Gopher Football
Gophers struggle early
What makes the Gopher victory today so impressive is that they accomplished it after getting off to just a horrible start. The Gophers did get one first down on their opening drive, but were forced to punt after a bad Adam Weber pass to Troy Stoudermire on a 3rd and 2.
Blake Hauden would pin the Boilers back at their own 5 yard line, but then the penalties returned for Minnesota. On the first play the Gophers were whistled for being offsides, then on the second play Simoni Lawrence was flagged for a personal foul after a late hit out of bounds. The two penalties on the Gophers got Purdue out of the hole without them having to do anything. The Gophers did turn it around, doing a good job putting Purdue in third and long situations, but the Boilers were able to convert with relative ease on a 3rd and 12, a 3rd and 14 and then on a 3rd and 7. Finally on the Boilers fourth 3rd and long situation the Gophers made a stop, forcing Purdue to settle for a 43-yard FG.
On the ensuing Gopher drive Adam Weber made his second bad pass in as many attempts. He executed a great play action fake to Duane Bennett, but then made a bad decision and pass in trying to hit Nick Tow-Arnett. First, Tow-Arnett was double covered, with a man on him and a safety deep. Then, Weber overthrew him by a couple yards, allowing the deep safety to make an easy pick.
Purdue took over, and again their offense moved the ball. They had three plays of 15+ yards, capping off the drive with a 3-yard TD pass to Aaron Valentin on third down. But after exchanging punts with Purdue, the Gophers would finally get in gear.
The turning point
After taking over at their own 16 yard line with 10:26 remaining in the second quarter, the Gophers finally did something on offense. A 13-yard DeLeon Eskridge run and a 47-yard pass to Eric Decker highlighted an 8-play, 84-yard drive, which was capped off by a 1-yard Eskridge TD run. Just a few plays later, Lee Campbell made an interception (which was very similar to Nate Triplett’s last week) and returned it to the Purdue 2 yard line. Eskridge scored 2 plays later to put the Gophers ahead 14-10. Purdue would kick a FG before halftime, cutting the Gopher lead 14-13 heading into the break.
Gophers capitalize on Purdue mistakes
The third quarter was dominated by mistakes by Purdue, and in turn, the story of the day was that the Gophers were able to capitalize.
1. After Purdue went three and out on the first drive of the second half, their punter shanked it for only 7 yards, giving the Gophers field position at the Purdue 30. The Gophers responded with a 28-yard run by Kevin Whaley and then a 2-yard TD run by Weber.
2. Purdue fumbled away the following kickoff, and again the Gophers got great field position, this time on the Purdue 31. The Gophers scored in 5 plays, highlighted by a 19-yard Kevin Whaley run.
3. Purdue then put together a nice drive which ended with a FG attempt that was blocked by Lee Campbell, and then returned 47 yards for a TD by Traye Simmons.
These three TDs occurred in a 10 minute span, and suddenly the Gophers held a 35-13 yard lead. What really impressed me in this game is the way the Gophers were emphatically able to capitalize on the Purdue mistakes. You always want to score after a turnover, but it’s even more impressive when you can convert TDs instead of FGs, and that is exactly what the Gophers did. Because of that, the Gophers were able to build a lead that would put the game away.
Weather is a factor!!
For the first time in 28 years, we can claim that the weather dramatically affected a home Gopher football game. For those of you who were not at the game, there was a 15-20 mph west wind blowing into the stadium through the open end. Of the 55 points scored in the game, only 3 of them were scored going into the wind ““ a 2nd quarter Purdue FG. It was astounding just how important it was to be the team driving to the east. The Gophers looked horrible as Purdue built up a 10-0 first quarter lead going into the wind, and then the momentum shifted on a dime after the teams traded sides. The Gophers built up their huge third quarter lead heading the same direction, and then sure enough, as soon as the fourth quarter started, the Gophers threw an INT and Purdue responded with a TD.
The wind likely affected the Gopher game plan too, on the day the Gophers threw just 10 passes while rushing the ball 44 times. Maybe this is why Brewster decided to switch to a power rushing offense.
Weber struggles again
This was not one of Adam Weber’s more memorable games. After two nice runs by Weber to open the game, and then two more rushes, the Gophers faced a 3rd and 2. Troy Stoudermire got open on a crossing route over the middle, and even though Weber only had to make about a 10 yard throw, he threw it about 2 yards behind Stoudermire. On the second play of the Gophers second drive, Weber tried to throw deep into double coverage, and overthrew the Gopher receiver by a few yards, allowing Purdue to easily intercept the ball. Weber threw another interception later on the Purdue 31 yard line where he tried to thread a ball to Decker (who was in the middle of 5 Purdue players), and he had 2 fumbles (but the Gophers recovered both). The good news is that because the Gopher running game was so good, Weber only had to throw 9 passes. Clearly, Weber needs to up his game significantly if the Gophers are to spring the upset next week against Penn State.
Running game does not
The reason the Gophers were able to win this game in spite of Weber struggling was because the running game was on. All the Gopher running backs got involved. Eskridge went 12/44 and 2 TDs, Bennett 9/53, and Whaley was 8/79 for 1 TD. Even though all of the Gopher RBs had their moments, the story of the day was Kevin Whaley. The freshman got his most extensive action of the season, and definitely proved himself. He ran with a purpose that we have not seen this year; hitting holes, making cut backs and showing the speed to make the big play. Even if Whaley does not take over the starting job next week, he has most likely proven himself enough to become part of the permanent rotation.
For the game the Gophers had a season high 207 yards on 44 carries, their highest Big Ten rushing total since October 13, 2007 when they had 239 against Northwestern. Last season the Gophers only went over 100 yards 2 times (with a high of 116 against Purdue), so even though the Gophers will probably continue to struggle on the ground against top-end defenses, it’s at least encouraging to know that there is enough improvement in the line that they can turn out games like they have against Purdue and Northwestern.
Lee Campbell comes up huge
Get ready for a possible defensive player of the week award for Lee Campbell. The senior was the best player on the Gophers defense today. He led the Gophers with 11 tackles and 1.5 tackles for loss. He also had the interception which was returned to the Purdue 2 yard line, and blocked the FG which was returned by Traye Simmons for a TD. Freshman Keanon Cooper also had a big day with 10 tackles (including a sack), along with the forced fumble on the kickoff.
Trey Davis injured
One thing to watch this week will be the health of Trey Davis, who had to leave the game in the fourth quarter because of a leg injury. Davis had replaced Jeff Tow-Arnett, who was lost for the season last week with a broken leg. With Davis out, the Gophers are down to their third string center, D.J. Burris.
Up next
Next week the Gophers kick off the first of a brutal two-game stretch in which they play road games against Penn State and Ohio State. To win, the Gophers will need to run the ball like they did today, have fewer mistakes from Weber, and have a big day defending the run. If the Gophers could come away with a win in one of these two games I would be thrilled.
Talk about the Gophers homecoming victory on Brew’s Crew message board.