Minnesota Golden Gophers
Head Coach: Jerry Kill
2011 Record: 3-9 overall, 2-6 Big Ten Legends
Odds to Win Big Ten Legends Division: 50/1
Odds to Win Big Ten Championship game: 150/1
All Odds courtesy of Bovada

Last season, Jerry Kill left Northern Illinois where he had a successful tenure, to take over the Minnesota Golden Gophers football team. The first season didn’t go as planned as Minnesota went 3-9. Kill battled some health issues as he was hospitalized after he suffered seizures during two early season games, so Minnesota had some continuity issues. If healthy, Kill is a very good coach. In his last three jobs at Saginaw Valley St, Southern Illinois, and NIU, his teams had losing records in his first season, but all had at least 9 win seasons within 3 years. Gopher fans hope the same thing happens at Minnesota. However, this year, Minnesota is arguably the worst team in the Big Ten, even worse than Indiana who won 2 games last season.

Last season, Minnesota was difficult to figure out. Certainly, they were a bad team with only 3 straight up wins, but the Gophers were 7-5 against the spread last year. This team had narrow losses at USC and Michigan St, along with mild home upsets over mediocre Iowa and Illinois. The other win was against 4-8 Miami-Ohio. They also had embarrassing home losses to New Mexico St and North Dakota St. (Those were also the games in which Kill suffered the seizures, so it was understandable the Gophers would lose focus.) However, NDSU did win the FCS Championship last year, so they were a great team. Still, Big Ten teams shouldn’t lose at home to any FCS school.

Offense

Minnesota’s offense struggled last season under coordinator Mike Limegrover. The Gophers were 109th in passing averaging 150 yards a game, and they were 111th in scoring averaging just 18 points a game. Minnesota averaged 160 rushing yards a game which was #56 in the country.

Senior quarterback MarQueis Gray is a converted wide receiver. Last season, he led the Gophers in rushing and passing. He completed 50.7% of his passes for 1,495 yards, with 8 touchdowns and 8 interceptions. He had 199 carries for 966 yards, and 6 touchdowns. He was sacked 17 times. Gray suffered cramps during the USC game, and back-up Max Shortell came in and threw a late touchdown pass to give Minnesota the chance at the upset. The Trojans held on for a 19-17 win. Gray was also injured in the North Dakota St game, and missed the Michigan game the next week. Shortell started that game, but the Gophers were crushed 58-0 by the Wolverines. For the season, Shortell completed 48.1% of his passes for 309 yards, with 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. Gray should be the starter, but Shortell could see some snaps again.

The Gophers must replace running back Duane Bennett, who had 166 carries, 639 yards, and 3 touchdowns. Sophomores Donnell Kirkwood and David Cobb will split the carries, along with JUCO transfer James Gillum. Kirkwood had 63 carries last year for 229 yards and 3 touchdowns. Cobb had 10 carries for 57 yards. Gray will continue to get most of the carries in the rushing game.

Minnesota must also replace receiver Da’Jon McKnight, who had 51 catches, 760 yards, and 4 touchdowns. No other Gopher receiver had more than 16 catches last season. It isn’t clear who the go-to receiver will be, but most likely it will be a committee of receivers.  That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as spreading the ball around will keep defenders from keying on one receiver. Senior Brandon Green had 15 catches, 190 yards, and a touchdown last year. Junior Malcolm Moulton had 14 catches for 174 yards. Sophomores Devin Crawford-Tufts and Marcus Jones combined for 17 catches last year. Newcomers Isaac Fruechte ( a JUCO transfer) and freshmen Andre McDonald and Jamel Harbison will also join the rotation. Tight end John Rabe caught only 4 passes last year, but 2 of them went for touchdowns. He should be the starting tight end for Eric Lair now with the Green Bay Packers.

The line must replace 3 starters, but tackles Ed Olson and Jimmy Gjere do return. Because of injuries, the Gophers do return 6 players with a combined 40 games experience. They were good at run blocking last year, but struggled a bit in pass protection.

Defense

The defensive coordinator is Tracey Claeys. He heads a defense that was better at stopping the pass than the run. That isn’t saying much as the run defense was terrible. Overall, the defense allowed almost 32 points a game. That isn’t good anytime, but it is really bad when your offense only scores 18 points a game. The defense did improve by the end of the season, but loses a lot of starters from that unit.

The defensive line must replace both tackles but the ends do return. End D.L. Wilhite was the only player in the rotation who had more than 1.5 sacks last year with 3. Sophomore Ben Perry is the other end who had 15 tackles last season. The tackles will be junior Ra’Shede Hageman and JUCO transfer Roland Johnson. The defensive line must improve the pass rush, as they could only get pressure on blitzes.

Minnesota middle linebacker Gary Tinsley passed away in April. He led the Gophers in tackles for loss. Even though he would have graduated and not been eligible this year, his loss will still affect the unit. Mike Rallis moves from the outside to the middle to take over for Tinsley. Rallis had 83 tackles last year.    Keanon Cooper is the strongside linebacker, and was second in tackles for loss last year. Lamonte Edwards and Florida transfer Bradley Beal will also play  linebacker. Even though Beal is a junior he has yet to play a down in college football because of injuries.

Cornerback Troy Stoudemire was granted an extra year of eligibility after he broke his arms after 5 games last year. Safety Brock Vereen also returns after he had 67 tackles last year and broke up 7 passes. Martez Shabazz and Michael Carter will compete for the other cornerback spot. Derrick Wells and Brien Boddy will compete for the strong safety spot. The secondary wasn’t bad, but had to make too many plays because of the weak front 7 last year.

Special Teams

Chris Hawthorne, a transfer from North Carolina St, was the kicker for Minnesota last year. He made 6 of 9 field goals before an injury sidelined him for the year. Jordan Wettstein took over and made all 6 of his field goal attempts, including a 51 yarder. Both return, but Wettstein looks to have a leg up on the starter spot, after a strong spring.

Punter Dan Orseske returns, but he only averaged 37 yards per punt, which was #105 out of 120 teams. He had good hang time as he forced 20 fair catches and landed 12 inside the 20 yard line. A good punt coverage team kept returns contained, but you are playing with fire if you keep giving teams good field position with short punts.

Stoudemire’s return also helps the kick return game, as he averaged 27 yards per return in 2010, and over 21 before his injury last year. Marcus Jones took over Stoudemire and averaged just under 30 yards a per return with a touchdown last year. Both should get plenty of return chances, especially if the defense struggles to stop teams like they did last year. Brandon Green averaged only 4 yards per punt return last year, but averaged 9.2 in 2010. If Green can be me more like the 2010 version, the return game could be a strength for this team.

Schedule

Minnesota has a chance to equal or surpass their 3 win total from last year in the first month of the 2012 season thanks to a soft non-c0nference schedule. They open at UNLV before 3 home games against New Hampshire, Western Michigan, and Syracuse. Syracuse will be the toughest test, but Minnesota has lost to FCS schools the last two seasons. They should be careful about that New Hampshire game for that reason. (Actually, that would make a better college hockey game rather than football.)

The conference schedule includes home games against Northwestern, Purdue, Michigan, and Michigan St, and road games against Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Nebraska.

Outlook

Let’s be clear, Minnesota is not a good football team, with an average at best offense and a defense that loses a lot of personnel from a unit that was far from spectacular last year. However, if Minnesota can get past a mediocre Syracuse team at home, they should be 4-0. That means all they have to do is steal two conference games to be bowl eligible. It isn’t like Purdue, Northwestern, Iowa, and Illinois are juggernauts either. If the Gophers get a split in those 4 games, they are going bowling.

Kill’s scary health issues derailed the season last year, but he is healthy by all reports. The Gophers were playing a lot better by the end of the season. I don’t think they quite get bowl eligible, as they finish 5-7, but Kill is building for the future.

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