Sept. 16, 2021: Following an uninspiring 31-26 victory against Miami (OH), the Golden Gophers will look to kick start the rest of their 2021 campaign with a win over PAC 12 foe Colorado.
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Broadcast Info:
- Date: Sat., Sept. 15
- TV channel: PAC 12 Network
- Time of kickoff: 12:00 a.m. (CT)
- Broadcast team: n/a
Opponent Information (Colorado):
- 2020 record: 4-1
- 2021 record: 1-1
- Head Coach: Karl Dorrell (2nd season)
- Returning starters: 15
- Players to watch: Jarek Broussard (RB), Brandon Lewis (QB), Nate Landman (ILB), Carson Wells Jr. (OLB), Isaiah Lewis (S)
Minnesota travels to Boulder, Colo. for its first road game of 2021. The Buffaloes are coming off of a narrow 7-10 defeat to the hands of No. 5 Texas A&M. Both teams combined for only 280 passing yards in an ugly low-scoring affair. Colorado was leading for much of the game until a late fourth-quarter touchdown from the Aggies ended the hopes of an early-season upset. On Saturday, the Gophers will look to win their first true road game against a power five school since they took down Oregon State in 2017.
Colorado season storylines:
- Karl Dorrell’s first “full” season as HC:
Colorado is one of the most interesting programs in college football. As one of the top teams in college football during the late 80s and early 90s, the Buffaloes won three Big 8 conference championships, Rashaan Salaam won the Heisman Trophy and they even won the 1990 National Championship. Since then it hasn’t been real pretty, with only one conference championship, and seven bowl game appearances since the 90s, the program’s prominence looks like something of the past.
Head coach Mel Tucker looked like he was building “something” in 2019, but then he surprisingly left for Michigan State late in the process after his lone season in Boulder. In comes Karl Dorrell as the man to take the program back to its glory days. As a one-time head coach of UCLA (2003-2007) and long-time coordinator in the NFL, Dorrell now heads into his first full season at the helm, with a full off-season to prepare and relatively normal circumstances. After a 4-2 season in 2020 with a Valero Alamo Bowl defeat, Dorrell will look to have the Buffs competing for a PAC 12 crown in 2021. After showing to be quite competitive in only seven games as head coach, Dorrell has made me a believer.
- Redshirt-freshman QB Brendon Lewis:
Dorrell, a four-time offensive coordinator and three-time QB coach clearly is offensive-minded with an emphasis on the quarterback position. Last season senior QB Sam Noyer performed well enough to earn second-team all PAC 12 honors, but he transferred to Oregon State following the season. After having an open competition during the offseason including Tennessee transfer J.T. Shrout, the Buffaloes ultimately landed on former four-star prospect Brendon Lewis as their QB1 this season.
Prior to the season, Lewis had only one career start coming in last season’s Valero Alamo Bowl against Texas. In 2021, he has proven to be a special runner with 120 rushing yards on the season. His passing has looked suspect at best, his 23-40 totals for 191 yards, one touchdown and one interception has far from proven that he can be a capable starter in a major conference. The Gophers will look to contain Lewis in week three and hope to not let him get comfortable behind center.
- Jarek Broussard (reigning PAC-12 O-POTY) returns:
Jarek Broussard is the heart and soul of this Colorado football team. As Mo Ibrahim led the Gophers’ rushing attack, Broussard is the Buffaloes closest thing to that. In 2020, the redshirt-sophomore runningback had 895 rushing yards and five touchdowns on only 156 carries in only six games, totaling a remarkable 162.6 yard-per-game. Following his dominant campaign, Broussard was named PAC-12 offensive player of the year.
The Buffaloes have leaned heavily on Broussard once again to begin 2021, handing him 27 total carries through two weeks, which he turned into 145 yards and two touchdowns. But it is not just Broussard in 2021, as the Buff’s 2019 leading rusher Alex Fontenot has returned from injury, and earned 20 carries so far this season. If Colorado’s offense gives Minnesota any trouble this week, it will likely be in large part due to Broussard.
- 7-10 loss to No. 5 Texas A&M:
Colorado’s 7-10 loss against No. 5 Texas A&M at a neutral field (Mile High Stadium) was the definition of a statement game. The only question is, how much of a statement? Texas A&M lost its starting quarterback due to an injury after he attempted only two passes. The Aggies’ backup was terrible, he was 18/38 for 183 yards. You have to give Colorado credit for sticking with the No. 5 ranked team in the country, but they clearly weren’t the same team without their starting quarterback.
My takeaway from the game was the Karl Dorrell is a good head coach and Colorado is a good football team. I had a lot of questions going to the season regarding the Buffaloes, but last week’s game answered most of them. Their quarterback is still a glaring issue, but this team is not a push-over, They have the “guys” to play with the big boys of the SEC and should be “in” most every game that they play in.
Gophers’ path to victory:
This game is the fork in the road of the Gophers’ 2021 football season. A win could put them down a road of realistic Big Ten contention and a loss could take them down a long, long road for the rest of the season. Playing in Boulder, Colo. presents a lot of unique challenges, most notably being 5,328 feet above sea level. This game will be a fairly big litmus test for where this program stands for the rest of the season and even on a national scale against a Colorado team that is far from the elite of the PAC 12 conference.
I believe that Minnesota matches up very well with Colorado. They both play very similar styles, with heavy rush attacks that want to rely on their defense. The Buffaloes have allowed the 13th fewest rushing yards per game this season at only 58.5 through two weeks, while the Gophers have shown serious holes on the defensive side of the ball. My reason for optimism comes from Colorado’s lack of pass attempts so far this season. With only 40 attempts and 191 passing yards on the season, it tells me that this Buffaloes team clearly wants to rely on their rushing attack. Minnesota’s defensive kryptonite this season has been the deep passes, and it seems like Colorado is not too keen on looking to win that way.
This game will be won in the trenches plain and simple, both of these teams love to run the ball and control time of position. Minnesota ranks No. 11 in the country in time of possession, while Colorado ranks 78, but ranked 30 in 2020. I do not expect this game to be very pretty and it will likely come down to who makes fewer mistakes.
If Mike Sanford and the Gophers open their playbook to involve more of the passing attack, it could be the boost that this team needs. I will certainly not count on that happening, so I expect this game to be an old-fashioned dog fight for four quarters. Colorado has an experienced offensive line with four returning starters, and they return a handful of guys along the defensive front. I think the Gophers have an advantage in both areas. Most importantly, I believe the Gophers have the most significant advantage in this game, at the quarterback position, and I believe that fact alone gives them a great chance of winning this game.