Here are a few Top 10 lists to sum up the 2011 Minnesota Gophers football season.

Top 10 Performances:

10. Bennett 114 rushing yards vs. Northwestern
9. Royston 16 tackles vs. Iowa
8. Gray 167 yards rushing 85 passing and 3TD’s vs. Illinois
7. Gray 171 yards rushing and 163 passing vs. Miami Oh
6. Wettstein’s 2/2 on FG’s from 43&51 and 3of3 on PAT’s and 6 solid kickoffs vs. Illinois
5. McKnight 9 catches for 146 yards and 1 TD vs. New Mexico State
4. Royston 17 tackles and an INT vs. Northwestern
3. Gray’s 71 yards rushing and 295 passing and 3TD’s vs. Michigan State
2. Bennett’s 101 yards rushing and 1 TD vs. Iowa
1. McKnight’s 3TD’s and 9 catches for 173 yards vs. Michigan St.

Top 10 Moments:

10. 51 yard field goal to end the first half vs. Illinois up 20-0
9. Sack/fumble recovery on Matt Barkley on 4th down
8. Pass Breakup in the end zone to beat Miami and give Kill his first win
7. Bennett’s kickoff return for a TD vs. Wisconsin
6. Bennett blocking and recovering a punt for a TD vs. Miami
5. Fake FG TD vs. Wisconsin
4. Gray’s touchdown to beat Iowa
3. Recovering the on-side kick in the 4th quarter vs. Iowa
2. Leaving the seniors with a win on Senior Day vs. Illinois
1. Storming the field to celebrate with Floyd of Rosedale

Bottom 10 Moments:

10. Orseske’s punt vs. Wisconsin that bounced right back to him
9. Late interceptions on potential game winning drives vs. USC & Michigan State
8. Interception at the end of the game to seal the loss vs. NDSU
7. Losing 45-17 to Purdue
6. Nebraska fumbling forward for a 1st down
5. Badgers retaining the axe for 8th consecutive year
4. Losing to New Mexico State
3. Losing 58-0 to Michigan
2. Pick 6 before half of the NDSU game
1. Jerry Kill having a seizure on the field in his first home game

Instead of previewing the final game of the year vs. Illinois, I decided to spend my time on this year’s senior class highlighting Du’ane Bennett. A quick note about the Illinois game….if the Gophers can pull the upset, I think we’ll see Ron Zook be fired no later than Monday. Also, MarQueis Gray needs just 46 rushing yards to break Ricky Foggie’s single season record for QB rushing yards. Da’Jon McKnight would need a monster day of 153 receiving yards to become the 7th Gopher to catch for 2,000 yards.

24 seniors will take the field on Saturday for the final time. This year’s senior class probably has gone through more change than any class in the history of Minnesota.

Think about the path of Du’ane Bennett:

2006: Bennett out of St. Louis Missouri was recruited by Glen Mason’s staff and Bennett had visions of running a zone run offense and be the Marion Barber/Laurence Maroney back for Mitch Browning’s offense. The staff he was recruited by was fired 1 month before signing day. Bennett kept his word to Minnesota and stayed on to play for coach Brewster and his staff.

2007: Bennett comes to school to work out in June as a 17 year old. He is slotted to be a red-shirt running back well behind the depth chart of Amir Pinnix who had run for 1,000 yards the year before. His offensive coordinator is Mike Dunbar who runs a wide open offense. Pinnix & Jay Thomas both get injured and Bennett is thrown in as the starter on a terrible team. On the road at Michigan in front of 110,000+ fans Bennett now 18 years old runs for more than 100 yards. He is the only back receiving carries the final 5 or so weeks of the season and leads all running backs with 107 carries. The Gophers go 1-11 including 0-8 in the Big10.

2008: Bennett is the starting running back week 1. He runs in a TD on 4th down to win the season opener over Northern Illinois (Kill’s 1st game at NIU). In his 2nd game of the year at Bowling Green he tore his ACL. In less than 2 games played he had already piled up over 265 yards of offense and 3TD’s. He watched from the sidelines as his Gophers jumped out to a 7-1 record before falling flat on their face to finish 7-6.

2009: Bennett is given a medical red-shirt and has a 2nd crack at a Sophomore year. Jedd Fisch replaces Mike Dunbar as Bennett’s new offensive coordinator. Fisch runs a different style of a “spread offense” than Dunbar. Bennett recovers from his torn ACL and is the Gophers starting running back. He leads Minnesota to a victory over Syracuse and looks great doing so. The next week the Gophers play their first ever game at TCF Bank Stadium. Bennett eventually falls behind in the running back rotation to DeLeon Eskridge & Kevin Whaley that year primarily serving as the 3rd down back and key special team player. The Gophers go 6-7 overall.

2010: Jedd Fisch left as O-Coordinator and is replaced by Jeff Horton who changes the offense to a Pro-Style look. Bennett yet again wins the starting job and has his best game as a Gopher in the opening game at Middle Tennessee St. running for 187 yards. The rest of the season goes terrible and his head coach Tim Brewster is fired and replaced by Jeff Horton. Thomas Hammock replaces Horton as the offensive coordinator for the final 5 games. Again Bennett loses carries to Eskridge down the stretch. He finishes the season with just 529 rushing yards despite 187 in the first week.

2011: Jerry Kill takes over the Gophers with Matt Limegrover as the offensive coordinator running a “pistol offense”. Bennett starts his 5th year at the “U” in graduate school after graduating in the spring of 2010. Bennett AGAIN wins the starting spot, but loses it to Donnel Kirkwood, but eventually reclaims the spot. Another season that is not going well in terms of wins-losses, but Bennett makes the most of his opportunity. He blocks a punt and recovers it for a TD vs. Miami Oh. He returns a kickoff for a TD vs. Wisconsin. He runs for 100+ yards in a win over Iowa and loss at Northwestern.

The 22 year old man that came to campus as a 17 year old will leave the U with a degree, a start on his Master’s, and has had 2 home stadiums. Counting the staff he committed to, he has gone through 3 head coaches, 6 offensive coordinators (Browning, Dunbar, Fisch, Horton, Hammock, Limegrover), has also seen the defense change coordinators 5 times. He has won, lost, and won the starting job back as running back more times than you can imagine. He will leave as just the 13th player ever to rush for over 2,000 yards. He has seen action in 5 seasons as a Gopher, in those 5 years the Gophers have a combined record of 19-42, just 9-30 in the Big10. That may be a NCAA & Big10 record for losses by 1 player due to 3 terrible teams, 2 mediocre ones, and the fact he played 5 years. He was a player on teams that played in 2 Insight bowls, won at Illinois the year after they had been to the Rose Bowl, and beat Iowa twice. He was also a player on teams that have lost to NDSU twice, and South Dakota once. He was there when Brewster brought the grass in from Pasadena (whatever happened to that anyway?), he heard “Gopher Nation”, “Get your chilli hot”, he watched his head coach have a seizure on the sideline. He has shared carries with the following players as running backs: Amir Pinnix, Jay Thomas, DeLeon Eskridge, Shady Salamon, Kevin Whaley, and Donnell Kirkwood. Now, look to our neighbors to the south and east and they have had 1 head coach, 1 coordinator, and 1 system their entire tenure. Let’s hope the next group of Gophers have a little more stability than Bennett has had. There are 23 other seniors leaving that all have similar stories to tell. Here is a brief summary of some others:

Jacobs, Bunders, Wynn, Orton & McGarry – all recruited by Mason and are finishing their 5th season with the program.

Then you have guys that were in Brewster’s super-recruiting class #18 in the nation that played as true freshman: McKnight, Tinsley, Lair, (who all should have been red-shirted) and Brandon Kirksey. Others like Stoudermire, Salamon, who moved positions. Guys that have not made a ton of contributions like Johnny Johnson. Walk-ons like Klizke, Shwerman & Sveum, Gatling, Glickstein, Haviland, Lueck, & Wettstein. Think about JUCO transfer Lewis, Mankato St. walk-on transfer Henderson. Last but not least Kim Royston who played for the Badgers in 2006-2007, sat out in 2008, played in 2009, missed the entire 2010 season with an injury and now has lead the team in tackles in 2011.

Imagine the excitement that guys like Adam Lueck & Jordan Wettstein had when the Gophers faked the FG and scored a touchdown against the Badgers. Both kids have been with the program going to class and practice every day for 4 years. Lueck never once getting a snap at his QB position, but serves as the “holder”. Wettstein kicks for 4 years in practice and is finally put into a game midway through his senior year when Hawthorne is injured. Then, vs. the biggest rival of the year, a snap (from a walk-on), to Lueck (walk-on) who no looks it through his legs to Wettstein (walk-on) who runs it in for a touchdown in front of 50,000 fans mostly from his home state.

24 players in all will be called out as Seniors this week, and several of them were only here for some of the past 4 years. Think of the players recruited that SHOULD have or COULD have been playing their final home game:

Shane Potter
Andre Tate’
Trey Davis
Justin Chatman
Marc Cheatham
Jimmy Thompson
Clint Brewster
Tim Dandridge
Jewhan Edwards
Deleon Eskridge
Vincent Hill
Broderick Smith
Kevin Whaley

This is the final class that will have played games in the Metrodome or were recruited by Mason’s staff. I know its been a bumpy road, but THANK YOU Gopher Seniors for sticking with the program. I hope they are rewarded with a win in their final game in the maroon & gold.

Positives:

• 269 rushing yards
• 2 players over 100 yards rushing
• Young players continue to get valuable experience
• D-line depth improving
• Back-up Kicker made both FG attempts including a 48 yarder

Negatives:

• Punting
• Dropped passes
• Gray’s accuracy
• D-back play
• Kickoffs
• Kickoff Returns

Thoughts:

The Gophers played in front an announced 26,000 fans on Saturday.  I’m not going to look, but that may be the lowest attended Big10 Gopher game in my lifetime.  I think even Madison had at least 30k at their games pre-Alveraz.

MarQueis Gray is described by Glen Mason as a 10 handicap golfer, and I think the analogy is spot on.  Against Michigan State, he was solid in golf terms shooting in the mid 70’s.  Then last week vs. Wesconsin (as Jerry Kill pronounces it) he was more of a bogey golfer.  This week I give him an 80…he had some great shots (plays) and some bad ones, overall pretty solid though. Gray needs to become a 4 handicap type QB next year for the Gophers to be successful.

For the first time since the opening game of 2006 vs. Kent State the Gophers had 2 players go for over 100 yards rushing.  In 2006 it was Alex Daniels and Amir Pinnix, I follow Gopher football a little too close, as I didn’t look that stat up but I’m 99% sure its correct.

The Gophers had more 1^st downs, more rushing yards, and more total yards than Northwestern yet lost by 15.  Special teams is a big reason why, and 2 possessions the Gophers were at the NW 11 one came away with a FG, the other an interception.  Getting 14 pts instead of 3 is huge.  Moulton also dropped a TD that would have been HUGE too.

The Gophers defense looked as bad as it could in the 1^st quarter on Saturday.  Northwestern put up 21 and didn’t start with the ball, and had it when the quarter ended.  I thought 60 was possible at that point.  Somehow, the defense made adjustments and stepped up allowing just 7 points in the final 45 minutes.

The Gophers have a LONG ways to go as a team, but the past 4 weeks has been a TON more enjoyable to watch, and gives me hope for next year and beyond.

Numbers

• 87^th meeting between Minnesota & Northwestern
• 4^th most played game by Minnesota, trialing Wisconsin, Iowa & Michigan
• 50-31-5 All-time vs. Northwestern (.610)
• .610 winning percentage is highest among active Big10 opponents
• 22-18-2 All-time at Northwestern (.548)
• 108th ranked passing offense in the nation
• 106th ranked pass efficiency
• 111th total offense
• 112th scoring offense
• 101^st rushing defense
• 113th pass efficiency defense
• 105^th total defense
• 104th scoring defense
• 111th ranked turnover margin
• 106th sacks
• Have given up 152 points in the 2^nd quarter of games this year (15.2 per game), and 85 in the 1^st quarter (8.5)  That is an AVERAGE of 23.7 first half points per game.  By comparison, the Gophers are averaging

Wildcat Numbers

• 9th pass efficiency offense
• 15^th punt returns

Behind Enemy Lines

It’s hard to believe that Pat Fizgerald is in his 6^th season as the Wildcats coach.  Northwestern looks to become bowl eligible with a win over Minnesota this week. The Cats are on a 3 game winning streak with a huge win 2 weeks ago in Lincoln, Nebraska.  Northwestern is lead by Sr. QB Dan Persa who threw and ran all over Minnesota last fall.  The road team has won the past 3 years in the MN-NW series.  The series has produced a ton of great games, and I’m happy as a Gopher fan that the series will be played every year as both teams are members of the “Legends” division.  This year’s Northwestern team is no different than many of the past teams, they can score points, score quickly and are have a solid QB.  There defense however is subject to allowing a lot of yards and points.

Record watch

• Duane Bennett ranks 15th on the Gophers all-time rushing list (just 45 shy of 2,000)
• Da’Jon McKnight ranks 8th on the receiving yards, 8th for 100 yard receiving games
•  MarQueis Gray has ran for 639 yards which is 3rd most in a season by a Gopher QB (needs 193 rushing yards in the final 2 games to become the all-time single season leader)

Thoughts:

The last time Minnesota won a game away from the state of Minnesota was last November in Illinois.  It also marks Jerry Kill & his staff’s first game back in Illinois where they spent the past 10 seasons coaching Southern & Northern Illinois.  The Gophers have 2 games to finish 2011 that will go a long ways toward the mood of the offseason.  If they get blown out the next 2 weeks, fans will be questioning the Kill hire all offseason.  If they’re competitive and lose, its still going to be a long offseason.  IF they could pull out a couple of upsets, I think fans will jump on the Kill bandwagon with optimism for 2012. 

I think the Gophers offense plays their best game of the season.  The line plays well, Gray has one of if not THE best game of his career and the Gophers move the ball well all day.  However, I just fear the Gophers secondary will get picked apart all day long by Dan Persa.  The Gophers need to win the turnover battle and play smart to have a chance.  I see this game coming down to the final 5 minutes.  Gophers pull out the big upset with scoreboard getting lit up 42-39

Positives:

• The temp was 61 degrees
• The game only took 2 hours and 46 minutes
• Only 3 penalties on Minnesota
• Nobody on the Gophers appeared to get injured
• 2 of the more exciting plays of the year
  - Fake Field Goal for a Touchdown
  - Kickoff Return for a Touchdown

Negatives:

• Run Blocking
• Passing Offense
• Run Defense
• Pass Defense

Thoughts:

The Gophers lost the Axe for the 8th consecutive time, in a game that was not very competitive. The Gophers 1st defensive possession had a great chance to set the tone never did. Here is the recap:

To start the game, the Badgers dropped the opening kickoff and should have started within their own 10, instead they broke a tackle and started at the 19.

Facing 2nd and 9 on their own 20, Wilson had all day to throw completing a 13 yard pass.

After a sack on 2nd down the Badgers faced a 3rd and 13 at their own 30. Wilson took what seemed like an eternity as he had no pressure and eventually found a wide open receiver for 17 yards.

On the very next play, Wilson was sacked again leaving 2nd and 13. 2 runs by ball later and another 3rd down completion was had.

A while later, the Badgers had a holding penalty on 1st down, leaving them a 1st and 20. 3 plays later they scored an easy touchdown.

This drive summed up the game for Minnesota. Big holes on the O-line for running, way too much time for Wilson. The times Minnesota had a chances to get off the field, the Badgers made the plays they needed to.

There isn’t much to say except Wisconsin is a much better football team in nearly every phase of the game. I’m just hoping the next time the Badgers come back, the Gophers have a more competitive team. Watching the axe leave every time it comes back is getting very old. With the victory for Wisconsin they become the 1st ever opponent to win twice in TCF Bank Stadium.