MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Golden Gophers football team escaped Las Vegas last week with a 30-27 win over UNLV and now returns to TCF Bank Stadium for the 2012 home opener Saturday against New Hampshire. The Gophers didn't exactly look sharp in that three-overtime victory but did just enough late in the game to hang on.
Now, Minnesota welcomes a Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) team in UNH. A year ago, North Dakota State, another FCS school, toppled the Gophers in Minneapolis. Minnesota will look to avoid that fate and to begin the year 2-0 for the first time since 2009. Five things to watch for as the 1-0 Gophers host the 1-0 Wildcats in an 11 a.m. CT game.
1. Can Minnesota avoid the FCS curse?
During Jerry Kill's first year as head coach last season, Minnesota finished with just three wins. One of the Gophers' nine losses came against an FCS opponent — at home, no less. The North Dakota State Bison came into TCF Bank Stadium and easily handed the Gophers a 37-24 loss that left the Minnesota faithful stunned while the Bison fans that made the trip from Fargo were overjoyed.
Minnesota can't let that happen again when New Hampshire comes to town Saturday. Though there will be far fewer Wildcats fans in the stands this weekend than there were NDSU supporters last year, the Gophers still insist they're not taking UNH for granted. After all, they learned their lesson the hard way.
"College football, what makes it good is you better strap it up every week and you better be ready to play because there's good teams everywhere," Kill said. "It doesn't matter what level, so to speak, it is. You better be ready to play. That's our message to our kids, but I think we understand that because we've been through that here, not getting some of the games you need to get."
2. Will MarQueis Gray eliminate the overthrows?
Statistically, Gray had a solid performance last Thursday against UNLV as he passed for 269 yards and two touchdowns (both in overtime). But there were plenty of passes Gray didn't make that could have easily resulted in touchdowns or big gains downfield. Gray missed a wide-open John Rabe on the team's opening drive. Rabe would have scored on the play. Instead, Gray was intercepted just two plays later.
Gray missed Rabe again on an open pass in the second quarter and couldn't hit a wide-open Andre McDonald on a deep pass on third-and-17 in the second half.
Though Gray calmed down in overtime, throwing touchdown passes to Rabe in the first and second overtimes, he admitted first-game anxiety led to the overthrows. Can he settle those nerves on Saturday against New Hampshire?
"I made a few plays, but not as many as I wanted to," Gray said Tuesday. "I had a couple overthrown balls. I was just anxious to be back out there. … Just take it one play at a time heading into this week. I've been making those throws in practice. That's gaining confidence and believing in myself to make those throws this Saturday."
3. Can the defense keep forcing turnovers?
Last season, Minnesota's defense intercepted just four passes. It nearly matched that total in one game last Thursday as the Gophers picked off UNLV quarterback Nick Sherry three times.
Two of those interceptions were made by sophomore safety Derrick Wells, who as a result was both the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week and the Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week. Wells' second interception came in the third overtime, which helped set up Minnesota's game-winning field goal.
The Gophers ranked dead last among Big Ten teams last year with just four interceptions. New Hampshire did not throw an interception in 35 total pass attempts in its season-opening win against Holy Cross. Now is Minnesota's chance to show that its defense is much-improved and can make some game-changing plays.
"I thought we played very well on the defensive side of the football until maybe we got into overtime," Kill said. "We lost some contain on the inside run game a couple times in overtime that hurt us, and then we made a couple mistakes at the corner position that hurt us. But other than that, I thought we played very aggressive, much faster than we did a year ago."
4. Did Donnell Kirkwood do enough to solidify his role as the starting running back?
Entering Thursday's game against UNLV, it was uncertain which of the Gophers' tailbacks would get the most carries. Minnesota has depth at the position but not a lot of experience. In the end, it was the redshirt sophomore Kirkwood who got the start. He ran for 81 yards on 13 carries, including several runs of 10-plus yards.
But junior college transfer James Gillum also got a fair share of the carries, rushing 14 times for 51 yards and a touchdown. Devon Wright had just one carry for seven yards, and David Cobb did not see the field.
If anything, Thursday's game showed that Minnesota has more depth in the backfield than it has in recent memory.
"It keeps the other team guessing," Kirkwood said of the depth. "We have so many running styles in the backfield. With me, it's kind of power. With Devon, it's speed. With James, it's kind of both. With Cobb, he's kind of both. It's pretty good to have so many different types of running backs and so many backs that know what they're doing when they get in the game."
5. Will the students show up?
Much has been made this fall about the lack of attendance by students at games last year. Despite being in just its third year last season, TCF Bank Stadium didn't draw the crowds Minnesota was hoping for. Part of that, of course, was due to a lack of on-field success. The Gophers had back-to-back three-win seasons in 2010 and 2011.
Now in his second year, Kill knows the importance of rebuilding a fan base, starting with the students. Throughout the week, he and first-year athletic director Norwood Teague have been out and about on campus, meeting with students as the team prepares for its home opener.
On Saturday, we'll see if the students were paying attention.
"In building a program, you gotta do more than just coach," Kill said. "I'd like to go in that office and do nothing but coach and stay hidden out and coach football, but I'm not in position to do that when you're building a program. I've gotta coach. I've gotta get out there and get people on board. We have to do a whole lot of things to get things and then we have to win with it; and winning solves a lot of problems."
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