The Minnesota Golden Gophers (2-0) made quick work of the Northwestern State Demons (1-1) in a 66-0 blowout on Saturday ahead of a key road trip next week to close out the non-conference slate.
The Elite
The Gophers took care of business. Northwestern State is bad. Very bad. And Minnesota did what any Big Ten team should do to a very bad FCS program: Obliterate them.
Mission accomplished.
They even ran out of fireworks:
The Gopher defense.
Danny Collin’s unit pitched a shutout, limiting the Demons to 42 total yards of offense, holding them to 2-of-10 on third downs, and forcing four turnovers.
John Nestor. One of the biggest question marks on defense coming into this season was who would step up to take the starting cornerback spot opposite Za’Quan Bryan. We’ll have to see and how he fares against Big Ten wide receivers, but the former Iowa cornerback has made an impressive case through the first two games. After making a key pass break-up in single coverage down the field against Buffalo, Nestor got the scoring started against Northwestern State with a pick six on the first play of the game.
35 points in the first quarter. The 35 points racked up by Minnesota in the first quarter are the most scored by any Gophers team in any quarter since at least 1973, according to team officials.
Drake Lindsey. The Northwestern State defense didn’t present much of a challenge, but I continue to be impressed by Lindsey’s pocket presence, decision-making, and passing ability. He finished 8-of-9 for 139 passing yards and one passing touchdown before putting on a headset in the second quarter.
The bottom of the running back depth chart. Redshirt freshman Fame Ijeboi and true freshman Grant Washington got the opportunity to make an impression in the second half and both flashed what they can do. Washington had the best box score, rushing for 126 yards on 20 carries late in the game.
The Meh
Injuries. We don’t know the severity of the injuries to running back Darius Taylor and defensive tackle Jalen Logan-Redding, so I’m not going to assume the worst, which is why this is “Meh” territory and not “Ugly.” On his fourth carry of the game, Taylor was on his way to the end zone for what would have been an 18-yard touchdown run. Instead, he pulled up at the last minute and went out of bounds near the goal line, grabbing at his right hamstring. Logan-Redding went down with a leg injury of his own after a cut block in the second quarter and had to be helped off the field. Neither of them returned to the game.
Fleck was asked about both players after the game. He said that Logan-Redding seemed “okay” and probably could have returned to the field if the game had called for it, but did not say the same for Taylor. What Fleck did say is that Taylor’s injury “didn’t seem too bad” and they received “a really good, positive diagnosis.”
Take that for whatever it is worth.
The Ugly
