Cobb rushed for 145 yards and 3 touchdowns against OSU.
The Gophers knew that it would take a mistake-free, disciplined 60 minutes of play in order to beat a talented Ohio State team. Minnesota battled, rallying from an early 14-point deficit, but a few big lapses on both sides of the ball allowed the Buckeyes to pull out the win, 31-24.
Close Contest
Although the Buckeyes gained almost 500 total yards, Minnesota was able to hang with Ohio State, making the No. 8 team in the country sweat it out until the end. The Gophers were confident they would be able to stay with the Buckeyes throughout.
“I think Ohio State is a good team,” said De’Vondre Campbell. “They’re very disciplined. I think that has a lot to do with their head coach. He’s been in championship programs so he knows what it takes. But, I don’t think they’re better than us. Honestly, I really don’t. Like I said, we made a lot of mistakes that caused them to score.”
With just a seven-point loss, the Gophers know how close they are to reaching the next level in Big Ten play.
“At the end of the day, it’s still an ‘L’,” said Briean Boddy-Calhoun. “You can take away a lot of things, just like every game but today we proved [a lot] to ourselves. That’ the No. 8 team in the country.”
After the game, Urban Meyer reflected that the closeness of the game was not something he wants to relive.
“This is a tough environment – it’s the first time I’ve ever been here,” said Meyer. “I don’t want to see this on the schedule for a while, certainly not again in November.”
Meyer went as far as to challenge other teams to make the trip to Minneapolis late in the season.
“I’d like to see any team in the country come up here and do this,” he said. “Play here in November, against a very good team… Have at it.”
Barrett Capitalizes
Coming into Saturday’s game, a key for the Gophers was stopping quarterback J.T. Barrett. The redshirt freshman was nothing short of impressive, throwing for three touchdowns and running for 189 yards including an 86-yard score for the first points of the game.
“He’s a very, very good player—I’ve said that before,” said Jerry Kill. “Braxton Miller is a great player—I’ve said he’s one of the better ones in the country if he wasn’t the best—and this kid is every bit of that and more because of his ability to throw the football.”
Barrett was able to capitalize on missed assignments and a few lapses in communication by the Gopher defense.
“He’s a good quarterback,” said Campbell. “We knew coming in that he was going to be hard to contain, but if everybody did their assignments and read the keys, it wouldn’t be too bad. I mean, he’s a great player. He kind of took advantage of our mistakes.”
The couple of lapses by the defense allowed the Buckeyes to put up points on big plays, something that the Gophers wished they could have changed.
“[Barrett’s] a heck of a player and they’ve got a good football team, but at the same time, we made some mistakes today,” said Kill. “If we don’t make those mistakes, it’s a different ball game. I think that’s why we’re a little bit upset. … There were some frustrating things that we normally don’t do.”
After such a close game, the errors may haunt Minnesota moving forward.
“Our kids played hard and Mitch (Leidner) gave us a chance to win, but we made three or four critical errors that really hurt us,” said Kill.
Big Game for Boddy-Calhoun
A bright spot for the defense was the play of cornerback, Briean Boddy-Calhoun. The junior had an interception, forced a fumble near the goal line, and made an impressive pass breakup to stop a long play. Trailing 14-0, Boddy-Calhoun’s pick was a big momentum changer for Minnesota.
“We know when things aren’t going the right way, sometimes defense just needs to step up and make a play,” said Boddy-Calhoun. “In the back of my mind, I told myself that if I had the opportunity to make that play, that I was going to make that play.”
Boddy-Calhoun’s interception was no surprise to his teammates.
“Boddy is an amazing guy,” said Campbell. “His ball skills are some of the best I’ve seen in a long time. He catches the ball like a receiver—that’s his second time doing it. He did it against TCU, too. He’s an amazing player. I think he’s very underestimated.”
Although he had a big game on the field, Kill noted that it’s the person off the field that impresses him most.
“He’s a great kid, that’s the best part,” said Kill. “He’s a great, great kid. You always like to see good things happen to good people so he did a great job. He’s done a great job all year coming off that knee injury and I’m glad we got him for another year.”
Looking Forward
After a close loss, the Gophers know that they still have two games remaining, at Nebraska and at Wisconsin, with both teams at or near the top of the Big Ten West standings. Heading into the two-game stretch, Minnesota is confident in how they can finish the season.
“Every guy on our team believes that we are a good enough team to win those games,” said David Cobb who rushed for 145 yards and three touchdowns against the Buckeyes.
The hope is that by winning out, Minnesota can make it to the Big Ten Championship game at the end of the season.
“We have a tough task,” said Kill. “We knew that at the beginning. We can’t have a hangover and we’ve got to go back to work and I know these kids will…However, if we do our job, we’ll play them again.”
Making it to Indianapolis is the ultimate goal for the Maroon and Gold; something that is very much within reach.
“I think we have a great chance of beating Nebraska AND Wisconsin,” said Campbell. “We just gotta get back in the lab tomorrow, correct our mistakes from today and I think we’ll be fine. We’re not too worried about. We’ll see [Ohio State] again in three weeks.”