Oct. 29, 2022: It wasn’t pretty, but the Gophers got a much-needed win 31-0 in Tanner Morgan’s return to the lineup.
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Full-game Recap:
- First-Quarter: After picking up two first downs, Rutgers opened the game with a punt from Minnesota’s 37 yard-line on the first drive of the game; Big Ten football at its finest. The Gophers answered with a 19-play, 99-yard drive that took 10:27 of game time, ending the quarter with only two offensive drives TOTAL.
- Second-Quarter: Mohamed Ibrahim opened up the second quarter on a high note, breaking Darrell Thompson’s 33-year-old program TD record with his 44th career score and the Gophers lead 7-0. After forcing a Rutgers’ 3 & out, Minnesota started rolling. Another long offensive drive was capped off by another Ibrahim TD, resulting in a 14-0 lead on the scoreboard. Some questionable timeout choices prevented the Gophers from adding to their lead, and they went into the locker room up 14-0.
- Third-Quarter: There were five total punts and zero points. Classic Big Ten football.
- Fourth-Quarter: Ibrahim, finally gave Gophers fans something to cheer adding his third TD of the day after a very impressive Tyler Nubin INT. In a relatively boring finish, Matthew Trickett added a FG and Bryce Williams a TD, making it 31-0 Gophers.
Instant Reaction & Takeaways:
If you asked P.J. Fleck what a perfect half of Gophers football would look like, he would describe something like the first 30 minutes against Rutgers. With two scoring drives of 13+ plays and 7+ minutes, Minnesota controlled possession and relied on Mohamed Ibrahim for 21 carries, 86 yards and 2 TDs. With a mistake-free half from Tanner Morgan, it was easily the best half of offensive football since the Michigan State game. It was a lot of the same story defensively. Outside of a slow first drive, Minnesota was finally able to start getting some form of pressure from Jah Joyner and company, which completely opened up the door for the rest of the unit.
Fleck seemed more than happy with the 14-0, with relatively conservative play calling and three straight punts to open the half. A Tyler Nubin INT sparked some life, leading to another Ibrahim TD. The two big plays masked a relatively underwhelming second half of football. The offensive line was much-improved, Morgan played well, Mo was Mo and the defense had its best performance since the Michigan State game. With all that being said, the Gophers got a much-deserved and needed win, but there are still major holes on this team.
What is next?:
Minnesota will travel to Nebraska in Week 10 for a Big Ten West contest with Nebraska. The Gophers will not beat the Cornhuskers if they played like they did today. At the end of the day, you’re what your record is, so beating Rutgers is all you can ask from this team, but there is still plenty of room to improve before they travel to Lincoln.
Much of the same issues that the Gophers have had all season persisted against Rutgers. Very little pressure on the QB, very little offensive creativity and not great offensive line play. The wide receivers performed much better than they have all season, which is certainly something to build upon. But ultimately this was the same team that we’ve seen the last four games, they just played a worse team.
Nebraska has played much better since firing Scott Frost and it’s still one of the most talented rosters in the conference. A win in Lincoln could spark some momentum down the home stretch of the season, but they’re gonna need a better showing than the one we saw today if they want to do so.