Advertisement
football Edit

Behind enemy lines: Minnesota

For the second time in three years, Illinois (2-5, 1-3 Big Ten) welcomes Minnesota (5-2, 2-2 Big Ten) to Memorial Stadium for Homecoming on Saturday. Kickoff is set for 11 a.m. CT, with the game televised on BTN.

The Gophers posted a 32-23 home win last season after dropping a 28-24 decision in 2014 in Champaign. Last year, Shannon Brooks led the Gophers to victory as he rushed 17 times for 174 yards and three touchdowns.

Minnesota enters the game ranked No. 7 in the Big Ten in total offense and No. 5 in total defense. The Gophers have been particularly strong defensively in the first half, allowing just 44 first half points this season.

OrangeandBlueNews.com caught up with EJ Stevens from The Gopher Report to get the lowdown on Minnesota ahead of Saturday's contest.

Minnesota head coach Tracy Claeys
Minnesota head coach Tracy Claeys (USA Today Sports)
Advertisement

The Gophers are one win from bowl eligibility. Is this about what you expected headed into the season? What are some of the top story lines leading up to the game at Illinois?

EJ Stevens: Bowl eligibility for the fifth straight year was definitely the expectation heading into the season. Most people around the Minnesota program expected 8-9 wins this season and to be contending for the Big Ten West title. Right now, it's hard to say if the second goal is realistic for Minnesota, but they are currently in the middle of what many have considered to be the most navigable part of the schedule.

The top storyline has got to be the six Gophers players that were given a restraining order that prevented them from playing in Saturday's home game because of a potential issue with a female on the football operations staff. One of those players is starting cornerback KiAnte Hardin, who has been excellent this season in the three games he has appeared in and is tied for the team lead with two interceptions. Cornerback Ray Buford is Minnesota's number three cornerback and played well in the Iowa and Maryland games, but he was also unable to play last week because of this bizarre issue. Because the restraining order only applies to home games, these two are expected to play when the Gophers travel to Champaign this weekend; which is huge for the Minnesota defense. Their court appearance was today, and the restraining order for home games has still not been lifted.

Another storyline for Minnesota is the huge season that running back Rodney Smith is having. He leads all Big Ten skill players in all-purpose yards with 1,008 on the season. That includes 701 rushing yards, 110 receiving yards, and 190 kick return yards. Rodney has had four 100 yard rushing games this season and his kickoff return touchdown against Rutgers last week saved Minnesota from a potentially embarrassing upset at home against Rutgers.

What's the generally feeling about head coach Tracy Claeys in his first full season at the helm? How is his team different than what we saw under Jerry Kill? How is Claeys doing on the recruiting trail?

EJ Stevens: Tracy Claeys has been heavily criticized by the Gopher fan base and media in his first full season as head coach. He came into the season saying this would be his best team since he's been here, but it has not looked like that so far. Questionable coaching decisions and numerous pre-snap penalties proved to be huge reasons why Minnesota blew fourth-quarter leads late to Penn State and Iowa. After being up 21-3 against Rutgers after the first quarter, Minnesota was clearly outplayed the rest of the game and there were tons of mistakes that led to the near upset.

Before the season, I guessed Minnesota would be 6-1 at this point, so 5-2 of course is not far off but the way they have been unable to put teams away has been concerning. It has led many to question if Claeys is the right guy for the job. In my opinion, it is really not fair to evaluate him before the end of a full season, because there is a lot of football to be played and the Gophers still have most of their goals on the table with five Big Ten games to play.

The offense is a bit different than it was under Kill because Minnesota fired offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover in the off-season and hired Jay Johnson from UL-Lafayette to the same position. The Gophers use much more two and three receiver sets than they used to, and the play-calling has improved significantly from the past couple years where it's not so predictable that they are going to run the ball all the time. Minnesota's two best offensive players are running backs Rodney Smith and Shannon Brooks, so their preference is still to run the ball and win the battle in the trenches as opposed to letting the quarterbacks air it out 30-40 times per game.

Recruiting has been relatively slow for Minnesota this cycle under Claeys. The top commit is three-star offensive tackle Blaise Andries from Marshall, Minnesota. Andries had well over a dozen Power 5 offers besides the Gophers. Other than that, there are no really highly sought after guys that have made up this 13 man recruiting class. Minnesota has the lowest-ranked recruiting class in the Big Ten right now, which is another reason that the fan base has already gotten restless about Claeys' ability to lead the program going forward.

The Minnesota defense has played well this season, especially in the first half. What are some of the keys to this success, and who are some players to watch on the Gophers' defense.

EJ Stevens: This is not the most talented defense that has been at Minnesota in the Kill/Claeys era, but the coaching on the defensive side of the ball has really been excellent. Former defensive backs coach Jay Sawvel was promoted to the defensive coordinator position this fall, and he has gotten very creative with the different personnel packages he has used to help the defense succeed in different down and distance situations.

On first and second down, Minnesota will typically stay with their 4-3 base defense while sometimes switching to the nickel depending on what kind of package the offense is in. On passing situations, the Gophers love to go with their 2-4-5 package which allows them to get their best pass rushers on the field. This package showcases a lot of linebacker blitzes and different disguises in coverage. Internet sensation Tai'yon Devers comes in for this package on third down situations, and he is tied for the team lead with three sacks, essentially playing less than ten plays per game.

Jalen Myrick and Damarius Travis are Minnesota's senior leaders and top players in the secondary, and they are two guys that will most likely be playing on Sunday's next year. The other starting cornerback, KiAnte Hardin, has proved how valuable he is to this team as the Gopher defense has allowed an average of 15.6 points per game in the three games he has played in. They have given up 28.25 points per game in the four games he has been suspended for. Hardin has 13 tackles, three pass breakups, and two interceptions in three games. His playmaking ability makes this defense so much better, and he will certainly be welcomed back this week.

Defensive tackle Steven Richardson is by far Minnesota's best defensive lineman, but he is reportedly out for Saturday's game with a concussion. Junior linebacker Jon Celestin leads the team with 55 tackles, so those are a couple guys to watch also.

Running back Rodney Smith is a big part of what the Gophers do offensively. What does Smith bring to the field? What are some of the other playmakers on the offense to watch, including some guys in the trenches?

EJ Stevens: Rodney Smith has just been phenomenal this season. He looks like a small guy on the field, but he has gotten so much better at being patient and waiting for the holes to open up before getting to the second level and making guys miss with his tremendous cutback ability. He is fast, elusive, and he is also a weapon catching passes out of the backfield as well. Smith is well on his way to becoming an All-Big Ten selection if he continues his strong play this season.

Another playmaker to watch is sophomore running back Shannon Brooks, who many thought would be the main back carrying the load for the Gophers this year. He and Smith got a dead even split in carries last week with 22 apiece. He is the guy that is going to run defenders over as opposed to running around them. You never know which one of these guys is going to have a better game; it's really a crapshoot as they are both great backs.

At receiver, the only real notable guy is senior receiver Drew Wolitarsky, who is more of an underneath wide receiver who makes plays in the short to intermediate passing game. He leads the team with 37 catches for 450 yards and three touchdowns.

On the offensive line, Minnesota is expected to have senior right tackle Jonah Pirsig back Saturday. That is especially huge for pass protection. Left Guard Jared Weyler is one of the highest graded run blockers in the Big Ten this season, so he is another guy to watch on the line as well.

How do you expect the game to play out on Saturday? Your keys to the game? Score prediction?

EJ Stevens: It's hard to know what kind of game to expect on Saturday. After watching the tape against Michigan, it was evident that Jeff George Jr. struggled a bit with Michigan's tenacious defense, but then again so does everyone else.

I expect Minnesota to play better defensively than they did last week, especially with the return of two of their top three cornerbacks in KiAnte Hardin and Ray Buford. Can Dawuane Smoot and Hardy Nickerson cause havoc in the Minnesota backfield? Illinois ability to stop the run will be huge in this one, as that is the Gophers bread and butter. I think the Gophers eventually wear down Illinois and their 11th ranked rush defense in the Big Ten with their running game. The Illini will also need to be able to run the ball with Ke'Shawn Vaughn and Kendrick Foster if they are going to give this Gopher defense problems. That just got a little bit easier with the loss of defensive tackle Steven Richardson, who has been a mainstay in opposing backfields in 2016.

I expect this one to be a close game throughout, but the Gophers will eventually pull out a 27-17 victory over Illinois in Champaign.

Advertisement