With nine months of waiting, a primetime telecast, and a stadium packed full of loud fans, Thursday had the feeling that something special could happen. Unfortunately for the Maroon and Gold, they found out why TCU is considered the No. 2 team in the entire country. Despite holding the high-powered Horned Frog offense to 23 points, the Minnesota offense fell flat at times, scoring just 17. After the game, the Gophers were disappointed with the loss but looked at the close game as a growing experience.
Freshman Standout
While Minnesota’s offense sputtered at times, one bright spot was the impressive play of redshirt freshman, Rodney Smith. The Georgia native rushed the ball 16 times for 88 yards and his first touchdown in the Maroon and Gold. After the game, Smith said that he wasn’t even nervous for his first collegiate action.
“Coach Kill said if you don’t get butterflies before the game, you aren’t human,” said Smith. “So I guess I’m a machine.”
Smith impressed his teammates, even drawing early comparisons to a former Gopher.
“Definitely not too surprised,” said Mitch Leidner. “We see him in practice working all the time. He reminds me a lot of [David] Cobb the way he runs the football. He’s really shifty, fast, explosive…It was good to see him being a redshirt freshman and stepping up.”
Playing Boykin
After finishing fourth in Heisman voting last season, TCU quarterback Trevone Boykin is the preseason favorite to take home the trophy. On the night, Boykin finished with 246 yards passing, 92 on the ground with two total touchdowns and one interception.
“He made very smart decisions,” said Briean Boddy-Calhoun. “I know, last year, watching a lot of film on him, sometimes he may just throw a ball up, putting faith in his receiver. But today, you could see he was reading his keys and he was pretty sharp today.”
Stout Defense
The Gophers defense was a definite bright spot against TCU, holding the Horned Frogs to just 23 points. TCU hadn’t been held to 30 points or less since last season when the two teams met.
“We did some different things on defense,” said Jerry Kill. “We played a linebacker at defensive end, a freshman doing some things. We feel like we’ve got a good defense. We felt that if we kept them under 30 points, we’d have an opportunity to win.”
Eric Murray forced a fumble and intercepted another pass to halt two TCU drives that were threatening to score. Overall, the Gophers’ ability to keep the dangerous Horned Frog offense to just two touchdowns was impressive.
“I think our defense played fantastic,” said Kill. “There’s a few things they wish they had back. They played well. You wanted to win that game 24-23. We felt good about defending them and felt good that we could score some points but we didn’t score enough.”
Packing The Bank
It was obvious 90 minutes before kickoff that Thursday’s game was going to be a fun experience for players and fans. Students came pouring through the gates, filling up the lower student section quickly. Before you knew it, the upper section was filled, forcing students to stand on the walkways at the top of the stadium. The attendance was 54,147, a TCF Bank Stadium record.
“Our crowd was tremendous, by the way,” said Kill. “They were loud and tremendous.”
Hats off to all the fans that packed the stadium; the place was buzzing and LOTS of fun.
By the Numbers
12: Players made their college debut tonight for the Golden Gophers, including five true freshmen: CB KiAnte Hardin, WR Hunter Register, LB Julian Huff, DB Blake Cashman, and WR Rashad Still.
73: Receiving yards for K.J. Maye—a new career high. The senior WR also added four receptions, another best as a Gopher.
2: Career interceptions for Eric Murray after picking off Trevone Boykin tonight. Murray also added eight tackles and forced a fumble.
39: Consecutive-start steak that was broken tonight when senior LT Josh Campion missed the game due to an injury. This was the first career game Campion has missed due to injury.
>10: There we at least 10 NFL Scouts at the game tonight. Seattle, Miami, New Orleans, and Arizona were a few of the teams at The Bank.