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Football
Big Ten Countdown
By Tony Gerdeman

11. Minnesota Golden Gophers

Predicted Finish

2-10 (0-8)

Two-Cent Overview

The Gophers have some talent on both sides of the ball thanks to Tim Brewster's recruiting, but it's either been untested or unproductive to this point. Quarterback Adam Weber enters his fourth year as a starter with diminishing returns following him each season. The entire offensive line returns, but who will they be blocking for? The defense only returns two starters (both safeties), but has some promising youth on the front seven. The schedule, however, will be the single-biggest detriment to Minnesota this season.

Schedule

Sept. 2 at Middle Tennessee (L)
Sept. 11 South Dakota (W)
Sept. 18 USC (L)
Sept. 25 Northern Illinois (W)
Oct. 2 Northwestern (L)
Oct. 9 at Wisconsin (L)
Oct. 16 at Purdue (L)
Oct. 23 Penn State (L)
Oct. 30 Ohio State (L)
Nov. 6 at Michigan State (L)
Nov. 13 at Illinois (L)
Nov. 27 Iowa (L)

Team Motto

“There's always next coach.”

Goal

A bowl win. Any bowl. Even if it's only against Notre Dame.

Best Case Scenario

Six wins and then a win in a bowl game. But don't ask me where those six wins are coming from.

Worst Case Scenario

Two wins with a team that barely gets by South Dakota and Northern Illinois before shutting down and completely giving up on the Tim Brewster era.

Five Questions Looking For Answers

1. Will Adam Weber ever become a great quarterback?
2. Will a simplified offense bring about better results?
3. How many receivers does it take to replace one Eric Decker?
4. Is a nearly entirely new starting defense actually a bad thing?
5. Can this new front seven finally get to the quarterback?

Something To Look For

Wisconsin's offense with Minnesota's players. New co-offensive coordinator Jeff Horton (the school's third different coordinator in three seasons) brings with him a more simplified pro-style offense. Horton spent seven seasons (1999-2005) as the quarterbacks coach at Wisconsin specializing in teaching quarterbacks how to be game managers and not game killers. Last season, the offense under then-coordinator Jedd Fisch was deemed a little too complicated to click in its first year, leading to mental mistakes from its players. Horton's offense will rely on a renewed focus on the running game and the play-action pass. Provided the offensive line can keep Adam Weber upright, it could be just the offense he needs to thrive.

Returning Starters

Nine on offense, two on defense and the place-kicker.

Best Player

Safety Kim Royston. Royston is currently in the midst of an incredible recovery from a broken leg in the spring. The extent of the injury was enough to warrant a Joe Theisman reference from Tim Brewster. The senior safety finished third on the team in tackles last year with 86 and provides some much needed leadership on a defense with very little to spare. He is currently only participating in one practice per day during two-a-days, but is fully committed to being ready for the season opener.

Second-Best Player

Wide receiver Troy Stoudermire. Admittedly, this might be a stretch, but if Stoudermire has the kind of season he is capable of having—and gets utilized like he needs to be, then it will all make sense. He is probably the most explosive player on offense, and one of the most versatile. Reports out of camp are that they want to use Stoudermire more than they did last year, but the question remains of whether they'll actually go through with it. He only caught 26 passes last year, and will need to at least double that number if the Gophers want to get their money's worth out of such an electric player. Of course, he also has to show that he can be consistent and not be plagued with the dropped passes that the entire receiving corps dealt with last year.

Best Chance For a Big Loss

At Middle Tennessee. Don't laugh. Minnesota never opens the season well under Brewster, and they actually enter this game as nearly a touchdown underdog. The Blue Raiders have one of the nation's most exciting players in quarterback Dwight Dasher, who rushed for 1,154 yards and threw for 2,789 yards last season. Opening against a player such as Dasher won't be an easy game for a revamped defense. If things don't go well early, Middle Tennessee may start to pull away late.

Most Important Game

Northwestern. Wisconsin may be the game they point to, but you can't climb to the top of the mountain without first getting some footholds. They open the Big Ten season against the Wildcats, and a win or a loss in that game will likely dictate their fate. Last season, they opened conference play with a nice win at Northwestern and eventually found their way to a bowl game. If they want to do the same this year, then the game against the Wildcats is absolutely a must win.

Best Road Game To Pack Up The Family Truckster And Travel To

At Wisconsin. Who wouldn't want to take their children to Madison to watch three and a half hours of violence followed by some ax-wielding? (And that's just in the stands!)

Best Reason They Won't Be Undefeated

The schedule is just impossible. It's absolutely the best home ticket you could ever hope for—if you were a better team. Home games against USC, Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State and Iowa means one win in that group at best. Having automatic losses on your home schedule means that you'll be playing the teams that you COULD beat at home on the road. Which then makes those games even more difficult. Get Purdue, Illinois, Michigan State and Wisconsin at home, and you could have a shot at three wins. Get them on the road, and you're looking at maybe one win in the group. It's just a bad mix. Minnesota is not the least-talented team in the conference, they just have the absolute worst schedule for a team of their skill level.

Best Reason They Will Be Undefeated

For once, Tim Brewster isn't blowing sunshine up everybody's hoo-ha and this actually IS a good team. They do, after all, get their toughest games at home. (But since we've already detailed how this is actually a bad thing, I don't know how convincing my argument for a perfect season can be.)

Game They Shouldn't Lose, But Could

Northern Illinois. The Huskies return 16 starters from a team that lost at Wisconsin last year 28-20 and won at Purdue 28-21. Yes, Minnesota has more talent than Northern Illinois, but that doesn't always matter. And don't forget, the Gophers barely pulled it out against NIU in 2008, when they won 31-27 in the season opener.

Player People Are Expecting Too Much From

Quarterback MarQueis Gray. Loaded with massive quantities of potential, Gray has only been able to show flashes in limited opportunities. But all the fans see is the potential when everything goes right—they don't necessarily see all of the possibilities when things go wrong. Gray will only be able to do so much this season since he won't be getting regular reps, and to expect anything other than a series here or there, or some Wildcat snaps, is unfair to him. Let him play his game this season, and then heap all of the expectations you want to on him next year when he'll actually get a shot at the starting job.

Player People Will Be Pleasantly Surprised By

Linebacker Keanon Cooper. Cooper played in every game last year, never starting once, but still finished seventh on the team with 43 tackles. He also blocked two punts last season as a redshirt freshman and has shown a burst that excites his coaches. Minnesota is replacing all three starters at linebacker, but with Cooper on the weakside, he should produce well over 100 tackles for this defense.

Best Newcomer

Defensive end Ra'Shede Hageman. Hageman (6'6” 272) came to Minnesota as a tight end, and actually chose the Gophers over the Buckeyes because he didn't think he'd get the ball much in Ohio State's offense. He redshirted as a true freshman last season and the move to defense has apparently been a good one. He's not slated to start yet, but his potential may be too great to keep off the field. He is a superior athlete (also reportedly runs in the 4.7 range) and has gotten stronger every day he's been a Gopher.

Something They Do Well

Run. This could be the fastest Gopher defense ever. But before you get excited, remember that Michigan's defense last year may have been THEIR fastest ever also. Speed doesn't always equal success. The Gophers are trying to simplify things on defense as well this season in the hopes that they will be more reactive and less robotic. After all, if you give a fast defense too much to think about, you negate the speed that you recruited in the first place. And while only two full-time starters may be returning this season, there are a number of defenders on this team with starting experience. Things aren't as dire in the experience department as they may seem at first glance.

Something They Don't Do So Well

Get to the quarterback. They may have speed, but they need to start using it to their advantage. An experienced defense only produced 22 sacks last season. The starting defensive ends combined for 2.5 sacks last season (if you can really call 2.5 sacks “combining”). The starting defensive line as a whole produced a whopping 6.5 sacks last season. And the starting linebackers only put up 3.5 of their own. Clearly, there needs to be improvement across the board.

What's Improved?

Depth on offense. Wide receiver Eric Decker may be gone, but there are still four or five talented receivers that will be involved in this offense. There will also be four or five running backs battling for the starting job, including highly-touted freshman Lamonte Edwards (6'2” 215). The offensive line is sound, and the second team is littered with guys who have starting experience. There are currently three quarterbacks on the roster who were recruited by every conference in America—and they will all back up a quarterback with 38 starts under his belt.

What's Gotten Worse?

Defensive experience. Clearly, you don't lose nine starters and suddenly field a more worldly group. The good thing is that most of the likely starters are still underclassmen, so once they get this season under their feet, the next one shouldn't be so bad. Some of the players in question, like middle linebacker Gary Tinsley and defensive back Christyn Lewis, had very encouraging springs.

Anything Else We Should Know?

Run blocking is supposed to be improved. Last year, the Gophers failed to run for at least 100 yards in six games. And in five of those games they were actually held under 60 yards. Last season was the first year going away from the spread offense, so perhaps the run blocking wasn't bought into (or taught) well enough. This season, however, there is a renewed emphasis on run blocking according to the coaches. That's the type of talk that generally thrills offensive lines and can build momentum and morale before the first result is even tallied.

Anything Else?

The defensive line might not be too bad. While the starting defensive ends only produced 2.5 sacks last season, their two backups (D.L. Wilhite and Anthony Jacobs) doubled that number in limited minutes. Add in Ra'Shede Hageman, and perhaps there could be a vast improvement on the edges. The defensive tackles, however, will have a little bit more trouble bettering the production of Eric Small and Garrett Brown from last season. However, likely starters Brandon Kirksey (6'2” 295) and Jewhan Edwards (6'2” 333) could combine to be the largest inside combination in the conference. Their nickname, “The Smash Brothers”, will certainly be hard to top. The size and versatility of defensive ends Jacobs and Hageman could see one or both of them sliding down in passing situations in order to get even more speed on the field.

One Prediction

This will be Tim Brewster's last season in Minneapolis.

Quote most likely to be mistakenly attributed to Shawn Kemp.

“I think that's really unfortunate that there's any emphasis on a college kid making a poor decision. Sure, we've had kids making wrong decisions. But we've had a ton of kids making right decisions. I've got 113 sons. I want every one of my sons to be perfect. But reality says that they're not always going to make the right decisions.”

Coach Speak

“Our administration has seen that we've improved our team. We certainly expect that we will improve our team in Year Four. I think this will be our best team.”

Translated

“I'm in so deep right now that there's really no point in toning down my kookery.”

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