Minnesota Gophers: Gophers win an ugly game that took OT to decide
If you didn’t have the chance to watch the Minnesota Golden Gophers matchup against Colorado State on Saturday afternoon, consider yourself a very lucky person. The game took four-hours and was just about the ugliest game of football that one will ever watch. The Gophers won a pitcher’s duel that went into overtime, but it wasn’t one of those games you actually wanted to see go into OT.
It started off well for the Gophers. Colorado State got the ball to start the game and on the first play from scrimmage, the Rams threw up an absolute duck that was easily intercepted by Briean Boddy-Calhoun. It was one of the few highlights for the Gophers defense. Minnesota’s defense looked like one of the best in the country last week against TCU, but looked downright mediocre in Colorado.
Both teams couldn’t complete a pass for the majority of the game. It took the Rams to go to their backup, Coleman Key, for their offense to kind of start clicking. It took until really late for Mitch Leidner to get going. It was not a good game for Leidner again until a late scoring drive to take the lead for a short time.
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Leidner threw for 233 yards and two touchdowns and went 23/45. Drew Wolitarsky quickly became Leidner’s main target and grabbed nine catches for 114 yards and a touchdown. KJ Maye also had a nice game with six catches for 54 yards and scored the touchdown that would take the lead, but only for 55 seconds.
It took until the second quarter for Rodney Smith to get into the game and get rolling. Smith took 21 carries for 108 yards and made himself the obvious go-to back for the Gophers. Minnesota tried to get backup QB Chris Streveier via a wildcat package, but he could find nothing in the running game.
The Gophers tried to all their might to run the ball right up the middle in the early stages of the game, but the Rams were stopping every attempt. The Gophers’ running game wasn’t even solid until Smith got in the ballgame.
The defensive meltdown to mediocrity showed in the final 55 ticks of the game. The Leidner to Maye pass gave the Gophers a three-point lead, but the defense let the Rams drive enough to hit a tying 37-yard field goal as time expired.
Colorado State got the ball to start OT, but turned the ball over on their first play. The Gophers took over and tried to run the ball down the Rams’ throat, but settled for a 18-yard field goal to win the game, 23-20.
Next week, the Gophers take on Kent State. It should be a much easier game for the Gophers if the team decides to figure out their issues that reared their head on both sides of the ball.
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