The buzz around Gopher football has flipped fast, and Saturday night in Washington was the kind of win that can do that.
Just a few weeks ago, the mood around this team felt shaky at best. The Mississippi State loss was the low point: no real push in the run game, a defense that looked out of sorts and a performance that made it easy to wonder how competitive this group would be the rest of the way.
Then came the Akron game, which didn’t exactly calm anybody down for three quarters. And now, after a road win over a ranked Washington team, the season suddenly feels a lot different.
That whiplash is part of the deal around here. Minnesota seasons have a way of starting with trench issues against a team that’s supposed to be overmatched, sending everyone into a panic about the offensive line, the ground game and where the year is headed.
Then the Big Ten slate starts, the team wins games it probably should win, hangs around in others, and the whole thing starts to feel workable again. October and November become a lot more fun than the first month made them look.
Even the 2019 team that ended up looking elite had a rough opening stretch. It needed a fumbled snap from South Dakota State, double overtime at Fresno State and a third-and-29 conversion against Georgia Southern just to avoid a 0-3 start. That’s how quickly the mood can change.
This year has already followed that script in its own way. Since late in the third quarter against Akron, there’s been a noticeable shift.
Not everyone will read it the same way, though. The pessimist sees the same issues from two weeks ago and wants more proof.
The optimist sees a team that’s getting better, a young quarterback settling in and a staff that’s starting to find better ways to put its players in position to succeed. Both views can still survive depending on what shows up next.
The Mississippi State game, for all its ugliness, may also deserve a second look. Yes, it was a missed opportunity for P.J.
Fleck and his program. Yes, Minnesota got handled.
But Mississippi State is now 16th in the country after back-to-back ranked wins, and maybe Kamario Taylor and that offense made Danny Collins’ defense look worse because that Bulldogs unit is simply that good. The loss still happened, but it doesn’t look quite as damning as it did in the moment.
The offense has also started to evolve. There’s no question Drake Lindsey is the center of everything Minnesota does on that side of the ball.
He’s the identity. But throwing 40-plus times, turning the run game into an afterthought and expecting to survive in the Big Ten was never a sustainable formula.
The staff has adjusted, the rushing attack is beginning to find some rhythm and that matters because it takes pressure off Lindsey. The offensive line has already shown it can protect him.
The question now is whether it can keep creating room for Darius Taylor and TJ Thomas. Minnesota doesn’t need a steamroller on the ground.
It just needs enough of a threat that defenses can’t ignore it.
Then there’s the defense, which was awful against Mississippi State and showed some of that same ugliness against Eastern Illinois. But Saturday in Washington was a different story.
That was Minnesota’s most complete defensive outing of the season, and maybe the most complete one of the Danny Collins era. The front was the difference, piling up five of the team’s seven sacks and doing a strong job of limiting Demon Williams Jr.
The linebackers benefited from that work up front and made plays of their own. The secondary held up on the back end, too.
That’s why the outlook has changed from tepid to cautiously optimistic. It’s still fair to worry about what comes next.
Michigan is a major test, and that defense is real while Bryce Underwood is starting to look like the quarterback people expected. Iowa keeps looking dangerous, and that matchup still has the feel of an annual loss until Minnesota proves otherwise.
Wisconsin just landed its best win in years. Aiden Chiles is a problem for Northwestern, and UCLA has become a competent team for the first time in a while.
So no, beating Washington didn’t make the schedule easier. It didn’t erase the questions. But it did give Minnesota something it hadn’t had since the opener: real evidence that the optimism had a basis in something concrete.
Maybe the whole thing falls apart against Michigan. Maybe the Washington win turns out to be the outlier. Or maybe this is the point where the pieces start clicking into place.
In Other News...
Two Gophers Just Turned Breakout Games Into Major Recognition
Minnesotas win over Washington produced more than a good result on the scoreboard. It also gave the Gophers a pair of firsts, as linebacker Maverick Baranowski was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week and kicker Luke Drzewiecki picked up Special Teams Player of the Week honors after standout performances that helped swing the game.
Baranowski filled the stat sheet with seven tackles, 2.0 tackles for loss, 1.0 sack and the first interception of his career, while Drzewiecki stayed perfect on his field goal tries and drilled a career-long 51-yarder. For both players, the conference recognition is their first weekly Big Ten award, a sign that one strong afternoon can still carry real weight well beyond the final whistle. [Read more 🡒]
Minnesota Just Earned A Real Big Ten Chance To Climb
Week 4 gave the Big Ten the kind of shakeup that can change a race in a hurry, and Minnesota benefited from it in a major way. Iowa knocked off Michigan, Wisconsin rallied past Penn State, and the Gophers went on the road and beat Washington, a result that helped them gain real ground in the league picture while the conferences top tier kept jostling for position.
Minnesotas win now looks even better in the context of the updated rankings, because the Gophers are no longer just hanging around the discussion. With upsets piling up around them and Ohio State still showing its usual firepower behind Jeremiah Smiths four-touchdown day, Minnesota suddenly has a clearer path to climb if it keeps taking care of business from here. [Read more 🡒]
Gophers Get A Rare Chance To Change This Michigan Rivalry
The Little Brown Jug is back on the line Saturday at Huntington Bank Stadium, and this one comes with a little extra weight for Minnesota. Michigan has controlled the rivalry for years, with the Gophers last win over the Wolverines coming in 2014 and their last home victory in the series all the way back in 1977, which is why hosting this game feels like more than just another Big Ten date on the schedule.
FOXs Big Noon Kickoff will be in Minneapolis for the occasion, giving the matchup a national stage as P.J. Flecks team tries to make the most of a rare chance to shift the tone of an old rivalry. Fleck had praise this week for linebacker Maverick Baranowski after Minnesotas win over Washington, and the Gophers would love for that momentum to carry into a game that has been waiting a long time for a different kind of ending in Minneapolis. [Read more 🡒]