It’s Do or Die Time for Gophers Football
By Nick Fritz
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It was a heated battle in frigid weather on Saturday afternoon. The Minnesota Gophers hosted the heavily favored Ohio State Buckeyes and fought until the final whistle. Ohio State was always in control but the Gophers never went away, losing by just a touchdown. Here’s what I learned:
1. The Ohio State Buckeyes speed and athleticism is almost unstoppable. Their offense starts and ends with J.T. Barrett. Even though we knew what was coming it was effective throughout almost the entire game.
2. Big plays are hard to overcome. When you’re holding your own as a defense and feeling confident, giving up long touchdowns can be daggers. I think this game was lost when they Buckeyes ripped off touchdowns of 86 and 57 yards.
3. David Cobb continues to prove he can lead an offense. He was great today. You can’t ask for much more than 145 yards and 3 touchdowns. Cobb’s consistency has been very impressive.
After the game, OSU Head Coach Urban Meyer looked like he wanted to take his victory, get out of TCF Bank Stadium and never look back.
“I challenge any team in the country that wants to, go ahead and schedule this one in November whatever it is against a very good team,” Meyer said. “Have at it.”
Now it’s time to look forward and it doesn’t get much easier. First, we go to Lincoln to play a pissed off Nebraska Cornhuskers team after they got obliterated by Wisconsin. Then, we play in the same venue and try to stop Melvin Gordon, who led said obliteration of Nebraska with a NCAA record 408 rushing yards.
The difficulty of the task at hand is enormous, but this only goes badly if the Gophers lose both games. One win would be a success. Win both and were looking at a possible rematch with OSU in the Big Ten Championship.
Nov 15, 2014; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Golden Gophers head coach Jerry Kill watches a field goal go through the up rights in the fourth quarter against the Ohio State Buckeyes at TCF Bank Stadium. The Buckeyes won 31-24. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports