Gopher Football
Minnesota has been involved in six very close games this year, including three overtime games, and has gone 1-5. None of those six teams were very good, at least compared level the Gophers are supposed to be competing at. NDSU handled a very poor Big Ten team ““ undoubtedly the worst in the conference right now ““ and as a team in a lower division they should be given credit for that. Still, the Bison would be hard pressed to beat any other Big Ten team.
NDSU running back Tyler Roehl rushed for 263 yards, which included a 68-yard run near half time to set up a field goal as time ran out. The Gopher defense gave up an astounding 394 yards on the ground.
Really, the only wonder was that the score was as close as it was. The Bison had 27 first downs to the Gophers’ 17. NDSU punted a mere two times in the game to the Gophers’ six punts. The Bison had nearly twice as many total yards (585 to 307). And Minnesota made their share of critical mistakes, the biggest being a 15-yard penalty after a third and long that allowed NDSU to run out the clock and end the game.
One of the few positives from this game was that the turnovers were limited to one Adam Weber interception. The offense was otherwise dreadfully mediocre. The big highlight on offense was Eric Decker’s 20-yard pass for the Gophers’ first TD.
The Gophers were out hustled, outplayed in almost every aspect and out cheered by the strong NDSU contingent of fans. I guess this was the Bison’s bowl game this year, especially since they still don’t qualify for the playoffs.
For Minnesota it was just more of the same in this nightmare season. I expected some rough moments this year as the new coaching staff and players adjusted to each other, but nothing as bad as this. This team is almost sure to go 1-11 this year, making it the worst season since 1983 when they went 1-10. It would also be the first time ever that they would lose 11 games in one season. No, it can’t get much worse than this.
Talk about the game on the Brew’s Crew Message Board.