5 things that stood out in the Gophers' loss to Purdue
A crushing homecoming loss to Purdue was not what the Gophers or anyone in the college football world expected Saturday, but that's what Minnesota got as they fell 20-10 while playing without star running back Mohamed Ibrahim.
Here are five things that stood out in the loss.
1. Where was the running game?
Mohamed Ibrahim missed the game with an ankle injury and the running game that Minnesota has dominated with each of the previous four weeks disappeared. Trey Potts (13 yards), Bryce Williams (35 yards) combed for 48 yards on 20 carries, equating to a minuscule 2.4 yards per carry.
It gets worse when you add in six runs for -1 yards from Tanner Morgan and Cole Kramer. As a team, the Gophers averaged 1.8 yards per carry.
Florida Atlantic rushed for 190 yards last week against the Boilermakers, though their previous three opponents were all held at or below 3.6 yards per rush.
2. Door in the Big Ten West is wide open
The Gophers were the heavy favorite to win the Big Ten West after starting 4-0 while the likes of Iowa, Wisconsin and Purdue stumbled in the early weeks. But that door is wide open again.
Illinois pounded Wisconsin in Madison 34-10 to improve to 4-1 overall and 1-1 in the Big Ten and the Iowa Hawkeyes lost at home to Michigan to fall to 3-2 overall and 1-1 in conference. With Purdue also at 3-2 (1-1 in the Big Ten) there is a true race in the West and by no means does Minnesota have full control anymore.
Illinois and Iowa meet in what will be a huge game next Saturday and the Gophers will be watching on their bye week. That will set the stage another massive game Oct. 15 between the Gophers and Illinois in Champagne.
3. Gigantic unforced errors
There were way too many unforced errors by the Gophers.
The 28-yard missed field goal by Matthew Trickett in the first quarter was extremely deflating and then later in the first Tanner Morgan threw off his back foot while scrambling to his left and the pass was tipped and intercepted.
Then on the very next drive P.J. Flecks goes for it on fourth-and-1 from their own 29 and the play fails. Purdue wound up kicking a field goal for a 10-0 lead.
Trailing 10-3 with just over two minutes left in the firsthalf, an easy TD catch was botched by Michael Brown-Stephens and the deflection off his hands was intercepted in the end zone.
4. Red-zone woes
Not that there were many opportunities, but when the Gophers did reach the red zone they failed more often than they succeeded. Here's how their three trips inside the Purdue 20 ended:
- Trip 1: Ends on the missed 28-yard field goal
- Trip 2: Ends on the interception after a perfect pass from Morgan bounced off the hands of Browns-Stephens in the end zone.
- Trip 3: Bryce Williams touchdown
After Williams' touchdown tied the game with 8:06 left in the third quarter, the Gophers generated just 75 yards of offense the rest of the game. Their final drives after the touchdown went punt-punt-punt-interception.
5. Kiss the College Football Playoff talk goodbye
All the hype this past week was about Minnesota being a legit College Football Playoff contender. You know, that four-team playoff featuring the four best teams in the country. That was probably only possible if the Gophers rolled into the Big Ten Championship game with an undefeated record – and even still they would've probably needed a win over Ohio State, Michigan or whatever team represents the East to entertain the idea of playing the CFP.
Now their only hope is to run the table and finish 12-1 as Big Ten champs.
Up next: Gophers at Illinois on Oct. 15
