Weather was really the only thing that halted linebacker Matt Kingsbury and his Gophers teammates Saturday afternoon.
With 6:15 remaining in the fourth quarter of a 66-0 blowout victory against overmatched FCS foe Northwestern (Louisiana) State at Huntington Bank Stadium, the two coaching staffs mutually agreed to call things early rather than endure a severe-weather delay.
Before that, though, Minnesota piled up its highest point total in a single game since a 66-10 win over Murray State on Oct. 27, 2001.
“Going into a game, no matter who we’re playing, it’s Minnesota vs. Minnesota,” said Kingsbury, who had two fumble recoveries, including one he returned 25 yards for a touchdown at the end of the first quarter.
“Our goal is to be 1-0 every week. We’re not looking at the score. We didn’t care about the opponent. We’re going against Minnesota at the end of the day, and we’re just having fun with our friends.”
The fun came early and often as the Gophers scored on their first eight offensive possessions (recording touchdowns on the first six and the eighth), and added a pair of first-quarter defensive touchdowns, including Kingsbury’s fumble return.
In all, Minnesota piled up 484 yards of total offense. The Demons – who last week snapped a 20-game, 1,027-day losing streak with a 20-10 win over Alcorn State in their season opener – finished with only 42 and just a pair of first downs.
“We knew it was about us (today),” said Gophers coach P.J. Fleck, whose team opened its season with a 23-10 home win over Buffalo on Aug. 28. “We knew we had to start fast, accelerate in the middle and finish strong, and I thought our players accomplished that. We had a lot of things we needed to improve on from last week to this week in all three phases and I thought we did that, especially when the 1’s were in there.
“We played 76 players today. Mission accomplished.”
Indeed, on a day when the final outcome was never in doubt, the only drama the Gophers faced came when running back Darius Taylor – the team’s leading rusher a year ago – left the game after appearing to grab the back of his leg following a 17-yard run on Minnesota’s first offensive series.
Afterward, Fleck termed Taylor’s initial diagnosis as positive, but said he wasn’t going to put him back in the game. He added the running back will be evaluated as the team goes through the coming week.
“You immediately feel for the person because you know everything (they’ve) been through – what they invest in themselves, how hard they work and the time they spend in the training room to prevent these kinds of things,” Fleck said.
“But it’s football. (Injuries) happen.”
Other than that, though, it was all smiles for Fleck’s team.
The tone was set on the opening play from scrimmage when defensive back John Nestor picked off a pass and raced 29 yards down the Northwestern State sideline for a touchdown that put the Gophers on top 7-0.
“It was definitely good to get started early and get a jump on everything,” Nestor said. “But I just thought we played a great game overall as a defense.”
Including scoring a second defensive touchdown on Kingsbury’s fumble return with 27 seconds left in the first quarter. But, by that point, the Gophers offense had also scored three times.
It added up to 35 first-quarter points – the most Minnesota, which held a 135 to (-10) edge in first-quarter offense, has scored in a single quarter dating back to at least 1973 (as far back as complete records go).
“I brought our offense up after the first quarter and told them we had to keep our foot on the pedal,” said redshirt freshman quarterback Drake Lindsey, who was 8 of 9 passing for 139 yards and a touchdown before exiting his second collegiate start in the second quarter.
“Games like this are going to happen sometimes and that’s when you have to take advantage of it.”
The Gophers continued to do that in the second quarter, extending the margin to 59-0 at halftime. By that time, Lindsey had already given way to Stillwater’s Max Shikenjanski at quarterback.
The sophomore connected with running back Fame Ijeboi on a 22-yard touchdown pass in his first collegiate series under center, then scored on an 8-yard run in the third quarter.
That’s where the scoring ended, though the Gophers had two drives that were stopped short of the end zone – one on an interception at the Demons’ 29 in the third quarter and another on downs at the Northwestern State 2 just before the game was called.
A touchdown on either of those drives would have meant crossing the 70-point mark for the first time since an 81-0 win over Butler on Nov. 13, 1926 – just over 99 years ago when Herb Joesting, the “Owatonna Thunderbolt,” was an All-American fullback for the Gophers.
Related Articles
St. Thomas football: Tommies QB Andy Peters heads into anticipated homecoming vs. ranked Idaho
Gophers volleyball loses libero to knee injury
Gophers football thankful for Vikings’ willingness to open doors, talk ball
Gophers nab top girls hoops recruit in Nebraska
Gophers football vs. Northwestern State: Keys to game, how to watch, who has edge
But Fleck was happy enough with his team’s play, as it allowed him to take a look at a lot of players who may need to be called on as the season moves along.
“We were going to score often and score fast, then get to a lot of the players that we need to bring the floor of this program up,” he said of his team’s approach Saturday. “The deeper we are, the better we’re going to be for this 10-game stretch of all power four (conference) football.”
That stretch begins with a road matchup against California (of the Atlantic Coast Conference) at 9:30 p.m. (CDT) next Saturday, then it’s back home to open Big Ten play against Rutgers on Sept. 27.
“Now football begins,” Fleck said. “That’s no disrespect to our first two opponents, but you all know what I’m talking about. Power four football starts now.”
Briefly
With the victory Saturday, Fleck became the fifth Gophers head coach to reach 60 wins at the school joining Henry L. Williams, Bernie Bierman, Murray Warmath and Glen Mason. … The Gophers improved to 63-4 all-time against current FCS teams, and have now won eight-straight against opponents from that level – including a 5-0 record during Fleck’s tenure as head coach. … The Big Ten Network broadcast crew for Saturday’s game had a definite Gopher feel. Former Minnesota quarterback Tanner Morgan handled the color commentating duties while former Gopher women’s golfer Emma Carpenter was on sideline reporting duty.
Leave a Reply