MINNEAPOLIS -- This past Saturday's bye week allowed the Gophers to do several things.
First, it gave them the chance to get healthy as several injured players got some much-needed time off. Additionally, it gave Minnesota the opportunity to spend a few extra days celebrating its big victory over Michigan, which meant the Little Brown Jug made the rounds on campus as fans and students took their pictures with it.
And since the Gophers weren't playing a game Saturday, they were able to sit back and enjoy watching a plethora of other teams' games. One of those happened to be Northwestern's game against Wisconsin, and the Gophers players got to see the Wildcats pull off a win against the Badgers before this weekend's matchup with Minnesota.
"Saturday, that's all me, my dad and my mom did was just sit on the couch, had the fire going, and we were rolling, watching it," said Gophers tight end Maxx Williams. "They're disciplined. They're a very disciplined defense. They're not going to make mistakes. They're not going to go out there and beat themselves every game. You've got to go out there and make plays to beat them."
If you ask Minnesota offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover where that discipline of Northwestern comes from, he'll be quick to tell you it stems from head coach Pat Fitzgerald. Limegrover was a graduate assistant with the Wildcats from 1995-96, and Fitzgerald was a linebacker on both of those teams.
Even though Limegrover worked on the offensive side of the ball during his time there, he still has high praise for the type of player Fitzgerald was -- and how he's used those skills now as a head coach.
"He's one of probably the smartest defensive players I've ever been around," Limegrover said of Fitzgerald. "You just see that carry over. They don't beat themselves. They don't have a lot of penalties. You don't often go, 'Boy, we can really exploit them there.' Kids get in the right spot, and I think I give him and give (defensive coordinator) Mike Hankwitz a ton of credit. They've just stayed with the plan."
After starting out with a pair of losses to open the season, Northwestern has won three straight games. That includes a dominant 29-6 win on the road against Penn State two weeks ago and a home victory over No. 17 Wisconsin this past Saturday.
Minnesota, meanwhile, is coming off a bye week after its win against Michigan. A few weeks ago after the Wildcats got off to a slow start, this would have looked like an easy win for the Gophers on paper. But Northwestern has shown some fight lately, and Minnesota knows it can't take the Wildcats lightly.
"I think if you look at us, you could say we struggled too," Gophers coach Jerry Kill said when asked about Northwestern's slow start to the year. "Teams sometimes early in the year, for whatever reason -- timing, continuity, injuries, things of that nature -- sometimes you get off to a slow start until everybody comes together. . . . I think the key is that you keep improving each week and disregard everything that happens and just get better."
Bye week helps Gophers get healthy: A Saturday with no game and a week with scaled-back practices helped Minnesota's banged-up roster recover a bit before facing Northwestern.
That included a few key cogs on the Gophers' offense, including quarterback Mitch Leidner and running back David Cobb. Offensive lineman Zac Epping continues to deal with a high ankle sprain, but Kill said he's improving.
In total, the Gophers held about a dozen players out of practice last week to help rest them up for this week's practices.
"You like to have that continuity when you're practicing, and that continuity hurts you on game days sometimes," Kill said. "It's part of the game. Certainly, shuffling people around gives you more experience. That's the other way to look at it. You take a negative and turn it into a positive."
TCF Bank Stadium ready for quick turnaround: As soon as the final whistle blows at the end of Saturday's game between Minnesota and Northwestern, things will start to get hectic at TCF Bank Stadium. That's because the university has less than 24 hours to convert the field from a Gopher-centric atmosphere to one suited to host the Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions at noon Sunday.
This is the first year the Gophers have let the Vikings share their home stadium as the latter awaits the construction of their new stadium. Saturday will be the first (and only) occurrence during the regular season that the Gophers will have a home game Saturday followed by a Vikings game in Minneapolis the following day.
The university did have some practice earlier this year when the Vikings had a preseason game on a Friday and the Gophers held a scrimmage at the stadium the following day. According to Gophers associate athletic director Scott Ellison, a crew of eight people will work 12 hours to convert the field, with the hope of being finished by 6 a.m. Sunday morning.
"We're not just flipping the field, we're flipping the entire stadium," Ellison said. "We've got to clean everything. We've got to get everything ready for the Vikings on Sunday. . . .We've got a good plan in place."
Early forecasts call for good weather in the Twin Cities this weekend, which will help the transformation. Ellison said a total of 80 gallons of water-based paint -- 30 gallons for the Gophers game, and another 50 for the Vikings game -- will be used to paint the end zones and midfield logo on the turf. The paint is then removed with a solvent and giant brushes and then groomed by a tractor and rake.
Luckily for the university, this weekend is the only time the Gophers have to worry about flipping their field in such a short timeframe.
"We were hoping we would get none, but we'll live with one," Ellison said. "It's going to be a challenge, but it's going to be a good challenge. It'll prepare us for next year if this happens again."
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