CU Buffs opponent preview: Minnesota looks to stay on winning path

BleedGopher

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per Brian:

5 Guys to Watch

  • WR Chris Autman-Bell: Last year, he caught 36 passes for 506 yards and six touchdowns — all career highs. In four seasons, he has 114 catches for 1,756 yards and 12 TDs.
  • RB Mo Ibrahim: The Big Ten running back of the year in 2020, he has two 1,000-yard seasons in his career (2018, 2020). Played just one game last year, though, before tearing his Achilles, rushing for 163 yards and two touchdowns against Ohio State.
  • QB Tanner Morgan: The sixth-year senior is 27-12 as a starter, including 3-0 in bowls. He had a down year in 2021, throwing for 2,044 yards, 10 touchdowns and nine interceptions.
  • LB Mariano Sori-Marin: Finished second on the team in tackles last year (85), while also racking up five tackles for loss, three pass breakups and two forced fumbles.
  • CB Justin Walley: A freshman All-American last season, he had 29 tackles, seven pass breakups, one interception and two fumble recoveries.
Good to know

  • Minnesota has won as many as nine games in a season 10 times in its 140-year history, with six of those coming under coach Henry L. Williams from 1900-1905. The Gophers have hit the nine-win mark just four times since 1905, with three of those coming in the last six seasons. Fleck has guided the Gophers to two of those seasons.
  • Quarterback Tanner Morgan had the best season of his career in 2019, under the direction of coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca. That season, he completed 66% of his passes for 3,253 yards, 30 TDs and 7 INTs. In the past two seasons combined (20 games) with coordinator Mike Sanford, Morgan completed 59% of his passes for 3,418 yards, 17 TDs and 14 INTs. Ciarrocca is back in the coordinator role this year.
  • Minnesota lost four of its five starters on the offensive line, but the one who returns is pretty good. Center John Michael Schmitz earned All-Big Ten honors and is a candidate for the Rimington Trophy.
  • CU has played the Gophers in Minnesota twice before. The Buffs won 38-6 on Sept. 23, 1972, and 21-20 on Sept. 19, 1992.
  • Minnesota left Boulder last year with the nation’s longest nonconference winning streak, at 21 consecutive games. That streak ended a week later with a surprising 14-10 home loss to Bowling Green, but the Gophers are 22-1 in nonconference games since a loss in the 2015 opener.
  • Kicker Matthew Trickett was just 1-for-3 on field goal attempts against CU last year, but was 16-for-22 (including 15-for-18 inside 50 yards) the rest of the season.
Portal movement

Since last October, Minnesota has lost 23 players to the transfer portal, according to 247Sports.com. The most significant losses were running backs Ky Thomas (Kansas) and Mar’Keise Irving (Oregon), who finished 1-2 on the team in rushing yards. The Gophers added eight players from the portal. Former four-star recruits Chuck Filiaga (Michigan) and Quinn Carroll (Notre Dame) are expected to start on the offensive line. On defense, the Gophers added three linemen — Kyler Baugh (Houston Baptist), Darnell Jefferies (Clemson) and Lorenza Surgers (Vanderbilt) — and two cornerbacks — Shannon Bishop (Western Kentucky) and Ryan Stapp (Abilene Christian) — who are all in contention for starting or rotational roles.


Go Gophers!!
 


The 9 win thing is kinda apples to oranges? Bierman only played 8 games total in a season.

Warmath's three best seasons were 8-2. Sure, it would've been nice to go 9-1 or even 10-0, but again not the same.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Minnesota_Golden_Gophers_football_seasons
Yeah but it’s true anyways.

The real article should say since the season expanded to 12 games around 2000?? (Not sure the exact year) the gophers have won 9 games 4 times…two were under fleck and were in the last 3 years.
 


Yeah but it’s true anyways.

The real article should say since the season expanded to 12 games around 2000?? (Not sure the exact year) the gophers have won 9 games 4 times…two were under fleck and were in the last 3 years.
That would be a much better statement, in my opinion
 





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