Gophers Escape with a 37-21 Win against Illinois State

OK, who abducted the Gopher football team we saw bury Toledo just last week? Saturday there was a team in maroon and gold that slogged its way through a game against a Division I-AA team. Sorry folks, there’s no way to sugarcoat this. If there is such a thing as an embarrassing win this was it. Minnesota put together one good quarter, the third, in which they outscored the Redbirds 17-0. The two touchdowns in the third were very efficient one-play drives. The Gophers were outplayed and outscored 21-20 in the other three quarters. Bottom line, if the Gophers play like this in any other game this season it will be a guaranteed “œL”œ.

I’m not one for being all negative, so lets look at the positives first. Congratulations to the Illinois State team for gaining a well earned moral victory. Former Gopher Demetrus Johnson had a great day against his former team. Johnson averaged over seven yards a carry in rushing for about 100 yards. He also caught six passes and had a total of 178 all-purpose yards. Quarterback Yance Vaughan also had a great day completing 33 of 57 passes for 372 yards. The only questionable move by the Redbirds was the missed field goal attempt at the end of the game — guess they we definitely going for that moral victory.

There were some positives on the Gophers’ side. Laurence Maroney showed us his blazing speed when he broke free on an end around leaving everyone in the dust for an 80-yard touchdown run. That helped Maroney compile a typical day for him statistically, 141 yards rushing and an average of nearly eight yards a carry. Marion Barber III compiled similar numbers, running for 149 yards and averaging 8.3 yards a carry. In reality there were a troubling number of rushes for losses. Ernie Wheelwright had an 80-yard catch for a touchdown. He now has three catches for the season and three TDs. Kyle McKenzie was one of the few overachievers on defense.

Well, I’ve already run out of positives. This game was a flip-flop from last week that would even make presidential candidate John Kerry blush. Last week Bryan Cupito was a smooth 10-for-12 passing. This week Cupito was erratic at best. Last week the first team defense shut out Toledo, after giving up an opening drive TD, and then turned the reins over to the backups in the second half. This week the first team defense was forced to play the whole game and gave up 480 yards in total offense. Last week the special teams provided the Gophers a spark after a slow start. This week the special teams provided us with a 9-yard punt and a missed extra point. Our once steady offensive line was way off its game. And most telling: Last week the Gophers had one penalty for the entire game. This week they had six penalties, mostly unforced ones, after the first half. Yesterday was no doubt the flop.

An optimist could point out the fact that Illinois State generated over 500 yards of offense against Illinois last year. There’s one problem with that argument. That was the only victory for the woeful Illini in 2003. There’s no way around it. This was one of the poorer performances by a Gopher squad during the Glen Mason era. It was so bad that even the Bad News Bears of Baylor may have had second thoughts about backing out of their contest with the Gophers that was supposed to be played yesterday.

OK, if there is one game this season the Gophers could get away with a stinker performance this was it. A win by 50 doesn’t count for any more in the standings than a win by 16. This game could serve the team well in the long run. Maybe the players will listen to the coaches a little more. Maybe the players and coaches now realize they can’t just show up for a game and expect to win with ease, even against a Division I-AA team. From here on stinker performances by the Gophers will be losses. Hopefully, this was the one and only such performance of the season.