Minnesota Golden Gophers get shut out by Northwestern in B1G opener
The Minnesota Golden Gophers’ scoring summary for Saturday’s game against Northwestern is brought to you by Taylor Swift and her hit single ‘Blank Space’. The scoring was blank for Minnesota as they got shutout by the Wildcats, 27-0, on Saturday in Illinois.
This was the first time the Gophers had been shutout since Jerry Kill’s first season as head coach in 2011 when the Gophers were shutout 58-0 against #19 Michigan in Ann Arbor.
The difference between 2011 and 2015 is the Gophers’ defense. The 27-0 score looks bad, but throw in the fact that the Gophers’ special teams and offense both gave up a touchdown to the Wildcats, that makes it only a 13 point game for the defense. Another solid week from the Golden Gopher defense.
The offensive possession that gave up a Wildcat touchdown was significant for more than just the points. In the opening minutes of the fourth quarter, quarterback Mitch Leidner fumbled the ball and the Wildcats ran it back to the end zone. Leidner would not see the field again on Saturday.
Kill burned the redshirt of true freshman Demry Croft to finish out the game for the Gophers. Croft went 5/11 for 27 yards in his short outing. Leidner went 10/21 for 72 yards and an interception.
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The Gophers could not get their running game going either on Saturday after a promising performance a week ago. Shannon Brooks got carries for only 33 yards and Rodney Smith had 11 carries for 32 yards on the day.
The maroon and gold couldn’t stop the Wildcat backfield. Running back Justin Jackson had a solid day going for 120 yards on 20 carries. Quarterback Clayton Thompson also put up solid numbers going 14/19 for 128 yards in the air. Thompson also scored two touchdowns on the ground, he ran the ball 11 times for 24 yards.
Northwestern goes to 5-0 overall and 1-0 in conference. It looks like Northwestern has a real good chance of competing for the West division crown in the Big Ten. Only Northwestern and Iowa currently stand undefeated overall in the West.
The Gophers now fall to 3-2 overall and 0-1 in the Big Ten. Minnesota will travel to Purdue next week to take on the Boliermakers. Purdue looked like a cake walk a couple weeks ago, but Purdue gave #2 Michigan State all they could handle on Saturday.
It’s pretty important for the Gophers to grab a couple wins these next two weeks. The Gophers upcoming schedule looks like this: @ Purdue, vs. Nebraska, vs. #22 Michigan, @ #1 Ohio State and @ Iowa.