Gopher Football
Opening drive set the tone
The Gopher offense started the game off with an impressive first drive. They mixed the run with pass, got lots of players involved, converted third downs and moved the ball. The big surprise from the drive was seeing Jay Thomas get his first meaningful minutes on offense, and the debut of Troy Stoudamire at wide receiver. The Gophers drive finally stalled when Adam Weber was sacked on a 3rd and goal from the Indiana 4 yard line. But after doing a wonderful job moving the ball down the field, the Gophers came away with no points after Joel Monroe banged a 28 yard field goal off the left upright. You got a feeling after that miss that it could be “œone of those days”. In hindsight, this drive was a precursor to the tone of the game: Points would be hard to come by.
On the 3rd down play where Weber was sacked, he appeared to be seriously hurt, having to be helped off the field and not putting any weight on his right leg. By the next series however, Weber was back in the game and did not show any obvious signs of an injury. But during the remainder of the game, Weber’s number did not get called on a running play more than 3 or 4 times, so you have to wonder if the injury was limiting him.
Offensive line struggles
Surely one area of concern this week for the coaching staff will be to fix the problems that were occurring on the offensive line. Over the course of the game there were not a lot of big running lanes, and too often Indiana was able to get substantial pressure on Weber with just their front four. Perhaps Weber had limited mobility because of his first half injury, but the pressure Indiana was able to apply resulted in at least four sacks and many throw aways. Good thing for the offensive line, they had one player to bail them out . . .
Eric Decker came up huge
The first thing everyone is going to notice when they look at the box score (besides the low score) was the HUGE day that wide receiver Eric Decker had. Really, the Gopher offense had very little go right for them outside of #7. On the day Decker had a team-record-tying 13 catches for 190 yards. What could make these numbers even more impressive? Two things actually. First, 12 of Decker’s catches went for first downs. So not only was Decker making receptions, he was making BIG receptions and helping the team move the ball. Second, Decker’s final catch of the day was on the first play of the fourth quarter. On that play, Decker made an impressive 15 yard catch in traffic on a 3rd and 9, but got hit in the head by a defender and came off the field woozy. He did not have another reception after this, so his 13 for 190 was essentially in just three quarters of work.
Other receivers were silent
One concern (again) is that besides Decker, the other receivers were very silent. This became painfully obvious once Decker went out of the game after taking the shot to the head. From that point through the end of the game, Adam Weber went 0-5 passing. On the game, Troy Stoudamire had 2 receptions, while Ben Kuznia, Jack Simmons and Nick Tow-Arnett each had one. It’s great that Decker can get 13 catches in a game and I hope that continues, but as we saw once he went out, there needs to be a viable second option available, and today there was not.
Marcus Sherels is injured
In what could be a devastating blow to the Gophers defense, Marcus Sherels went down with what appeared to be a shoulder injury mid-way through the 2nd quarter. On the play, Sherels (per usual) had excellent coverage on his receiver as IU attempted to throw deep down the right sideline. Sherels had inside position and looked like he was going for the interception, so the Indiana receiver tackled Marcus, resulting in an offensive interference. But on the play Sherels appeared to land on his shoulder, and did not return to the game. After half time he was back on the bench with his arm on a sling. Sherels has arguably been the best Gophers defender this season, so losing him for an extended period of time would really hurt. Here’s to a speedy recovery.
Final drive was an ugly thing of beauty
After Eric Decker left the game, the Gophers went the next 6 offensively plays without getting a first down. Luckily for the offense though, the defense and an Indiana receiver bailed them out. On the first possession post-Decker’s injury, the Hoosiers found themselves in a 3rd and 11 on the Gophers 38 yard line. WR Andrew Means got open in front of Ryan Collado, but he dropped the pass as he attempted to haul it in while going out of bounds. The next time Indiana go the ball they got a first down right away, but then the Gopehrs stopped them and forced a punt with 8:44 remaining. This would be the last time Indiana would see the ball with a chance to win.
The Gophers took over their own 29 yard line, and then went 15 plays in 50 yards, taking 7:51 off the clock. The drive was capped off by a Joel Monroe 38 yard FG, giving the Gophers an insurmountable 16-7 lead. In that drive the Gophers threw just two times and ran 14 times; including 8 straight rushes by DeLeon Eskridge leading up the field goal. There were two big plays in this drive “” The first occurred on a 3rd and 7 towards the start of the drive. Adam Weber, on what may be a bad leg, scampered 7 yards for a first down, really fighting for that last yard. The other was on a 4th and 1 from the Indiana 38. Even though the running backs had not head the greatest game, Coach Brewster showed confidence in them and the offensive line and ran Eskridge again. The move paid off, as Eskridge got just enough for a first down and the drive continued on.
Defense is amazing
What more can you say about the Gopher defense? This is the third time this year that the Gophers defense has largely silenced a dangerous offense, and each time they do it I am in awe. As thailleagle noted on the football forum, last year the Gophers gave up 114 points to Bowling Green, Florida Atlantic and Indiana, and this year the Gophers gave up only 27 points to those same three teams. The turnaround from this team has been amazing.
Today, it really wasn’t once specific player that shone, it was a team effort. There were sacks, turnovers, batted passes, 3 and outs ““ In other words, all of the good things you like to see on defense occurred today. The only mistake of the day was the blown coverage on the Marcus Thigpen touchdown, but that occurred shortly after the Sherels injury, so I’m not even really that upset about it. After that big play, the defense hunkered down once again and shut out the Hoosiers the rest of the way.
For the game Indiana had just 293 yards of offense, 47 of which came on that play of the game. So if you take away that, and the 77 yards allowed on the TD, then the Gophers gave up just 172 yards the rest of the game. Hats off to the defense!
What next?
The Gophers have to prepare for a dangerous Illinois team. As I write this, Illinois leads Michigan at halftime, 17-14. After the way the Gopher defense played today, I actually am not as concerned about this game as I had been. I think if the offense can fix the problems they had today, and the defense can have a repeat performance, the Gophers can keep the game close.
Talk about the Gophers win on the Brew’s Crew message board.