per Sid:
Big break for Gophers
Getting in a bowl game this year will make the Gophers football team much better, and with Wisconsin and Nebraska coming to TCF Bank Stadium next year, it will put Minnesota in a better position to compete with those powerful teams.
"Getting into the bowl game, the biggest thing is it allows us to take all those redshirt freshman that we have and get extra practice opportunities," Gophers coach Jerry Kill said. "That puts us, according to which bowl and which situation you go to, you get 15 more extra practices plus spring ball. That's 30 practices that you're going to get with your kids.
"Being a young team and not an older team [only eight seniors are playing this season], we'll have a tremendous amount of kids back. From a standpoint of getting your program better, it's a great opportunity."
In my opinion, Kill and his coaching staff have done a great job this year considering the number of injuries they have had, especially on offense.
It all started with the ankle injury to senior MarQueis Gray. My prediction before the season was that if Gray got injured, they wouldn't win a game without him at quarterback and they could potentially win six if he played all year.
Well, he got hurt in the Western Michigan game and the Gophers have won two conference games against Purdue and Illinois with freshman quarterback Philip Nelson starting and Gray moving to receiver.
Then you have the ankle injuries to centers Jon Christenson and Zach Mottla. Kill said that in 30 years of coaching, he has not had three centers play in a single game like he did last week against Illinois.
"Not even in high school coaching have I ever been put in that situation," Kill said. "Luckily we snapped Zac Epping early in the year due to injuries, and that's a unique situation. It's a concern for us where we go from here.
"You can't go to war with one center. I don't know, we have a big challenge this week. That tells you a little bit about the job that coach [Matt] Limegrover did against Illinois from an offensive line standpoint. To have all the injuries we've had, our two leading receivers out, playing a true freshman quarterback, it's not an easy thing. I give all the credit to those kids and their effort and kind of the next-man-up mentality. I can't say enough about the kids that played in the game and the coaches that we have that hung in there."
Fortunately the Gophers will get some of their offensive players back yet this year, but there is still some question about who will play center.
Nebraska will pose a real physical challenge this week. They are a 20-point favorite over the Gophers in Lincoln, but if Minnesota can come out of the game without any more injuries, they would have a chance to beat Michigan State in the team's final home game and improve their bowl invitation.
http://www.startribune.com/sports/vikings/179597071.html
Go Gophers!!
