Gopher Football
This kind of game doesn’t tell a Big Ten team much, unless that team is really down in which case they are pretty much guaranteed an 0-8 Big Ten season. Temple was so bad in this game that even serious mistakes by the Gophers cost them nothing. Two cases in point were dropped punts. The second time it happened, a Temple defender had a clear shot at a recovery but somehow managed to boot the ball out of bounds. The one Gopher turnover resulted in the Gophers getting the ball back at the Temple 19-yardline on a poor punt and big return. An Owl penalty or another major gaff always bailed the Gophers out. Many of the Gopher touchdowns were so uncontested that they would have counted in touch football, and that includes a few runs for TDs.
Even the Minnesota coaches couldn’t find kind words to say about Temple after the game. Running backs coach Mitch Browning said, “œWith a team like Temple the [run] blocking should be flawless.”
The crowd, which had fewer no-shows than I expected, was well aware that the score was not an issue. The biggest cheers, especially from the hordes of high school football players in their team jerseys, weren’t for touchdowns but for big hits. A vicious block on a Gopher punt return maybe got the biggest cheer of the game. A couple football tough guys from Roseville were suited up in cleats, pads, helmets and all the rest. Maybe, they thought Temple might bring them in as last minute recruits. The Owls probably could have used them.
As for the Gophers making strides in this game, I really can’t claim there was a lot of proof. Sure, Bryan Cupito put up some gaudy numbers passing. Bryan completed 9-of-11 passes for 152 yards and four touchdowns. However, all he had to do was hit mostly wide open receivers with all the time in the world to throw. Logan Payne was Cupito’s main target. Payne had 136 yards receiving, catching all four of Cupito’s TD passes. Amir Pinnix also put up some impressive numbers with 93 yards running and an average of 13.3 yards a carry.
Terrence Sherrer made the most of his chance to play as a sub. He actually led the running backs by a wide margin with 16 carries. Sherrer matched Pinnix with 93 yards rushing. The backup quarterbacks didn’t throw much and were unimpressive when they did.
The Gopher defense made the Temple offense look as embarrassing as they are. There were still some troubling miss-tackles. I thought Mike Sherels was the star of the game on “œD”, as he was in on many tackles and rarely missed. Overall, the most encouraging thing on defense was the three turnovers. Two of them came on Temple’s first two possessions and led to a couple of quick Gopher touchdowns.
The special teams were solid for the most part. Kicks were often into the end zone and were well covered. Dominic Jones botched some punts at the beginning but got plenty of practice returning and looked much better as the game went on. Gopher punts averaged 47.5 yards and Jason Giannini was 2-for-2 on field goals.
This is definitely one time that there was not a single opposing player worth mentioning. The only worse team the Gophers have played in recent memory might be Murray State and they were a last minute D-1AA replacement for Baylor. The Owls get my vote as the worse D-IA team the Gophers have played in at least 20 years. Arkansas State in 1995 comes to mind as a comparable opponent. The Gophers beat them 55-7 and end up going 3-8 that season, so that tells you how much you can judge from these kinds of opponents.
Throwing out this game and Kent State, which is about as bad as Temple, leaves us with the Cal game as the only measuring stick for the Gophers’ Big Ten prospects. Right now that would make the Gophers clear favorites against bottom feeders Illinois, Northwestern and Indiana. The problem is that Indiana is the only one on the schedule. That leaves Minnesota as underdogs in seven other conference games. Next week’s game against Purdue is one of a few in those seven that is winnable. However, given the sorry play of the Gopher defense at times, the potential is there for the Gophers to lose this one by two or even three TDs.