And with the Gopher MBB class of 2022, we saw that seed bear fruit when top in-state prospect, 4-star big man out of Park Center (Cottage Grove) Pharrel Payne, along with fellow Twin Cities native, Braeden Carrington and Osseo high school’s Josh Ola-Joseph.

Former Minnesota Gophers big man blossoming at Maryland

While all three played a lot of minutes early on during their short careers at the University of Minnesota, it was Payne who stood out as special among the three. Pharrel arrived on campus as a Freshman standing 6’9″, weighing 230 lbs and he used that unique size in a way you see few freshman do.

A nifty little move from @GopherMBB's Pharrel Payne. 🌀 pic.twitter.com/BhzZlXSrY5

— Minnesota on BTN (@MinnesotaOnBTN) December 22, 2023

Related: Minnesota Big Man Pharrel Payne is in the Portal and EVERYBODY Wants Him

In two seasons with his hometown Gopher basketball team, Pharrel Payne played 62 games (23 starts) and averaged 9.1 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game, in 22.7 minutes per night. Even as a youngster, Payne showed all the signs of a dominant power four big man.

Now a couple of years later, as a senior at Maryland under Buzz Williams (who also coached him for a year at Texas A&M after he transferred out of MN), the shy quiet kid out of Cottage Grove has grown up into one of the best players in the Big Ten.

Through three games this season as a Terrapin, entering their matchup Saturday against Marquette, Payne was averaging 20 points, 8 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game.

Pharrel Payne stretchered off after ugly, unfortunate injury

But then, with just over 12 minutes to play in the second half Saturday in Milwaukee, disaster struck after what appeared to be yet another rim-rattling dunk from the ex-Minnesota Gopher, which accounted for Payne’s 11th and 12th points on the day.

Unfortunately, the homegrown big man let go of the rim a split second too soon. So when he did come down, Payne landed on Marquette defender Joshua Clark’s foot. As Clark pulled away, Payne’s foot went with him, in a way that human legs are not supposed to move.

Here is a look at how Maryland’s star center Pharrel Payne was injured.

Brutal. pic.twitter.com/GU3tNuZGXw

— College Basketball Content (@CBBcontent) November 15, 2025

Related: Pharrel Payne and Elijah Hawkins’ New NIL Deals are Insane

Pharrel Payne stayed on the floor for quite a while after the injury occured, and eventually had to be taken off the court in a stretcher. Maryland went on to beat Marquette 89-82, to move to 3-1 on their season.

When the game was over, Payne — who tweeted out “how bout them Terps” was in better spirits than his head coach. A distraught Williams met with media after the game and admitted that he did not know much about the injury, but noted that losing their best player would certainly hurt the team.

Buzz Williams says Pharrel Payne is in the hospital

“We don’t know anything”

“He's our best player, that's well received within our program. I've never seen him hurt. The angle that I saw it did not appear good.”

Adds the players told Buzz, “you’ve gotta pray for him” pic.twitter.com/Li2un6YzgP

— Inside the Black & Gold (@Insideblackgold) November 15, 2025

But it was pretty clear early on that, after two really difficult seasons to start his head coaching career in Dinkytown, Johnson’s squad this season was different. They were bigger, faster, stronger, more talented… and most of all, better shooters than what we had seen in years one and two.

Related: Can 2023-24 Minnesota Gophers Make the NCAA Tournament?

Minnesota Gophers beat Maryland Terrapins

Last week, after returning from Christmas break, the Gophers went to Ann Arbor and upset Michigan to move to 2-1 in Big Ten play. On Sunday night the Gophers welcomed the Maryland Terrapins to The Barn and, after falling behind early, found their footing and won another close one, 65-62, moving them to 12-3 on the season and 3-1 in the Big Ten.

There were some @GopherMBB dunks in that first half. 🔨 pic.twitter.com/KeTgrg1ui1

— Minnesota on BTN (@MinnesotaOnBTN) January 7, 2024

Just like in Ann Arbor, Sunday’s win was a team effort. No Gopher finished with more than 12 points but six Gophers scored 8 points or more and four finished in double figures. Elijah Hawkins could prove as one of the most important transfer portal pickups of Ben’s coaching tenure.

He had 9 assists tonight and hit multiple big shots down the stretch, scoring 10 points in total. But it’s his peskiness on defense (6 steals) that jumps off the boxscore. No doubt, he was the game’s MVP. You could say the same thing about their season, even after Hawkins struggled to find his place early on.

Truth: Elijah Hawkins creates a lot of offense with his defense. 💥@eslimee_ x @GopherMBB

📺: @BigTenNetwork pic.twitter.com/dAmbmI1Sqq

— Minnesota on BTN (@MinnesotaOnBTN) January 7, 2024

0️⃣ is having a night. 🤩@eslimee_ x @GopherMBB pic.twitter.com/yhAvEzsuyu

— Minnesota on BTN (@MinnesotaOnBTN) January 8, 2024

Related: Buy the Right Brand of Bacon in January and 100% Goes to Gophers NIL Fund

It’s their 7th-straight victory and 3rd conference win in just four tries. For context, they won two Big Ten games all of last season. Prior to Sunday’s victory, Minnesota had climbed to #88 in the NET Rankings prior to tonight’s game, the biggest determining factor in whether or not a team makes the NCAA Tournament.

That should climb quite a few spots, after the victory. It’s been quite the climb for a team that started at #157 when those rankings debuted on December 4. Last season, they finished #222.

Before we get into the numbers and compare them to what we saw in 2020, let’s discuss what’s changed personnel-wise since then. In the offseason, PJ Fleck knew he needed to bulk up the middle of his defense, which often parted like it was the biblical Red Sea and opposing backs were Noah.

The Reinforcements

PJ’s staff started their search for reinforcements in Texas, where they picked up grad-transfer linebacker, Jack Gibbens, from FCS Abilene Christian. Gibbens has been the standout of the new additions and currently leads the Gophers in tackles, passes defended and forced fumbles.

Then, they went east to Clemson, SC and picked up a multi National Championship winning defensive tackle, Nyles Pinckney. And to complete their defensive upgrades, Fleck’s staff went up one state and grabbed another defensive tackle, Val Martin, out of NC State.

PJ Fleck on the podium was very confident that his defense would not face common early hiccups this season. Mostly due to a large amount of returning players such as Boye Mafe and a slew of transfers like Nyles Pinckney (DL from Clemson).#Gophers #BigTen #B1GMediaDay pic.twitter.com/qemu901FKU

— Matt Kennedy (@matthewhkennedy) July 22, 2021

Those additions, along with a lot of growing up on their own roster, led to the product we’re seeing now, which is something completely different than what was on the field last season.

How different? Well, the Minnesota Gophers ranked near the bottom of the NCAA in all defensive rushing categories last year. You needed triple digit rankings to find them.

In 2021, they’re a nationally top-5 rush defense after seven weeks, which is how long the 2020 season was. It’s a turnaround that not even the most optimistic would have seen coming. Joe Rossi looks like a mad scientist who was given the perfect formula during the offseason.

Even while their pass defense is technically worse, improvement against the run has pushed defensive totals way down too. pic.twitter.com/0cOh6ot2ax

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) October 24, 2021

Sustainable?

With over half of the season over and the best opposing offenses behind them, I can’t imagine the defensive metrics fall that much over the last five games. Purdue and Ohio State have easily the most explosive offenses out of any opponent on the 2021 Minnesota schedule. Iowa and Wisconsin usually run the ball really well but their teams are so pass inept that it’s made their rush offense much easier to game plan against.

As long as they continue playing well, there’s no end in sight for this suffocating rush defense.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

After Mohamed Ibrahim, who is now walking and no longer using a scooter, won his 6th-straight coin toss, the Gophers deferred. The defense wasn’t on the field long, forcing a Taulia Tagovailoa fumble on the opening drive. But Minnesota’s offense took a couple drives to catch their footing too.

After a shaky start from Tanner Morgan and a missed 50-yard field goal by Matthew Trickett, the run game took off. Ky Thomas led the way with 14 first half carries that went for 104 yards and a TD.

An absolute b e a u t y of a run for @Ky_Thomas ????.@GopherFootball pic.twitter.com/olSqeyrT1H

— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) October 23, 2021

.@Ky_Thomas punches through the Terps for a @GopherFootball TD ????. pic.twitter.com/cRFJLjaHGB

— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) October 23, 2021

The defense came to play again, spending most of the afternoon in Maryland’s backfield. Bucko Irving and Bryce Williams joined Thomas, trampling all over the turtles and making the most of their opportunities with Mo Ibrahim and Trey Potts out.

Defense + Run Game = Victory

The Minnesota Gophers got the ball coming out of halftime and put up another 7 points, stretching the lead to 24-7. A very nice mix of run and pass, including a 35-yard completion to Mike Brown-Stephens, was capped off by a Bryce Williams 2 yard plunge.

It was a great response after Maryland scored and blocked a FG to end the first half. After the Gopher defense forced the Terps to turn the ball over on downs, Mar’Keise “Bucko” Irving joined the party with a 9-yard TD run of his own. That gave the Gophers a commanding 31-10 lead, late in the 3rd quarter.

Bucko might be the smallest dude on the field but his stiff arm is devastating. pic.twitter.com/imNSe8dh9t

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) October 23, 2021

It was all Minnesota from there. The Gophers took complete control in the 4th quarter as they piled on the rush yards and, PJ Fleck’s favorite stat, time of possession. Maryland’s offense never had a chance to get going against a Gopher defense that looked dominant, at times. As the point gap spread widened in the 2nd half, pressure on Tagovailoa mounted and Minnesota’s front seven proved to be too much for the Terps to handle.

Dominating performance

When the dust settled, both Ky Thomas and Bucko Irving went for over 100 yards on the ground. It’s the first time two Gopher running backs have done that since 2019 (Shannon Brooks and Rodney Smith vs Illinois). Minnesota finished the game with 327 total rushing yards (out of 452 yards of offense). They were also 7/12 on 3rd down and held the ball for over 37 minutes of game time.

It was a dominating 34-16 victory.

Highlights from today's 34-16 win over Maryland#RTB // #SkiUMah // #Gophers pic.twitter.com/LdtxJT7Z6C

— Minnesota Football (@GopherFootball) October 23, 2021

With the win, the Minnesota Gophers move to 3-1 in the B1G West (5-2 overall), which ties them with #11 Iowa for 1st place in the division. The Hawkeyes have this week off. The maroon and gold will travel to Evanston next week to take on the Northwestern Wildcats, who are 3-4 (1-3) and lost by three touchdowns to Michigan today.

Eric will have that game covered from (a likely empty) Ryan Field as he continues his 2021 Big Ten West stadium tour.

Brian Heintz | Minnesota Sports Fan

The Minnesota Golden Gopher men’s basketball team went into College Park (MD) Sunday, looking for their first road win of the season. Unfortunately for them, Maryland head coach, Mark Turgeon, owns Richard Pitino like a past-his-prime father dominating his pre-pubescent son in driveway pick-up game.

After tonight’s loss, Richard is a career 2-8 vs Turgeon’s Terrapins, who came into the Big Ten for the 2014-15 season, one year after Pitino took over at Minnesota. They’ve lost those eight games by a total of 82 points and won twice by a total of 19.

Aaron Wiggins scored 17 points to help lead @TerrapinHoops to a 72-59 win over Minnesota.

Highlights from the win: pic.twitter.com/lO6RKKHBtr

— Maryland On BTN (@MarylandOnBTN) February 15, 2021

Tonight

The latest performance, which took place tonight in College Park, bordered on disgusting for 3/4 of the game. Minnesota made a run with five minutes remaining but a dagger 3-point shot by Wiggins ruined any remaining hope.

In the first half, they couldn’t shoot, they couldn’t guard and Liam Robbins was immediately in foul trouble. This team is soft. Every time they get punched on the road they crumble like a poorly constructed house of cards.

The storyline is a broken record. It’s infuriating.

Thinking outside the box

Richard Pitino has now lost SIX-straight games vs Turgeon’s Terrapins, which calls for an outside-the-box solution. There’s been a lot of talk about “opt-outs” in 2020-21.

I think Richard should use this newly-found idea as a way to avoid future losses vs the new Big Ten team out of the DC area. He’s proven his ability to coach vs Maryland.

Of course, should the Gophers miss the NCAA Tournament again, Pitino might not get another shot vs any Big Ten foes.

But if he does return as Minnesota Gophers head coach, there’s no reason to put him on the bench vs Maryland. Tell him to stay in Minneapolis. Maybe, setup a dinner with the next top-10 national Minnesota recruit that’s guaranteed to leave.

That sounds like a win/win scenario.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

The Minnesota Gophers men’s basketball team has built quite the 2021 NCAA Tournament resume so far this season. They stand at 13-7 (6-7), play in the nation’s best conference and have a plethora of top-25 victories already stacked up.

But because Pitino’s squad is yet to win any games on the road (0-6), they remain an NCAA Tournament bubble team that is struggling to climb up the NET Rankings, which puts heavy emphasis on road wins.

According to TeamRankings.com, Minnesota will need to secure THREE more victories (16 total) to have any shot at qualifying for the NCAA Tournament. If they get FOUR more (17 total), they’ll all but clinch it.

Just SIX games remain on the regular season schedule, unless the Big Ten is able to reschedule their canceled game @ Nebraska.

According to @TeamRankings, #Gophers MBB needs THREE more wins to likely clinch a tourney spot (67.7%) and FOUR more to all but guarantee one (97.4%). pic.twitter.com/SsHiJLgwms

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) February 13, 2021

As of Saturday, TeamRankings.com gives the Gophers an 80% chance of dancing this March. Their most likely seed is #9 (12.1%).

Remaining Schedule

Minnesota will probably have to break their winless streak on the road, where their easiest matchups remain (on paper), if they are going to dance in March. They have only three remaining home games and two will be played against ranked opponents (#6 Illinois, #25 Rutgers).

Sunday @ Maryland

The Minnesota Gophers will have another shot to end their road losing streak on Sunday, when they head to the nation’s capitol to play the Maryland Terrapins. Maryland is a quality team and considered “quad 1” by the NET Rankings.

A win @ College Park would catapult the Gophers up the NET Rankings, where they currently sit 50th in the nation, and back into all NCAA Tournament conversations. Lose… and their dancing window will look that much tighter.

Remember, the Fighting Pitino’s (13-7) need 16 wins to have a chance and 17 wins to go ahead and order their dancing shoes. Only SIX games remain on the schedule (with a possibility of adding a seventh vs Nebraska).

If they can’t secure a bid before that, then they’ll rely on win or go home victories in the Big Ten Tournament. Let’s hope for my sanity that it doesn’t come to that.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

Friday night, the Gophers held a 17 point lead as they entered the fourth quarter against a Maryland Terrapin team that had just lost to Northwestern by 40 the week before. Minnesota had scored 31 unanswered points when that final period started and some hope was suddenly shining on the 2020 season…

The Terrapins racked up 10 penalties, 2 turnovers (including a fumble at the goal line), and they lost the time of possession battle by 7 minutes. Minnesota’s offense totaled 44 points and cultivated 451 yards of offense. Yet the Gophers found a way to lose somehow, and they did it in the most Minnesota of ways.

2020 has been nothing but fickle and it’s changed the landscape on life, but there’s been one constant: Minnesota sports teams finding different ways to pulverize our hearts… this time through an extra point.

Down 7 in OT of a must win game, Minnesota needed to score a touchdown AND KICK AN EXTRA POINT to extend overtime. Seth Green took a goal line snap and walked into the endzone, pulling the Gophers within one point of that second OT…

… but then Brock Walker missed the extra point kick. Game over.

Minnesota misses the extra point to force double OT ?

TERPS WIN 45-44! pic.twitter.com/p3yy3asURp

— ESPN College Football (@ESPNCFB) October 31, 2020

But don’t blame Walker. Things happens and he never should have been in that position. There’s three reasons why the Gophers spit the bit vs Maryland and none of them are on Brock.

The Defense is Horrid

Fans love to be shortsighted and emotional, when picking scapegoats in a losing effort. The easy choice from Friday night would be the kicker, who missed an easy extra point he’s probably kicked 50,000 times. But the Gophers should never have been in a position where they needed an extra point in OT, just to stay alive vs the Terrapins.

Maryland posted 675 yards of total offense, after putting up just 207 last week vs Northwestern. The Gopher’s couldn’t create any resistance in the run game and the secondary consistently surrendered explosive plays.

It all accumulated into a Maryland offensive performance the Terps haven’t seen in years. RB Jake Funk rushed for 221 yards, the most from a Terrapin since 1998. QB Taulia Tagovailoa became the first Maryland QB to pass for 300 yards since 2013.

Welcome to The Shell, 3️⃣.@tauliaa12 #TBIA pic.twitter.com/FeIcwoQNia

— Maryland Football (@TerpsFootball) October 31, 2020

He also became the first Big Ten player with a 30-yard rushing touchdown and a 75 yard passing touchdown in the same quarter, since 2002 (Asad Abdul Kaliq – Minnesota), according to the broadcast. There’s no excuse for defense like this. When you go on the road and your own offense puts up 44 points, you need to win that game.

The majority of this “L” falls on the inept defense of the Minnesota Gophers, especially early on. If Fleck doesn’t alter something defensively, Minnesota might not win a game.

Fleck’s Complacent Play Calling in 4th

PJ Fleck doesn’t have many flaws but this one is a biggie. Up 17 in the 4th quarter, Fleck and Mike Sanford completely changed their playcalling mentality vs Maryland and it cost the game. We see it all the time in sports; a team builds a lead and decides to play risk-free… but by doing so, they sacrifice what got them there in the first place.

At one point, late in the fourth quarter, the Gophers had totalled just ONE yard after back to back three and outs. Tanner Morgan threw the ball just 15 times ALL GAME, with arguably one of the best wide receiving duos in college football. The “play not to lose” mentality ultimately cost the Gophers, who couldn’t muster any points in the 4th quarter. Inexcusable.

Go For Two

I know… this is the “monday morning QB” take of this blog but the Gophers shouldn’t have tried kicking the tying XP at all. They should have gone for the kill. Your starting kicker is out, you’ve allowed nearly 700 yards and 45 points through one overtime and you lost a 17-point lead in the 4th quarter.

Go for the victory while you have a chance.

Why would you want to put your terrible and exhausted defense back out on that field? Why wouldn’t you hand off to your RB that’s run for 200 plus yards.. or maybe throw to your All American WR? Heck, you could run the same wildcat play with Seth Green, that just scored you a touchdown.

Seth Green with the answer ?.

Minnesota kicker blew the extra point giving Maryland a 45-44 win ?#Minnesota #Maryland pic.twitter.com/3fBGa5jqsP

— TimeoutSPORTS__ (@TimeoutSPORTS3) October 31, 2020

Sure, Walker was 6/6 on XP’s and 1/1 on FG’s in this game but that’s not the point. “You play to win the game”, Coach Dungy once said… and Fleck had that chance but played conservative, which shouldn’t shock anyone who watched that 4th quarter.

This loss was NOT on Brock Walker’s missed XP. It falls on a terrible defense, scared offensive play calling and a failure to recognize your team’s weaknesses.

Stephen Strom | Minnesota Sports Fan

If you watched the Minnesota Gophers football game tonight vs the Maryland Terrapins, I hope you skipped the first quarter and the end of the game, totally.

Maryland put up three touchdowns in their first three drives and were busting chunk play after chunk play on their defense. Most of the damage was being done by Taulia Tagovailoa’s legs. He broke a run on the first drive that went for 24 yards and then another on the Terps’ second drive that went for 39 and a TD.

After fronting them 14 points, Minnesota finally got on the board with a Mohamed Ibrahim touchdown, just to give up a one-play, 70-yard touchdown drive right after. The flashbacks to Michigan in week 1 were real…

But then, the Gophers scored again to bring the game within a touchdown (21-14) before the defense finally made a play.

? BIG MAN INT?

pic.twitter.com/AYkRP2moBT

— PFF College (@PFF_College) October 31, 2020

The Interception That Almost Changed Everything

That interception seemed to change our defense. Were they perfect the rest of the half? Absolutely not. They weren’t even “good”… but they were definitely better. Changing their best was good enough to force a punt and field goal in the Terrapins final two drives of the half, after they scored touchdowns in the three possessions leading up to that INT.

Minnesota still lacked pressure on Taulia throughout the game, and struggled to close running gaps when he decided to take off. Chunk plays continued to haunt them.

Mo Mo Mo

I knew Mo Ibrahim was sitting on a big tonight and a big 2020, overall. He delivered, tying the Minnesota Gophers record for single game touchdown runs with FOUR. Ibrahim also finished with over 200 yards rushing and over 40 carries. He also topped 2000 yards on his Gopher career.

Mo is always falling forward and seems nearly impossible to bring down at times. His low center of gravity is a defender’s worst enemy and he uses it unlike almost any running back I’ve seen. It’s so impressive that it’s difficult to think of his comp at the next level…

Chris Autman Bell

I am happy we got Chris Autman-Bell more involved in this game. The dude is hungry and has some amazing ball skills. Nearly all of his catches in 2020 have needed great adjustments, and he’s made them look easy.

Chris Autman-Bell GET UP!?

pic.twitter.com/4e6SJBeOKy

— PFF College (@PFF_College) October 31, 2020

He outplayed Rashod Bateman in this game by a large margin. Bateman looked hesitant and seems like he is avoiding contact during games. I don’t know if that’s the look you want while hoping to be a 1st round draft pick.

Going forward, I expect CRAB to be much more involved in the pass game. His rise should help Rashod see easier coverages too.

Not Enough

For awhile there in the 2nd half, it looked like the Minnesota Gophers were about to run away with the game, like they were expected to from the beginning. Unfortunately, PJ Fleck got soft on his playcalling and started playing “not to lose” in the 4th quarter. It cost them the game.

Bateman went missing and the Terrapins caught onto our run game in the 4th quarter. Over the last three drives, the Minnesota offense posted TWO 3-and-outs and one drive where they ran five plays. Those drives totalled just 7-minutes of game action.

Minnesota took 7-minutes off the clock in one possession, earlier in the 2nd half. After regulation ended in a tie game, we went to overtime. Both teams scored a touchdown…. and then this happened.

The extra point is…NO GOOD.

After scoring a touchdown, the Gophers fail to tie it with the kick.

Terps are 1-1 on the season. pic.twitter.com/5BcUX0WPdf

— Mike Touma (@miketouma41) October 31, 2020

Fuck 2020. Never believe my predictions again.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

Last weekend did not go as planned for the Minnesota Gophers football team. Michigan came to an empty TCF Bank Stadium and stomped a Minnesota team that was riddled with COVID absences (not that it would have mattered). But at least we aren’t the 2020 Maryland Terrapins, who lost 43-3 vs the Northwestern Wildcats. Yeah, that Northwestern.

That’s win No. 100 for @NUFBFamily coach Pat Fitzgerald.

Highlights from the victory against Maryland: pic.twitter.com/FDNydnf0Lt

— Northwestern On BTN (@NUOnBTN) October 25, 2020

Earlier in the week, I targeted the four areas PJ Fleck and Co needed to fix most, after that ugly Michigan loss.. but I’m not sure how much it will matter against this week’s opponent.

Not all Tagovailoa’s are created equally.

When watching back the MD vs NW game, there are a couple things that stick out… Maryland can’t stop the run and Tua’s brother, TAULIA TAGOVAILOA, kinda sucks.

At least he did last week. He was overthrowing dudes and under-throwing others. Balls were going into double coverage and getting picked off. Watching it back, it’s hard to believe this kid has the same blood flowing through his veins, as the guy who started as a Freshman at Alabama and is about to take over as a rookie for the Dolphins..

Taulia finished the game vs Northwestern, 14/25 with 3 interceptions. His backup came in and went 4/4, after he was pulled. Remember, Tagovailoa transferred into Maryland because he couldn’t hack it at Alabama.

It’s possible that last week was just 1st-game jitters but the turnaround would have to be drastic, just for him to get back to average. I don’t see everything suddenly clicking one week later.

Mo Ibrahim set to go off…

There was one bright spot to the Minnesota offense last week and it was their running game. The zone attack worked vs Michigan all night long and OC Mike Sanford used it for chunk plays, even in the second half when the Gophers were down big.

Mo Ibrahim finished with 140 yards and 2 touchdowns against a Michigan front seven that makes Maryland’s look like they’re walking off the JV bus. I’m not sure this Terrapin team is any better than the 2019 squad, which finished 1-8 in the Big Ten.

Minnesota stomped on Maryland last season, to the tune of 52-10. The running game was ELITE, going for 321 yards and 4 touchdowns on 52 carries. All running backs were healthy that week, something that didn’t happen often last season, so it was a group effort.

In Friday’s matchup, the bulk of those carries will go to Mohamed Ibrahim and I expect him to do big things with them. In 1995, a Gopher running back named Chris Darkins ran for 294 yards vs the Purdue Boilermakers, setting a University of Minnesota record that is yet to be broken 25 years later. I’m not ruling that total out for Mo on Friday night, especially if he can get loose for a big one that goes 70-80 at some point in the night.

When the dust settles in College Park tonight, I expect the Minnesota Gophers to win big. If Northwestern can beat Maryland by 40, then so can we.

Final — Minnesota: 48 | Maryland: 7

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

The Minnesota Gophers were destroyed on Saturday night vs the Michigan Wolverines. PJ Fleck would be quick to reiterate, however, that it’s time to put those oars back in the water. The Gophers are gearing up for a rebound this week vs the Maryland Terrapins in College Park and it’s time to row forward.

But in order to do that, one needs to look back. There were way too many negatives to take away from the Michigan game. Much will have to change, even against a Maryland team that got routed in week 1 by Northwestern 43-3, if Minnesota is going to come back to Dinkytown after week 2 with a 1-1 record.

Specifically… there are four things I’ve been thinking of.

That’s win No. 100 for @NUFBFamily coach Pat Fitzgerald.

Highlights from the victory against Maryland: pic.twitter.com/FDNydnf0Lt

— Northwestern On BTN (@NUOnBTN) October 25, 2020

1.) Available Kickers and Punters

The Big Ten’s 21-day COVID-19 protocol will likely screw everyone over by the time this season is done. It got a head-start on Minnesota last week, though (before moving onto Wisconsin). Both starting punter, Mark Crawford, and starting kicker, Michael Lantz, were on the field during pregame warmups last week… but neither played.

That would lend one to presume, they were between the Big Ten’s 14-day quarantine window and their 21-day heart-monitoring window. Hopefully those 21 days are up on Friday night because last Saturday night’s kicking/punting game was difficult and embarrassing to watch. If the Gophers hadn’t played so poorly, special teams would have sunk Minnesota anyway.

I asked PJ Fleck about the Big Ten’s 21-day policy during his Monday press conference. Here is what he had to say:

I knew I wouldn’t get anything controversial from PJ Fleck on the Big Ten’s 21-day COVID protocol but I asked him about it today anyway. Someone has to. #Gophers pic.twitter.com/2JQdgAFIVZ

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) October 26, 2020

2.) Limit Big Plays / Make Big Plays

The story of Saturday night, if you look past the COVID absences, was big plays. On offense, the Gophers struggled to find any and on defense they couldn’t stop them.

The first 21 points scored by the Wolverines were the result of big plays. They got their first 7 points on a 70 yard TD run. Then, they gave up a sack/fumble that was returned for a TD before Michigan returned a squib kick to the Gophers 8, before the offense punched it in.

During that same time, the Gophers were either forced to punt after four downs OR they took 10+ plays to methodically drive down the field. We know PJ likes to control the football but when the other team is repeatedly landing different variations of easy TD haymakers, you can’t continue your slow-kill strategy of landing repetitive jabs. You won’t keep up.

Maryland’s offense relies on taking shots downfield and they will do it often on Friday night. Minnesota will need to limit those big plays and find a way to convert some of their own.

3.) Youngsters Need to Grow Up Fast

Fleck and the veteran players who are available for press conferences talked a lot this week about bringing young guys up to speed, quickly. There is inexperience across the linebacker crew, especially, and it showed on some of the big plays we talked about above.

The inexperienced Mariano Sori-Marin will have to lead his even-greener teammates, like Thomas Rush and Cody Lindenberg, while still learning the position himself. That’s before you even peak at the DL or secondary, which house their own wealth of “wet behind the ears”.

In 2019, the Gopher defense was lead by a large group of talented and experienced upperclassman, most of them now playing in the NFL (Coughlin, Winfield Jr, Martin, Williamson). The Gophers have the exact opposite of that in 2020. A bunch of inexperience and a lack of leaders to help bring them along.

Coney Durr is very insightful on an evolving #Gophers locker room, ripe with major leadership role changes on defense. pic.twitter.com/dsbvpt8azJ

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) October 28, 2020

But like Durr alluded to in this interview, other teams aren’t going to care about the youth of this Gopher defense. If they can’t grow up in a hurry then big plays will continue to sink the Minnesota Gophers boat.

4.) Tanner Morgan Needs to be Better

Tanner Morgan is the first to blame himself, when asked about what went wrong in a loss. This week, that blame was warranted. Yes, he was missing part of his offensive line and yes he was playing catch up all night. But still, I thought Tanner looked too frazzled in a game where his teammates really needed him to steady the field with poise.

I don’t think Tanner played terribly, but I do think he needs to be better in one area especially. He needs to stop staring down Rashod Bateman. I asked him today about how he felt going through his progressions vs Michigan and he didn’t think it was a problem. I disagree.

Tanner found Bateman 9 times on Saturday night. The rest of the WR core totalled 1 catch, a beautiful adjustment by Chris Autman-Bell on an underthrown ball by Tanner Morgan. I want to get the ball in Bateman’s hands too… but when he’s not available, Morgan has to move on faster and find another playmaker.

He was too hesitant all around last week and I expect that to change in a big way vs Maryland. I am pinning Tanner with a big game in week 2.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan