Self-Inflicted Wounds Make Injuries Worse for MN Gophers

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Koi Perich, Minnesota Gophers
Credit: D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images

After the dominating performance against a seriously overmatched Northwestern State team last week, Minnesota Gophers head coach P.J. Fleck talked about the depth at tailback. Of course that was a conversation because starter Darius Taylor went down with an injury.

Coming into the contest against Cal on Saturday night, the Gophers found themselves slight road favorites. They were without Taylor though. Things quickly went from bad to worse.

It wasn’t just the injuries that cost Minnesota on Saturday night though. Mental mistakes, multiple of which were made by star two-way player Koi Perich, sank the ship as well.

Running backs in flux for Minnesota Gophers

Fleck gave the first crack at things to Marshall transfer A.J. Turner. Turner had 864 yards on the ground for the Thundering Herd last season and averaged 8.6 yards per carry. Unfortunately he turned in just four totes before suffering an injury of his own.

Fleck turned the opportunities over to freshman Fame Ijeboi and Washington transfer Cam Davis. The former turned 16 carries into 85 yards and ripped off a 27-yard gain. Davis was more plodding with just a 2.9 yards per carry average on his 44 yards, but did find the end zone.

There was no sign of last week’s standout, freshman Grant Washington. The Gophers do have a bye week before facing Rutgers on September 27. Hopefully that will be enough time to get one or both of Taylor and Turner back.

Koi Perich puts up a clunker for Gophers

This season was supposed to be a fun one for Minnesota-native Koi Perich. He is attempting the Travis Hunter route playing on both sides of the football. Unfortunately his contributions on defense have not been as solid, and the offensive performance has been rather underwhelming.

On Saturday there seemed to be way too much going on, and he couldn’t lock in on any facet of the game.

It’s not out of pocket to suggest that Perich cost the Gophers a win on Saturday night. He also touched a punt in the first quarter that had his team starting at their own three-yard line instead of being a touchback. The mental mistakes added up and Fleck shared his thoughts postgame.

All great players go through adversity. This is probably his first piece of adversity in the 15 months he has been here. Adversity strengthens you if you use it properly, and you swallow the pill of adversity, and you take accountability and responsibility for it. He does so many great things, and he does them so naturally. He’s been coached really hard by a lot of different people. He’s got a personal wide receivers coach. It’s really hard to do everything…He’ll learn a lot from it. I know he’ll take accountability for it. This is one of his first major adversities he’s had, but it’s coming at some point.

P.J. Fleck

It was an unfortunate night for Perich, but as Fleck suggested, it’s the first time we have seen this from a player who has otherwise been so special. How he responds will be the key, and that opportunity will come against Rutgers.

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Perich is far too talented for this performance to drag him down. How the Gophers continue to use him moving forward, and if they dial back the offensive part, remains to be seen. You can bet that the star playmaker will come back with a vengeance though.

Now with an potentially unexpected tally in the loss column, Minnesota will need to tighten things up in a big way moving forward.

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