One streak was snapped while another continued Saturday as
Minnesota fell 20-7 to rival Wisconsin. It snapped the Gophers' four-game
winning streak while it extended the Badgers' streak in the border battle to 10
straight victories. The loss dropped Minnesota to 8-3 heading into the final
regular-season game of the year this Saturday at Michigan State -- the toughest
defense in the Big Ten and one of the best defensive units in college football.
Thanks to everyone who submitted questions to this week's mailbag. I hope
everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Q: OK, presuming a loss next week at Michigan State (I
mean, seriously), what is the BEST bowl game we can hope for?
--Alex, Minneapolis
A: If Minnesota loses Saturday against a tough
Spartans squad, that leaves the Gophers at 8-4 to finish the regular season. I
think at this point, the best bowl fans can hope for would be the Buffalo Wild
Wings Bowl, which is reserved for the Big Ten's fourth or fifth-best team. A
lot will depend, of course, on how many teams in the conference earn BCS bids,
or if Ohio State can somehow sneak into the national championship. If so, that
should raise every team up one spot in terms of the bowl game pecking order.
As it stands, the Gophers are projected to go anywhere from
the Texas Bowl on Dec. 27 to the Gator Bowl on Jan. 1 to the Buffalo Wild Wings
Bowl on Dec. 28. Some projects have Michigan earning a better bowl game than
Minnesota, but the 7-4 Wolverines currently trail the 8-3 Gophers by a game in
the Big Ten Legends Division standings and have a game against rival Ohio State
(the third-ranked Buckeyes are undefeated) on Saturday. It's not out of the
question to think that the Gophers could end up with a better bowl game than
the Wolverines.
Even though the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl is Dec. 28, that
doesn't mean it's less glamorous than the Gator Bowl on New Year's Day -- it's
actually a better bowl game. Now if Minnesota were to pull off an upset this
Saturday and beat Michigan State on the road, there's a chance the Gophers
could sneak into the Outback Bowl. Minnesota's players insist they're not
worried about which bowl game they'll be playing in, but there could be a lot
on the line this weekend for the Gophers and several other teams jockeying for
position on the bowl game totem pole.
Q: Why is Ra'Shede Hageman not on the field as much late
in the season? Is he nursing an injury? He is a horse and can blow up any play.
--Russ Craigmile, Alexandria, Minn.
A: That's a good question as to why Hageman has been
on the sideline for some plays, including Saturday's game against Wisconsin. As
far as I know, he's not nursing an injury. However, at this point in a football
season, no player is truly 100 percent, and I'm sure Hageman is no exception.
Hageman has been quiet lately, especially against Indiana
and Penn State. He had just one tackle each in those two games, although he did
have a pass breakup against the Nittany Lions. The 6-foot-6, 311-pound Hageman
did rebound to have a better outing against Wisconsin, registering three
tackles -- including two tackles for loss. Keep in mind, Hageman is seeing
plenty of double teams because of his ability to disrupt things up front. At
times that allows his fellow defensive linemen to have success against single
coverage.
By some people's standards, Hageman's numbers this year may
be disappointing. He had six sacks as a junior last year and has just two
through 11 games as a senior this season. However, his 9.0 tackles for loss are
up from the 7.5 he had a year ago. He's also broken up seven passes this year,
something he did just twice during his junior year. Hageman is still putting
together an impressive enough senior season to turn some heads of NFL
personnel. Many recent mock drafts have Hageman as a late first-round pick,
although he could slip to the early second round. His size and strength will be
intriguing for nearly every team come draft day this April.
Q: I guess Minnesota didn't have much choice but to run
what with Nelson being terrible and our best receiver being out injured. But
they couldn't really have expected to beat Wisconsin at its own game, running
the ball. Why not more play-action, trickery, gimmick/gadget plays and such?
--Jerry Gaithwright, St. Paul, Minn.
A: I figured it would be tough to run the ball
against Wisconsin's 3-4 defense, but I also though Minnesota would have a
little better success than it did on the ground. The Gophers had just 102
rushing yards, their second fewest of the year. David Cobb, who had topped
100-yard mark in his previous four games, had only 68 rushing yards on 17
carries. Even if Minnesota was able to establish a running game, I expected
they'd need to make a few plays through the air, which Nelson and his receiving
corps didn't. He overthrew a few receivers, but he wasn't helped out by
numerous dropped passes.
With that said, it was a bit surprising at how vanilla
Minnesota's playcalling was, as you alluded to. I'm not saying they needed to
run the flea flicker or anything like that, but offensive coordinator Matt
Limegrover seemed to shy away from some of the plays that worked so well in
previous weeks. I can recall maybe three times the Gophers ran a sweep play --
twice by freshman wide receiver Donovahn Jones for a total of nine yards -- but
that was about it in terms of anything out of the ordinary. Then again,
Minnesota struggled to execute some of the simpler plays, making it harder to
dig deep in the playbook for the trickier plays.
Q: What was the bigger surprise from Saturday: The
Gophers defense stepping up to contain a potent Badger run game, or the Gophers
offense failing to generate any kind of opportunities?
--Todd, St. Louis Park, Minn.
A: I definitely think Minnesota's ability to slow
Wisconsin's run game was the bigger surprise. We've seen the Gophers' rushing
defense struggle at times this year, including the last few games against
Indiana and Penn State. Coming into Saturday's game, all the talk was about how
dangerous Wisconsin's running back duo of Melvin Gordon and James White has
been. After all, both backs have already surpassed 1,000 yards on the season.
Those two helped the Badgers rush for a whopping 554 yards one week earlier
against a weak Indiana defense.
But Minnesota held its own defensively, including the
rushing defense. The Gophers limited Wisconsin to just 221 yards on the ground,
the second-lowest total for UW this year. Gordon and White both have the
ability to break off big runs, as White did on a 49-yard gain on his first
carry of the game. Aside from that, though, Minnesota did a good job of
bottling up both backs and hitting them at the line of scrimmage. While White
topped the 100-yard mark with 125 yards, Gordon was kept to just 69 yards on 12
carries.
Given the success Wisconsin has had on the ground this year
-- and, really, for years, dating back to the Barry Alvarez days -- it was
assumed that the Badgers would have another big day running the ball.
Minnesota's defense deserves credit for the way it limited Wisconsin's rushing
attack. Meanwhile, the Gophers' offense was ineffective all game; their own
touchdown came via an interception return. But seeing Minnesota struggle to
move the ball wasn't nearly as surprising. Yes, the Gophers had seemingly
established an identity on offense during their four-game winning streak, but
they were facing one of the top defenses in the Big Ten on Saturday.
