same thing: "run the ball and dominate the line of scrimmage."

What are the Wildcats' chances on Saturday? Here are Thomas' keys to the game.