Gophers pound Maryland 52-10, improve to 8-0 for first time since 1941
Coney Durr #16 of the Minnesota Gophers runs an interception back for a touchdown against the Maryland Terrapins during the second quarter of the game at TCF Bank Stadium on October 26, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. ((Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images))
MINNEAPOLIS - University of Minnesota football coach PJ Fleck had a passionate, roughly two-minute pitch to the people at ESPN after the Gophers dismantled Maryland 52-10 on Saturday at TCF Bank Stadium.
The message was simple, but would ultimately take the Twin Cities to the next level: Bring College GameDay to Minneapolis. The stage is set after the Gophers did their best to deliver the message on the field Saturday, running for 321 of their 498 total yards and racing out to a 28-3 halftime lead.
The Gophers are 8-0 for the first time since 1941, ironically the last time the program also won a national championship. They’re 5-0 in the Big Ten West for the first time since 1961, with a two-game lead over Iowa and Wisconsin, which play each other next. Minnesota will likely be ranked in the top-15 in the country, and No. 6-ranked Penn State improved to 8-0 after beating Michigan State 28-7 on Saturday.
It sets the stage for the biggest game in the Gophers’ program since Glen Mason’s undefeated squad hosted Michigan on a Friday night at the Metrodome in 2003. The only thing missing is Rece Davis, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Lee Corso and Maria Taylor. After all, Minneapolis has already hosted the Super Bowl and the NCAA Final Four.
“If I could tell ESPN, believe me, trust me, you come to the Twin City area, you come to the University of Minnesota, for an undefeated Penn State team, an undefeated Minnesota Golden Gopher team in this Twin City area where they host the Super Bowl, the Final Four. Next is Game Day, naturally,” Fleck said. “That’s why I think they should come here and I think our whole city would rally behind it. If they think they’ve had large crowds before, wait until four million people show up.”
For any of it to matter, the Gophers had to beat Maryland first. Did they ever.
On the Terrapins’ second offensive play, Tyrrell Pigrome had a pass sail high, tipped by his receiver and intercepted by Antoine Winfield Jr. He returned it to the Maryland 20, and four plays later, Tanner Morgan hit Rashod Bateman for a 9-yard touchdown on a fade route that was the Gophers’ easiest six points of the day.
The Gophers’ defense was just getting started. They sacked Pigrome three times in the first half, held the Terrapins to 2-of-11 on third down conversions and got an interception from Coney Durr returned 72 yards for a touchdown.
It’s virtually the same Maryland team that ran for 315 yards and put up 42 points on the Gophers in the Big Ten opener last year. Saturday, they allowed just 79 rushing yards and 210 total yards, and the first-team defense kept Maryland out of the end zone.
“They played as a family tonight. We needed everybody in the house to get to the family room this week, and we needed to play family room defense,” Fleck said.
That’s especially important because the Gophers were without top tackler Kamal Martin, who suffered a right leg or knee injury at Rutgers last week. He did not dress for Saturday’s game, leaving his defensive duties to Mariano Sori-Marin and Braelin Oliver. The two combined for 10 tackles and a sack.
“We didn’t tell them to go be Kamal Martin, we just told them to be the best you that you can be. We didn’t change the scheme or anything, we kept it pretty simple and they were able to go out there and execute,” defensive back Chris Williamson said. They stepped up today.”
Seth Green scored a touchdown in the wildcat formation to give the Gophers a 14-0 lead in the first quarter, and Morgan hit Tyler Johnson on a slant for a 16-yard score to give Minnesota a 21-0 lead before Durr’s pick-6. Morgan finished his day 12-of-21 passing for 138 yards, two touchdowns, one interception and a 134.2 rating. He continues to be one of highest-rated passers in the country.
But the offensive day belonged largely to senior running back Rodney Smith. He finished with 17 carries for 103 yards and a third quarter touchdown that gave the Gophers a 38-3 lead. He moved up to No. 3 on the Gophers’ all-time rushing list with 3,848 career yards, and recorded his fifth straight 100-yard rushing game. More importantly, he became Minnesota’s all-time leader in total yards with 5,117, passing former legend Darrell Thompson, who watched in the booth providing radio color commentary.
“It’s exciting. You come into college with goals, that wasn’t a specific one but to be at the top means a lot to me and I’m thankful for everybody that helped me obtain that goal,” Smith said.
The entire team celebrated his accomplishment after the game. He came back from a major knee injury to do it, and took the time to buy into Fleck’s approach after being unsure about it when Fleck was first hired as head coach. Fleck is Smith's third head coach in six years at Minnesota.
“There is nobody who is more deserving of what he accomplished today and nobody has done the line of success more than Rodney Smith. That’s the best way I can put it,” Fleck said. “It took him about 18 months to actually buy in, it took him a while, but we never gave up on him and he never gave up on us. Now I think you see an unbelievable Rodney Smith, an elite Rodney Smith. I thank my higher power every day that he’s on this football team.”
Green scored his second touchdown of the night on a 4th-and-goal from the 1-yard line to give the Gophers a 45-3 lead with 8:24 left. Trey Potts got the final score as reserves played most of the fourth quarter.
It can’t be ignored how dominant the Gophers have been in Big Ten play since winning three close games in the non-conference. They’ve out-scored five conference opponents 161-37 over the first three quarters, and 206-72 overall.
They control their own destiny with four games left at home against Penn State, at Iowa, at Northwestern and the home finale against Wisconsin.
Next up is the Nittany Lions, and maybe College GameDay? They’ve made their pitch, on and off the field. But if you ask Morgan and the Gophers, they can be better.
“We can’t be satisfied, complacency is the No. 1 killer of success. It doesn’t matter, you can’t be complacent,” Morgan said. “We’ve got to fight complacency and we’ve just go to continue to change our best and get better every single day no matter the circumstance.”