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| Donnell Kirkwood (#20 in the air) has 373 yards rushing and 3 TDs through 4 games. |
The 2012 Gophers football team has already eclipsed the 2011
team's win total, and they haven't even started the Big Ten portion of their
schedule yet. With Saturday's slobberknocker 17-10 victory over Syracuse--their
first BCS school opponent on the year--in front of a raucous sell-out crowd at
TCF Bank Stadium, the Gophers put themselves within two wins of clinching bowl
eligibility. And the calender hasn't even turned to October yet.
Though their slate has thus far consisted of mostly cupcake
squads (their three opponents besides FCS-level New
Hampshire have as many wins combined as the Gophers),
the predominant mood emanating from the metro campus is one of renewed optimism.
This seems like an understandable reaction considering the ebb to which the
program had fallen late in old coach Tim Brewster's tenure.
What's encouraging about the Gophers' play so far this
season are the varied manners in which they have earned their victories. The
UNLV road trip to start the season was a back-and-forth triple-overtime
nailbiter in which we witnessed the emergence of Derrick Wells as a
sure-tacklin', ball-houndin' safety. The New Hampshire
blowout showed us the purest distillation of MarQueis Gray's dual-threat
ability as he had rushed and thrown for more than 100 yards apiece by halftime
and four total touchdowns. The Western Michigan battle served as A.J. Barker's
coming out party, with the former walk-on wideout catching three TD passes, and
served as the answer to the question, "Could Max Shortell lead this team
to victory if need be?" And against Syracuse,
a quickly coalescing defensive unit largely shut down one of the nation's top
passing attacks as Minnesota
students showed up in droves to give the team one of their first true
home-field advantages in four seasons at The Vault.
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| Former walk-on WR A.J. Barker leads a no-name receiver corps with 4 TD catches. |
The title of this article is a bit of a jab and a reference
to the program's penchant for both choking away opportunities in the national
spotlight during the Glen Mason and, to a lesser extent, Brewster eras and
settling for post-season bids in fourth- and fifth-tier bowls. The Insight
Bowl--which, a quick Wikipedia search has corrected me, is now apparently
called the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl, though to me, it will always be the Insight
Bowl--has played host to the Gophers' last three bowl appearances, all losses.
This early season exuberance, a seemingly weaker-than-usual
Big Ten, and the presence of bowl-ineligible Ohio
State in the conference has Gophers
fans optimistic about their bowling prospects this season. Let's take a look at
the Gophers' upcoming in-conference slate of games, ranked in terms of
winnability on the scientifically-tested scale of 1 to 5 "Bart Scott Can't
Wait"s.
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| CW = BS^5. |
Is there any chance that lovely Jacksonville
(home of the fourth-tier Gator Bowl) might play host to a massive Minneapolis
migration over the holidays? Let's find out:
Game 5: at Iowa
(2-2), Sept. 29. The battle for Floyd of Rosedale heads south to Kinnick
Stadium as the Gophers hope to retain the pig for the third season in a row. Iowa
has had a disappointing start to their season, as they were clipped 32-31 at
home by middling MAC squad Central Michigan last
weekend. They have experienced a great running back exodus the last 30
months, but their flagging offense was given a boost by unheralded walk-on Mark
Weisman who rushed for 217 yards and 3 TDs on 27 carries in the recent loss.
Senior QB James Vanderberg has been unimpressive in the Hawkeyes' first four
games, throwing just one TD pass, and their usually stout defense just gave up
32 points to friggin Central Michigan. This represents a great chance for the
Gophers to pick up their first road win in Iowa City
since 1999.
Rank: 3.5 "Can't Wait"s
Game 6: vs. Northwestern (4-0), Oct. 13. The Gophers will
host the also-potentially-unbeaten Wildcats in what could be the biggest
match-up between these two squads in many a moon if the 'Cats can clobber
Indiana and Penn State to enter the Vault at 6-0 for the Gophers' homecoming
game. Before their victory against South Dakota
last week, Northwestern was the only FBS team to be 3-0 with all their wins
coming against schools from BCS conferences. Their defense has stiffened since
giving up 41 points and 481 passing yards to Syracuse
in their season opener (QB Ryan Nassib passed for less than half that total
against the Gophers last week), averaging just 11 points allowed over their
last three games. The Wildats utilize two different quarterbacks in Kain
Colter and Trevor Siemian, and their potent rushing attack, led by junior
Venric Mark, could cause problems for Minnesota's
front seven.
Rank: 4 "Can't Wait"s
Game 7: at Wisconsin
(3-1), Oct. 20. A contest that has in recent years been reason for Gophers fans
to practice their wincing and grimacing faces looks much more intriguing this
year given the Badgers' early season struggles. Wisconsin's
been in turmoil since about the 8th day of the season, when a loss at Oregon
State prompted the immediate firing of offensive line coach Mike Markuson. A quarterback controversy led to
Joel Stave taking the job from touted Maryland
transfer Danny O'Brien for their recent win over UTEP, and the normally stout Wisconsin
O-line--as well as a recent head injury--have largely knocked RB Montee Ball
out of the Heisman Trophy chase. Camp Randall is one of the most raucous,
intimidating places for an opposing team to enter, but the Gophers have played
as well as the Badgers have shown against similar-level competition in their
four games so far this season.
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| Montee Ball, posing like a trophy that someone else will win this year. |
Rank: 3 "Can't Wait"s
Game 8: vs. Purdue (2-1), Oct. 27. The Boilermakers
clobbered Minnesota 45-17 in
front of like 14 West Lafayette
residents in the third game of the Gophers' month-long midseason malaise last
season. Their only loss so far this year was a narrow 20-17 defeat at Notre
Dame, and it's tough to have a real read on them right now because all the
national pundits are still trying to figure out "what Notre Dame is"
and Purdue's other two games have been against the low-powered Eastern bloc
(Kentucky and Michigan). 315-pound All-Big Ten senior DT Kawann Short anchors
their front line with three sacks so far this year. Their starting QB, Caleb
TerBush (the capital "B" is not a mistake, apparently), hasn't thrown
as many balls as their supposed back-up, 6th-year senior Robert Marve, who tore
his ACL a couple weeks ago but reportedly might try and still play this season.
Rank: 3.5 "Can't Wait"s
Game 9: vs. Michigan
(2-2), Nov. 3. Michigan actually
scored two touchdowns against Alabama.
If the Gophers played Alabama,
there's a good chance the final score would be in the 62-(-10) neighborhood. I
don't think we beat Denard Robinson, Fitzgerald Toussaint and company one year
after the 58-donut debacle at the Big House.
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| One boy. One Dream. One jug. Denard and the Little Brown Jug. Coming to theaters this January. |
Rank: 1.5 "Can't Wait"s
Game 10: at Illinois
(2-2), Nov. 10. The Fighting Illini are the one FBS team that the Gophers can
legitimately say that they have "throttled" in the last couple
seasons, as Illinois absolutely rolled over in a 27-7 victory that concluded
Minnesota's 2011 campaign. Coach Ron Zook was fired after that game, which was
Illinois' sixth consecutive defeat after six straight victories to open their
2011 season; The Illini went on to defeat 6-7 UCLA in the Worst Bowl in theHistory of Bowls last New Year's Eve. It's been an up-and-down season
for Illinois so far, with big
wins against Western Michigan and Charleston
Southern to go with lopsided losses at Arizona
State and against Louisiana Tech.
Reilly O'Toole (sounds like an O'Toole.) has had an okay start to his first
season as starting QB, but this team definitely misses their two NFL
first-round picks from last year: All-Big Ten WR A.J. Jenkins and 16-sack
All-American DE Whitney Mercilus.
Rank: 4.5 "Can't Wait"s
Game 11: at Nebraska
(3-1), Nov. 17. The last two games on the Gophers' regular season schedule are
probably their toughest, and that small stretch begins with a trip to
Cornhusker Country to probably get smacked around by QB Taylor Martinez, RB
(stands for Raging Bull) Rex Burkhead, and a punishing defense led by senior DE
Eric Martin. The Huskers just hung 73 on Jared Allen's alma mater, and
their only loss is a 36-30 West Coast defeat at UCLA. Minnesota
was humiliated by the Huskers 41-14 on national (regional?) television last
year, so there may be a taste for revenge in the mouths of the Gophs for this
one. But the corn-fed kings of the prairie will probably run for about another
346 yards against us again this year.
Rank: 1 "Can't Wait"
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| MarQueis vs. the Spartans in 2011. |
Game 12: vs. Michigan
State (3-1), Nov. 24. The Gophers
gave a Spartans team that finished 11-3 a real scare last November, as three
Gray-to-Da'Jon McKnight connections helped give Minnesota
the lead going into the fourth before Mich
State pulled it out 31-24. Junior
RB Le'Veon Bell has taken the role of star offensive player over from old QB
Kirk Cousins, and Bell has already
gone for over 210 yards twice in four contests. Like Purdue, the Spartans' only
loss so far was against Notre Dame, but their top-6 defense from last year
returned most of its starters--like top tackler, junior LB Max Bullough--and
have only given up 11.8 points per game through four contests in 2012.
Rank: 2 "Can't Wait"s
PREDICTION: The Gophs split the difference in Big Ten play, going 4-4 to finish with a record of 8-4 and punch a ticket to.....the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl.
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