The Minnesota Gophers extended their winning streak to 4 games after beating the 24th ranked Illinois Fighting Illini in Champagne, 25-17. This was an awesome win in all 3 phases, it was the first time we have beaten Head Coach Bret Bielema, and we are now 6-3 overall (4-2 in Big Ten play). The Gophers honestly looked like the better team the whole game and we truly have a special season brewing. Before I go over some recap notes and predictions for next game, let's look back at Birdman's Blog's prediction prior to the Illinois matchup:
"Prediction: This will be another huge test for the Minnesota Gophers. Illinois is a very tough, well-coached team that is 5-0 at home, with their only 2 losses coming on the road to 2 highly ranked teams. I predict another well-rounded performance from the Gophers on both sides of the ball. I might as well predict another turnover or special teams touchdown by Koi Perich since everytime he is on the field he seems to do something magical. The Gophers will also finish the game with the turnover advantage in their favor. As much my brain tells me Illinois will win, Vegas (for some reason) has the Gophers as 3-point favorites on the road against 24th ranked Illinois and against a head coach that they've never defeated. Vegas is hardly ever wrong so I need to just trust the process. I predict the Gophers to win 27-21 in a tightly contested game. Go Gophers!"
Not a spot on prediction in regards to the finer details, but my predicted result and score prediction was pretty close again! Way to go, Gophers! Now, let's go over some postgame notes from the Illinois game:
The Gophers looked like the better team all game.
Our offense, defense, and special teams did a great job.
Our kicker, Dragan Kesich, started the season with some unusual kicking issues. He has seemingly found his confidence again and he went 4/4 on FGs against Illinois. We will need him to keep this up the rest of the season.
Max Brosmer continues to play QB at a very high level, not putting up the biggest stats against Illinois, but getting his top pass catchers involved throughout the game and in big moments. Daniel Jackson had 5 catches for 74 yards, Elijah Spencer had 6 catches for 67 yards, and Darius Taylor had 9 catches for 58 yards.
Along with the solid pass catching day, superstar RB Darius Taylor also added 22 carries for 131 yards and 1 TD. Even though he looked to have gotten banged up at one point, he is an absolute stud whenever he touches the ball.
Gophers defense played another great game against a solid Illinois team on the road. We didn't have any interceptions, but we did force and recover 2 fumbles. The second was a sack and fumble (by Jah Joyner) to end the game on Illinois' final drive.
One quick note I had about a Gopher decision in the 4th quarter. After the Gophers scored their second touchdown to make it 22-17 in the 4th, we decided to go for a 2-point conversion (and failed to convert). Most people would think this is the correct decision...to try to make it a 7-point game. I thought that we should have kicked the extra point to make it a 6-point game (23-17) because then there would be 2 potential positive outcomes. First, if we got the ball back and kicked a FG, it would make it a 9 point game (2-score lead) essentially ending the game. This did end up happening, but since we were only up 5, the FG made it an 8-point game (still a 1-score game) which allowed Illinois to still have a chance to tie it on their final drive. Second, making it a 6-point game would have prevented Illinois from being able to go up by 3 if they had scored a touchdown and a 2-point conversion when we had only been up by 5. Just a small gripe that got overlooked by most and we ended up winning in the end!
Next up, the 6-3 (4-2) Gophers will travel to face 4-4 (1-4) Rutgers. I will say that I am a little surprised that the Gophers aren't ranked yet after going on a 4-game winning streak while beating 2 top-25 teams. That is fine and I would expect the Gophers to be ranked if they can take care of business this weekend. Rutgers shouldn't be overlooked as they are another very well coached team. Here are my thoughts for this weekend:
Max Brosmer, Darius Taylor, Daniel Jackson, and Elijah Spencer will have another strong day on offense. I think we will score a lot of points.
Koi Perich, Justin Walley, Kerry Brown, Cody Lindenberg, and Jah Joyner will all have big games on defense. I expect the Gophers defense to have 3 interceptions, possibly 1 fumble recovery, and 4+ sacks. This will be another dominant defensive performance.
Rutgers' QB is Athan Kaliakmanis, former Gopher QB. I think this matchup will be to the benefit of the Gopher defense more than it will be for Athan. He is a very inaccurate passer and will get flustered multiple times on Saturday.
I predict the Gophers to win this game convincingly, 34-13, to extend the winning streak to 5 games and possibly break into the top 25 for the first time this season.
Final Note: Something that understandably hasn't been talked about is if the Minnesota Gophers win their last 3 games of the season, there will be serious conversations about them being in the mix for the new 12-team College Football Playoff. Before you laugh it off, the path for the Gophers would include beating a top-5 Penn State team at home and they would finish 9-3 overall, while being 7-2 in the Big Ten. I know it is unlikely, but the path is absolutely there. The Gophers just need to keep their focus on one game at a time and keep the good times rolling!
If they make the college play off I’m get a tattoo of godly on my face