Weeks 4 and 5 for the Gopher’s 2024 season were two rivalry games; one being a matchup with Iowa for the Floyd of Rosedale and the other being at the Big House to take on Michigan for the Little Brown Jug. Both matchups saw Minnesota executing at a high level for half of the game, while committing too many mistakes to be able to overcome. 24 unanswered second half points by Iowa led to Minnesota watching Floyd go back south. While against Michigan, it was a terrible stretch of a blocked punt, touchdown, then an interception that gave Michigan a 21-3 halftime lead. Although a comeback seemed to be in the works against the defending champs, a late offsides call on a recovered onside kick ultimately put a knife through the hopes of holding the Jug for the first time in 10 years.
Both games had similar themes of not being able to get off the field on defense in crunch time and just allowing for too many chunk plays on the ground due to missed tackles. Things seemed to improve from the Iowa game to the Michigan game, but it will still need to improve mightily as the season goes on. As for the offense, the running game continues to haunt this team and was inefficient against both of these stout defenses. The passing attack was where Minnesota looked to move the ball and utilizing high tempo worked very well. In the closing minutes of the first half against Iowa, Minnesota was able to stretch the field and get chunk plays on timing routes. This was also the case in the second half against Michigan. The disappointing part of the season thus far has been the glimpses of what this team is capable of doing, but failing to do so for the entirety of the game, which has resulted in their 3 losses of the season. If this team could find a way to put it all together for 60 minutes, then they will have a chance against any team they face this season. Regardless, there were some solid performances in each game, so let’s take a look at the Helmet Sticker Performances from the first two conference games.
Helmet Sticker Performances
For those of you who do not know what a Helmet Sticker is; it is the tradition of giving small decals to put on their helmet the week after a game for good individual plays or performances. Ohio State is most known for this practice, as their blank gray helmets are filled out continuously over the course of a season. Although Minnesota does not actually give out decals for good performances, I will just use it as a way to point out positive performances that happened during the course of a game. The Gophers played two very poor and two very good halves of football in each of these games, leaving a minimal amount of gametime to find many standout performances, but here we go.
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- Corey Hetherman’s crew had their fair share of struggles in both of these games, but saw improvement from Iowa to Michigan. Starting with Iowa, they did not get the job done. If Iowa would’ve scored 31 points in every game since last year, their only loss would’ve come to Tennessee in their bowl game last season. Allowing the Hawkeye defense to have a lead of that many points is going to make it very difficult for even the most elite offenses to keep up. They held Cade McNamara to 62 passing yards, but that was all for naught if they allow Kaleb Johnson to run wild. There just were not many standout all-around performances in this game, but Kerry Brown and Ethan Robinson (2) are the two that will receive a sticker for their games. Brown did not make any game-changing plays, but the thing he did was not miss any tackles. As for Robinson, he has been huge for the Gophers since coming from Bucknell by way of the portal. With Walley out, Robinson has been the definition of shutdown. His performance carried over into the Michigan game, where he played great again and forced a huge interception to help boost the comeback hopes. He will grow his lead on the coveted Helmet Sticker Leaderboards, as his performance against Michigan gained him another as well. With Robinson, Jah Joyner bounced back with a standout performance against Michigan. Off the edge he was able to have a positive effect on stopping the run, while still recognizing pass and creating a rush against a good o-line and a very mobile QB. He contained well and ended the day with a sack, 4 solo tackles, 4 assisted tackles, and numerous pressures. The last sticker for the defense against Michigan goes to Maverick Baranowski. He has been the teams leading tackler on the season and built on that last Saturday, as he was flying around and seemed to be in on every tackle. The performance was not perfect, but it was a vast improvement and hopefully will be a good building block for the rest of the season.
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- The question going into conference play was if Fleck would continue to let Brosmer throw the ball against stronger opponents, and that was answered with a resounding yes. They found success in the first half against Iowa, with Max Brosmer tossing two scores. Jameson Geers made a great catch in the endzone and made a fantastic open-field block on a screen pass to get Elijah Spencer in for seven. These two plays earned him his first sticker, despite the rest of his performance being lackluster. For the first few weeks, I had held off on giving the O-line any stickers, as they have been very unproductive. Although it is finally time to give the future 1st round pick, Aireontae Ersery, his first one. He has been elite in keeping Brosmer clean and is overdue for some pass-block recognition. WR1 Daniel Jackson (2) will be receiving a sticker for each of his performances against Iowa and Michigan. In conference play, he has solidified himself as Max’s go-to guy. His 9 catches and 112 yards against Iowa were both season-highs and got him over the 2k mark in his career. As for the Michigan game, his yardage was not quite as high, but his circus catch in the endzone was deserving enough. A spinning one-handed snag while being interfered with was the only way to spark up a debate on if it was better than his game-winning toe-tap against Nebraska a season ago. Regardless of which one was better, he continues to be a top Gopher WR of all time and looks to continue building more and more confidence this season. The last sticker for the offense in conference play goes to Max Brosmer. He finished the day going 27/40 with 258 yards and 1 TD, while leading numerous TD drives down the field against an elite defense in the second half. It stings to not know how this game would’ve finished if the Gophers got another chance after the onside kick, as they were moving the ball very well. There is no question he is the guy for the remainder of the season and fans are eagerly awaiting the possibilities if a complete game can be put together against a BIG10 opponent.
- Special Teams
- The special teams against Iowa were ineffective. Mark Crawford struggled to flip the field, besides downing one kick at the 1 yard line. Kesich did not have an opportunity to attempt any kicks and Perich was bottled up on every opportunity he got. For two of these players, this story flipped for the Michigan game. Mark Crawford had a much more consistent day and flipped the field on his 4 punts. Koi Perich played a big part in the comeback being possible, as he finally broke loose on a punt. Returning one for 60 yards and setting the offense up with a short field to plunge into the endzone quickly. It was only a matter of time when he would be able to slip a tackle and get some yards, but the next step will be finding the endzone on one. Lastly, Dragan Kesich’s struggles continued going 1/2 on kicks. Although his miss was from deep, there are higher expectations for a player of his caliber. Playing against a team that won the national championship a year ago means the margin for error is slim and points are at a premium. Missed kicks will come back to bite and they ultimately did as the Gophers ended up losing by 3. There is still confidence in the former kicker of the year to pick it back up and help this team win some games soon.
The excitement from the routs of Rhode Island and Nevada seemed to fizzle after two straight losses, but it is time to lick the finger and turn the page. Putting together a full 60 minutes will put them in a spot to compete with anyone on their schedule. Their next opportunity will be a chance for a signature home win against USC under the lights.
Season Leaderboard
- Ethan Robinson (4)
- Justin Walley, Kerry Brown, Anthony Smith, Jack Henderson, Koi Perich, Max Brosmer, Daniel Jackson, Jah Joyner (All with 2)
- Za’Quan Bryan, Marcus Major, Deven Eastern. Aiden Gousby, Koi Perich, Cody Lindenberg, Elijah Spencer, Jalen Logan-Redding, Jameson Geers, Darius Taylor II, Aireontae Ersery, Mark Crawford (All with 1)
