After starting the season 3-0, the Minnesota Golden Gophers have people worried after going on a two-game skid. The Gophers have fallen to both the Maryland Terrapins and Purdue Boilermakers, faring poorly in Big Ten play thus far and are now faced with playing host to Michigan State fresh off their upset victory.
Gophers head coach P.J. Fleck has hammered the fact that his team is very, very young. Not only is the team young, they are also lacking in depth and have sustained injuries to key players like safety Antoine Winfield Jr. and receiver Demetrius Douglas.
“These are guys who are freshmen or true freshmen out there playing, and that’s not an excuse, that’s just who’s out there playing,” said Fleck after the game. “We just have to do a better job to get them ready.”
It is the youth of the team that has proven to be the Achilles heel that continually bites this team down the stretch of their conference games. Against Maryland, Gophers quarterback Conor Rhoda threw an interception with two minutes left and the game tied 24-24. Against Purdue, the Gophers found themselves driving down the field when another late-game interception from Rhoda halted the chance to tie the game.
While the both games were lost on interceptions, the youth of the entire team showed in both performances.
Against the Terrapins, the game was tied 17-all headed into the fourth quarter. Sloppy play on the defensive side let running backs Ty Johnson and Lorenzo Harrison III loose in the fourth quarter for 69 yards and a score.
On offense, the running game struggled in far more than in the final quarter. The young Gophers offensive line never really got into the second level of the defense to help break the running attack free. Both Gophers backs Rodney Smith and Shannon Brooks never got going and finished with 74 combined yards.
The youth of this team proved to be a problem for the first time this season when their front could not dispel the rushing attack simply by popping the Terrapins in the mouth. This is the same problem their defense had against both Maryland and Purdue. In Big Ten play, the Gophers were hit back and could not recover.
Against the Boilermakers, the Gophers started out even better and were up 14-6 at halftime. The youth then reared its ugly head down the stretch, giving up 11 points in the fourth quarter to the offense and 18 in the half.
The benching of quarterback David Blough for Elijah Sindelar was the game-saving move, as Sindelar finished with 248 yards and a touchdown.
But the pressure that the Gophers had — along with the running game they kept in check – should have carried over from one quarterback to the other with success. The Gophers let their foot off the gas pedal late in another game and showed they cannot play a full game against a complete Power-5 team.
The one-dimensional Boilermakers drove down the field successfully again and again. Yes, the Gophers have plenty of absent players in the secondary, but they combated that with linebackers making plays in space and the front creating pressure early. If the team is struggling in coverage, Fleck’s squad needs to be able to fall back on the deepest unit – linebacker – to keep coming after the quarterback and making plays. Instead, they let the Boilermakers drive down in the last 2:06 to go up 24-17.
The whole team is inexperienced, and the youth is making expected mistakes, killing the team down the stretch of close games. This is only going to get worse with the team entering the toughest part of their schedule, playing Michigan State, Iowa and Michigan in three of their next four. Buckle up, Gophers fans, this is going to be another tough year.
Listen to the Whole Crew Every Week on the Cold Omaha Staff Pod!
