The Gopher football season has been an emotional roller coaster and we are only a third of the way into the season. From the season opener to the buzzkill that was Mississippi State to three quarters of apathy against the Zips and now a road win over a ranked Washington team…it certainly feels like the buzz is back.
I’m exhausted, but maybe that’s because I’m still recovering from the 10pm kickoff on Saturday.
The “feelings” of the season really began to change after the loss to Mississippi State.
It wasn’t just that they lost, but it was a game that was never close. The offense was utterly incapable of running the ball, the defense looked lost, and it felt like this team stood no chance of competing throughout the rest of the season.
Now today there’s renewed optimism.
This tends to happen around these parts.
There is the annual tradition of struggling in the trenches against [insert FCS or G5 team that should be overmatched] and we collectively convince ourselves that the offensive line is a disaster, the running game is forever broken and the season is on a bridge to nowhere. And then we manage to win Big Ten games, we compete with everyone but Ohio State and Oregon, we still lose to Iowa and we beat Wisconsin. The offensive line improves, the defense may fluctuate but it does well enough and games in October and November become enjoyable.
I’ve said it here several times, but even that 2019 season looked extremely dicey in the first month of the season. It took a fumbled snap from South Dakota State, double-overtime at Fresno State and converting third and 29 to beat Georgia Southern. That “elite” team was three plays away from starting the year 0-3 before they rebounded in a dramatic and perhaps miraculous fashion.
But the rebound happened quickly this season. Maybe we are in for more of a wild roller coaster ride, but there’s been a shift since late in the third quarter of the Akron game. And I don’t know that anybody expected it to continue into the Washington game.
The buzz is back, but I think that the optimist and the pessimist are looking at the rest of this season differently.
Was the Mississippi State game ugly? It was. And it was a missed opportunity for PJ Fleck and his program. They played poorly, there appeared ill-prepared and it resulted in an ass-kicking. But maybe, as I put my optimist glasses on, the Bulldogs are much better than anybody anticipated? After back-to-back ranked wins, MSU is up to 16th in the country. Maybe Kamario Taylor and his offense ripped apart Danny Collins’ defense because it is one of the best offenses in the country. They aren’t running the table in the SEC, but they are the surprise team of that league. They whipped our butts, but that loss looks less bad with each passing week.
Was the offense 100% reliant on Drake Lindsey and his arm? It really was. There’s zero doubt that Lindsey is the identity of this offense. But you cannot throw 40+ passes, completely abandon the run and expect to win in the Big Ten. Now the offensive staff has made some adjustments, the ground game is finding it’s footing and this only helps to make life easier for Lindsey. The offensive line has always been elite at pass protection, but can they continue to open up holes for Darius Taylor and TJ Thomas? They don’t need a dominating rushing attack, it just cannot be one that defenses completely ignore.
Was the defense attrocious agaisnt Mississippi State? It was. And it showed flashes of this attrociousness in the Eastern Illinois game too. But this unit came together on Saturday night in Washington, playing their most complete game of the season. Perhaps their most complete game of the Danny Collins era. This side of the ball has talent at all levels, and that came through this week. The defensive line accounted for five of the team’s seven sacks and more importantly they did a fantastic job of containing the dangerou Demon Williams Jr. The linebackers were making plays, partially because of the elite job being done by the line. And the secondary was making plays on the backend.
I was tepid going into Washington, now I’m cautiously optimistic for the rest of the season. I’m not unrealistic here, Michigan is going to be a tall task. That defense is legit and Bryce Underwood is starting to look like the quarterback he was expected to be. Iowa is looking very good, and that game feels like an annual loss until proven otherwise. Wisconsin just had their best win in years. Aiden Chiles is looking dangerous for Northwestern and UCLA is a competent football team for the first time in a number of years.
The schedule didn’t get any easier because Minnesota beat Washington. But there’s reason for the buzz to be back. Fox’s Big Noon Saturday is coming to town on Saturday. Let’s keep that buzz going through the pregame and take home the Little Brown Jug.
