Gopher Football
The game’s first drive set the tone. The Gophers scored a touchdown on an 80-yard drive consisting of only five plays, all of them running plays. Marion Barber III gave Colorado State a foretaste of what was to come with a 16-yard scamper to cap the drive. The Rams did respond later in the quarter with a 48-yard field goal to cut the lead to 7-3. That would be the closest CSU would come the rest of the way. Barber scored the next Gopher touchdown with an impressive 61-yard run. MBIII had 146 yards rushing by halftime.
The Gopher defense was also solid in this game. CSU made the score a little more respectable thanks to some good field goal kicking by Jeff Babcock. The four turnovers forced by the Gopher defense were the key stat. My defensive player of the game would have to be Anthony Montgomery. Big Anthony swallowed up a pass by Justin Holland and ran down field. Holland must have been shaking in his wooden shoes. OK, it was just one play but it was a big one and a thing of beauty to see a nose tackle catch a hard throw like that and go rambling down the field.
The only pall cast in this game was the injury to Bryan Cupito who’s head slammed against the ground on a sack in the third quarter. Cupito did not return. Glen Mason mentioned on his radio show this morning that Bryan was feeling fine but Mason was not at liberty to provide details.
Adam Ernst came in to replace Cupito and not surprisingly the Gophers completely stopped throwing. Ernst did a decent job and the Gophers worked the clock and still outscored the Rams 3-0 in the final quarter.
Almost overlooked last night was the play of Laurence Maroney partly because of Barber’s play and maybe we have just come to expect what Maroney did again last night. Laurence ran for 132 yards and averaged nearly eight yards a carry. He was one yard shy of 100 yards rushing at half time.
The thing that impressed me most last night was the turnover ratio. The Gophers had three interceptions and a fumble recovery which led to 13 points. The Gopher offense didn’t have a turnover. Last year’s turnover ratio of only +.58 was not indicative of a 10-3 team. Often times last year’s secondary dropped possible interceptions. One of the main keys to improved defense will be forcing more turnovers. Holland’s three interceptions had to have CSU fans longing for their previous Dutchman quarterback, Bradlee Van Pelt. However, give the Gopher defense some credit. They put good pressure on Holland and the secondary did the job. In particular, Trumaine Backs recovered well after a bad game last week against Illinois State. Banks in a way exemplifies the whole team, which can play so well when they decide to.
This was the most impressive non-conference road win, outside of bowl games, of the Mason era. CSU is a good team and any road win is tough — just ask the Iowa Hawkeyes who were losing big to Arizona State while the Gophers were playing CSU. However, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Judged against the higher expectations of this season this win only says that the Gophers might have a chance against USC in a possible Rose Bowl match-up. The Gophers are no closer to a Big Ten title than they were before this game. In comparison to other Big Ten teams the Rams are maybe at the level of Northwestern, which just happens to be Minnesota’s next opponent. The Gophers must take care of business against the Wildcats if they expect to be a serious conference contender this year.
This was the first home opener loss for Sonny Lubick”˜s Rams since Glen Mason”˜s Kansas team beat them in 1993. That was Lubick’s début as head coach at CSU. Minnesota has tied a team record of 15 straight non-conference games which is also the longest current streak among Big Ten teams. If the Gophers keep playing like they did in two of these three non-conference games they should get a chance to break that record in a very meaningful bowl game.