Gophers preparing for 'tremendous challenge' of facing Ohio State offense
MINNEAPOLIS -- Jerry Kill tried his best to enjoy Saturday's win against Iowa, but the Gophers head coach had a hard time doing so.
After returning home following Minnesota's 51-14 victory, Kill kicked back on his couch to watch Ohio State -- the Gophers' next opponent -- face off against Michigan State. What Kill and the rest of the nation saw was a Buckeyes team hang 49 points against what has been one of the best defenses in the Big Ten.
"You don't get a chance to enjoy the win, and now all you do is worry about what you're going to do," Kill said at his press conference Tuesday. "I knew they were pretty good, but that just emphasized how good they are, because I know how good Michigan State's defense is."
Stopping that high-octane Ohio State offense will be the Gophers' next task this Saturday when the 14th-ranked Buckeyes visit TCF Bank Stadium for the first time since 2010. The last time these two schools met, Ohio State dealt Minnesota a 52-10 loss.
This year's Buckeyes team is once again capable of putting up 50 points on just about anybody, as they showed this past Saturday. Ohio State is averaging 46.0 points per game this season, the fourth-most of all Football Bowl Subdivision teams. While the Gophers' defense has been good for most of the year, Kill's team hasn't faced anybody as good on offense as the Buckeyes.
"They're playing as good as anybody is playing right now. I think they continue to get better on offense and defense since the first of the season," said Gophers defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys. "But anytime you have a chance to still be playing for the divisional championship in your division and you get to November, then it's more of an excitement than it is worrying about who you're playing."
Indeed, Minnesota still has a chance to win the Big Ten West as it is currently one of three one-loss teams in the division. The other two -- Nebraska and Wisconsin -- will be the Gophers' final two opponents of the regular season.
Before that, though, Claeys and his defense will have their hands full trying to slow down an Ohio State offense that is seemingly unstoppable. Since losing 35-21 in their second game of the season, the Buckeyes have scored 49 or more points in six of their last seven contests. By comparison, Minnesota has topped the 49-point mark just six times over the last 10 seasons.
This offensive dominance by Ohio State might have been expected when star quarterback Braxton Miller was anticipated as playing all season. But the senior suffered a season-ending injury before the year began. OSU turned to redshirt freshman quarterback J.T. Barrett, who has done a more-than-admirable job as Miller's replacement.
Entering Saturday's matchup, Barrett is averaging 239.6 passing yards per game, third-best among Big Ten quarterbacks. But Barrett can also run. His 64.7 yards per game rank 10th in the conference, ahead of some team's starting running backs.
Containing the Buckeyes quarterback will be the Gophers defense's biggest challenge. Slowing him down is easier said than done.
"I said Braxton Miller when we started the year was the best quarterback, and maybe one of the best in the country," Kill said. "I would tell you that Braxton is very, very good, but this young man, they've done a great job of bringing him along, and he has the same type of running ability, but he throws the ball better right now, I believe, than what Braxton did, and Braxton threw it good. But this kid's on fire right now."
Ohio State has weapons at receiver, too, and they've helped Barrett transition nicely in his first year of college football. Kill and Claeys stressed Tuesday the importance of being able to tackle those receivers and not allow them to get loose in open space.
The Gophers defense played one of its best games of the season on Saturday against Iowa. Minnesota held the Hawkeyes scoreless for much of the game after an Iowa touchdown on the opening drive. Aside from that, the Hawkeyes' only other touchdown in the 51-14 loss came late in the fourth quarter after 51 unanswered points by the Gophers.
That same defense will need to be even better on Saturday against an OSU offense that has been great even by its own lofty standards. Claeys pointed out a statistic he heard after the Buckeyes thumped Rutgers 56-17 earlier this year: it was the first time in Ohio State's 125 years of football that it had scored 50 or more points in four straight games.
"When you do things that is being done for the first time ever at Ohio State, I think that speaks huge as to how good you are on offense," Claeys said. "What they've done offensively to grow and get better and improve, they've just been continuing to do it all year and playing against anybody, and it will be a tremendous challenge."
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