Gopher Football
Like the 21-point holes against Bowling Green and Florida Atlantic ““ and Purdue didn’t look much better than those two teams ““ the Gophers came out in the second half with much more poise, at least on offense. The Minnesota offense scored TDs on each of their first four possessions. The only problem, Purdue scored TDs on all of their first three possessions. Thus, the deficit was only cut to 14 points, with the finally tally being 45-31.
Clearly, this team lacks confidence. Forget about talent, coaching or anything else for now. The turnovers given and the turnovers they have failed to make on defense are such a telling indication of this. Throw away the first down totals, all the yards passing or running, whatever. The turnover margin is all you need to look at. And it was ugly in this game (-3) and ugly all season (-12). That’s a net three turnovers given up per game ““ no surprise that the Gophers are 1-3 at this point.
Yes, the Gophers could be 4-0 right now but mistakes like those above-mentioned turnovers make that only a wild fantasy.
The positives in this game were the emergence of Duane Bennett with 82 yards rushing and an amazing 11.7 yards per carry. Amir Pinnix got plenty of yards per carry (9.2) but had yet another costly fumble. Adam Weber looked much better than last week, accounting for over 300 yards in throwing and rushing offense, and only one interception.
Defensively, there wasn’t much to get excited about, again. Yes, you could make excuses for them in the first half, with four turnovers. However, in the second half they ended any hope of a big comeback. If the defense makes two big stands in the second half, this game goes into overtime. Instead, it looked like a Boilermaker team coasting to victory.
Well, the road only gets tougher next week against an Ohio State team that looks unstoppable. The Buckeyes led Northwestern today 45-0 at halftime today. The settled into a slower pace the rest of the way to a somewhat merciful 58-7 win. If the Gophers play another first half like today, it will it be at least 45-0 for Ohio State halfway into the game. Another “œmoral victory” that covers the spread, like today’s 15 points to Purdue, will be about as much as we can expect next time out.
Sorry fans, but this will be a long and painful season for the Gophers. I’m no longer too concerned about the losses piling up. This is no bowl season. One more botched game isn’t going to make or break this season. The fact that this team keeps on fighting to the end is encouragement enough. Coaching changes seem to put a team through this more often than not. The real test for Tim Brewster will be to first keep this team fighting through a largely futile season and, more importantly, to recruit better than ever, despite the lack of wins.
The fact of the matter is that Glen Mason consistently got the Gophers to minor bowl games but never capitalized on this much on the recruiting trail. Brewster will have to find a way out of this recruiting dilemma. Brewster’s charisma and experienced coaching staff give him a fighting chance. The new stadium will only help. Mason probably couldn’t agree more on the last point since he complained often about the Metrodome.
In the final analysis, it is way to early to tell whether this coaching staff will succeed or fail. The team is dreadful for one half and then comes to life in the next. Recruiting is really an unknown at this point and is probably the most critical issue long term. The best that Gopher fans can hope for this season is three or four wins, competitive play in most of the losses and better recruiting down the road. Mason proved he could take middle level talent (at best) to minor bowls with a weak non-conference schedule and an always-tough Big Ten schedule. Brewster and staff haven’t proven they can do any better with this collection of players, so it looks like it’s going to come down to fielding better talent.