The Minnesota Golden Gophers got off to their usual slow start against an inferior FCS opponent on Saturday, but more than made up for it the rest of the game, dominating the Rhode Island Rams 48-0. It wasn’t the usual “drive the opponent into the dust” philosophy we’ve come to expect from PJ Fleck-led teams as Minnesota put the ball in the air and Max Brosmer gave Minnesota fans a taste of what the Gophers’ offense can hopefully look like this season.
Minnesota won the coin toss, moved the ball and started the game with the kickoff. Minnesota’s defense managed a three-and-out and then Quentin Redding promptly lost yards on his first punt return of the game, something guaranteed to make special teams opponents happy. Minnesota’s offense showed some progress early in the drive based on a nice run by Darius Taylor with an additional facemask penalty and a nice 20-yard pass from Max Brosmer to Cristian Driver. But the OL faltered and the Gophers’ running game was stopped and the drive stalled. PJ Fleck is all about his “failure is growth” mentality, so he wasted no time sending Dragon Kesich out into the field in swirling winds for a 53-yard field goal attempt, and the kicker rewarded him by blasting one right down the middle that would have been good from 63 yards. The Gophers took an early 3-0 lead.
Minnesota got the ball back after they forced a punt, and then the trouble with the Minnesota OL came back. The right side got blown up on a running play, Antoine Ersery was penalized for blatant holding after a Rhode Island DL beat him clean, and then Brosmer was nearly sacked when the entire line got blown up. Not great. After another stop, the Gophers started pushing again, but the OL continued to struggle. Minnesota finally attempted a deep throw, but Brosmer’s pass hit Lemeke Brockington right in the middle of his No. 0 jersey and fell to the ground. The first quarter ended with a 3-0 lead for the Gophers.
With the running game stalling, Minnesota let Brosmer keep throwing to find a rhythm early in the second quarter. On 3rd-and-9, he found Jamison Geers for 11 yards and a first down. Then he found Daniel Jackson for 13 and Taylor out of the backfield for 11 yards on two of the next three plays. Next came a pass to Nick Kallerup for 5 yards and then Elijah Spencer for 18 yards, which he advanced with a nifty maneuver to the four-yard line. Two runs by Taylor later, he was in the end zone and Minnesota led 10-0 with 11:05 left in the first half. Overall on this offense, Brosmer was 7-9 for 78 yards with six different Gophers on completion.
Rhode Island drove to the midfield due to some poor tackling by Minnesota, then threw deep to the right on third and long from the midfield. It looked to be a good catch for the Rams’ Shawn Harris Jr., but Justin Walley knocked the ball out as they both went down along with Gopher safety Aiden Gousby. The ball bounced between their bodies and fell into Gousby’s lap, resulting in an interception at the Minnesota 15-yard line.
The quick passing attack of Brosmer was on display again as he found Brockington and Geers for nice gains and Taylor also added a 17-yard run from the left side. Incremental running gains from Brosmer, Taylor and Marcus Major kept the drive alive as it approached the Rams’ red zone. Minnesota’s short passing game out of the backfield continued to be better than the traditional running game as Taylor and Major made nice gains through the air. The Gophers’ running game brought the final blow as it took four attempts to get into the end zone from the Rhode Island 11-yard line, but Major scored his first TD as a Gopher with a two-yard run up the middle to make it 17-0 to the Gophers with 1:16 left in the half. Minnesota managed 85 yards on 14 plays and used up 7:57 of the second quarter, but got the 7 points they needed.
Minnesota still had a chance, as on the Rams’ first play after the touchdown, Deven Eastern came around the corner and snatched the ball from Rams QB Devin Farrell, which Jack Henderson recovered at the Rhode Island 19-yard line. But instead of moving forward, the Gophers went backward. Two sacks by Brosmer coupled with a driver drop in the end zone allowed Kesich to try and break his career record for field goals, but his 55-yard attempt went wide right and the Gophers went to the locker room with a 17-0 lead.
The Gophers took the opening kickoff of the third quarter and showed us a new technique we hadn’t seen before – a rushing offense. Minnesota tried to put the Rams behind again and it worked as the Gophers had gotten past the halfway line with just two minutes of play. Then the Gophers slowed the tempo back down to RUTM and needed a fourth and QB sneak from Brosmer to keep the drive alive. (Take notes, Greg Harbaugh…). Minnesota went back to the passing game and after a nice pass to Spencer and a couple of max runs for positive yards, the Gophers got back into the end zone. Minnesota lined up on first and goal from the six, with Trips to go sent Driver moving down the field and Brosmer found him completely free at the three and he ran in for his first collegiate touchdown. 24-0 Minnesota with 7:57 left in the 3rd quarter.
After another Rhode Island punt, the Gophers marched down the field again. Brosmer completed 4-5 passes for 67 yards and capped it off with a 29-yard touchdown pass to Brockington down the right sideline. 31-0 to the Gophers with just over a minute left in the third quarter. Minnesota held on to that lead until the fourth quarter.
The first play of the fourth quarter thrilled ALL Gopher fans. On third and long, the Rhode Island quarterback ran and threw on the run. The ball was deflected by Cody Lindenberg and intercepted by Koi Perich, the pride of Esko. His first college interception secured the Gophers’ path to Rhode Island.
PJ Fleck decided the starters had played enough, and Arkansas true freshman Drake Lindsay came in at quarterback, taking the Gophers deeper into Rams territory before the drive stalled and Kesich kicked a 47-yard field goal to make it 34-0 with 11:04 left to play.
Minnesota scored its next touchdown 34 seconds later when Rhode Island backup QB Hunter Helms threw a pass on third-and-long right to Jack Henderson, who carried it 25 yards for a pick-6. Kesich’s extra point made it 41-0 with 10:32 left to play.
The Gophers’ second unit entered the game with 1:56 left in the game. It was a hopeful preview of the 2025 season when Drake Lindsay threw the first touchdown pass of his college career to Georgia transfer Tyler Williams – his first catch as a Gopher, making it 48-0.
The most important part of the game was the Gophers’ passing attack. Brosmer finished the game with 24-30 passing for 271 yards and two touchdowns. Of those six incomplete passes, at least three were drops by Brosmer’s receivers, although only one was statistically counted as a drop. Spencer was Minnesota’s best wide receiver with four catches on four attempts for 55 yards. Darius Taylor showed how versatile he can be this season when he rushed for just 64 yards on 14 carries, but also had four catches for 48 yards.
Minnesota’s defense was outstanding against an inferior opponent, allowing the Rams just 135 yards and just six first downs in the game. Minnesota controlled possession with a 40-32 to 19-28 lead and never let the Rams get past the halfway line. It was exactly what you would like to see from this team against inferior competition.
Hopefully we’ll see a replay against Nevada next week before the real fun starts here on the 21st with Iowa.
Short notes:
- After Redding’s first punt return, he was off the field for the rest of the game — although it appeared he was out with a possible injury. Daniel Jackson returned punts after donning a No. 39 jersey to avoid getting a double number with Dev Williams, who is on the coverage team — at least in the first half. In the second half, he only had his standard No. 9 after the Gophers must have decided it was easier to just take Williams out of the punt unit.
- The Koi Perich era has officially begun. He recorded his first collegiate interception on the first play of the 4th quarter and had the best punt return of the day later in the quarter, taking the ball 28 yards to the halfway line.
- True freshman QB Drake Lindsay made his first collegiate appearance and played the entire fourth quarter, finishing 3-4 for 35 yards and a touchdown pass to Williams.
- 12 different Gophers caught a pass in the game.
- The shutout was Minnesota’s first since the 31-0 win over Rutgers on October 29, 2022
- Goldy was trained. The final score of 48:0 meant that our favorite mascot had to do a total of 218 push-ups. This is how you train the rodent’s chest muscles.
