Minnesota Gophers: Defense shines, but offense stumbles as Gophers fall to #2 TCU
Most thought it would be an uphill battle for the Minnesota Golden Gophers in the season opener on Thursday night and like most hills, it was only bad on one side. The defense for the Gophers was the side of the hill that everybody loves. Heck, some might even call it great and the best defense that No. 2 Texas Christian will face all season long. The offensive side of the ball for the Gophers was a real struggle.
It took until the third quarter for the Gophers to find the end zone and the last minutes of the ballgame before a real good drive was established. Mitch Leidner did not look impressive at all except in the fourth quarter drive. Leidner finished 19/35 for 197 yards and a QB rating of 116.4 which proves how flukey of a stat that can be.
Leidner actually finished with a better QBR than TCU’s Trevone Boykin who has been labeled as a front runner for the Heisman Trophy. Boykin had flashes of really good play and some mediocre play in his season debut. Boykin overthrew a couple wide open Horned Frog wide outs which could of blasted the game wide open for TCU. Boykin finished 26/42 with 246 yards and a touchdown via the pass and one via the ground.
The Gophers let a couple big chances slip from their hands too. Most notably, Rodrick Williams Jr. fumbled the ball right at the goal line and TCU recovered the ball in the end zone for a safety in the second quarter. A score by the Gophers on that drive would have made it 10-7 in favor of TCU, but the final score of 23-17 makes that coulda/shoulda/woulda been a TD a bigtime disappointment.
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Minnesota’s defense was not a disappointment though. The Gophers proved on Thursday that their defense is legitimately good. TCU averaged over 40 points a game last season and holding them to 23 points on Thursday was the lost scoring game for TCU since November 9, 2013.
The Gophers defense even forced TCU to punt six times. Ethan Perry only punted six or more times in four games in 2014, one of those times was against the Gophers last season.
Some positives and some negatives can be taken away from this game for the maroon and gold. Leidner’s ability will be questioned up and down for the next week after a not so stellar showing, but the defense should be heralded up and down after being out on the field for virtually 35 minutes of game play.
It wasn’t a pretty game, but it shows out what the Gophers are made of: the defense will hold a team down, but can the offense take advantage.
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