Gophers' Max Brosmer getting ready to face familiar foe in Rhode Island

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The University of Minnesota football team hosts Rhode Island on Saturday at Huntington Bank Stadium, seeking its first win of the 2024 season.

The Gophers are 0-1 after a 19-17 loss to North Carolina last week after Dragan Kesich missed a game-winning 47-yard field goal as time expired. The team has said multiple times the game didn’t come down to that play, they had chances before that to put the game away and didn’t execute.

Max Brosmer, Danny Striggow, Ethan Robinson and Daniel Jackson met with reporters on Wednesday. Here’s a sample of what they had to say.

A familiar foe for Max Brosmer

The Gophers’ Week 2 opponent is a very familiar one for Max Brosmer, who transferred to Minnesota from New Hampshire. He played against Rhode Island last season in the Coastal Athletic Association. Brosmer was 41-of-60 for 430 yards and two touchdowns in that game, but Rhode Island got the 34-28 victory.

The Rams come to Minnesota after a 20-17 loss to Holy Cross last week. The team actually watched film of Brosmer playing Rhode Island last year as part of its game plan.

"They’ve always been a hard-nosed, gritty football team. I think that’s the definition of the CAA, everybody in that league is super gritty. What we have there is football, that’s all we have," Brosmer said. "it’s funny going back to watch film from when I was playing them last year, that’s what we’re using. I’m really excited to see it out."

In his Gophers' debut, Brosmer went 13-of-21 for 166 yards, no passing touchdowns, lost a fumble and scored a rushing touchdown. He was also sacked five times as Minnesota managed just 244 total yards and was 6-of-13 on third down. Brosmer says the Gophers will learn from their Week 1 mistakes.

"You take the result and all you focus on is the negatives, I don’t think you can completely grow. Take the negatives and translate to what we can get better and fix, that’s where great teams become successful," Brosmer said.

‘We missed way too many tackles’

The consensus from the Gophers’ defense in last week’s loss was they were in position to make plays, they just weren’t made. Za’Quan Bryan dropped an interception that likely would’ve been returned for a touchdown. Ja’Ontae McMillan had a sack fumble that was negated by a holding penalty in the secondary.

Minnesota had a coverage bust in the fourth quarter that led to the Tar Heels’ final points. Most of all, the Gophers missed 22 tackles in the game.

"We clean up a few things here and there, maybe another play goes our way and we’re in a different ballgame. We missed way too many tackles last week," edge rusher Danny Striggow said.

The Gophers had several defensive players making their debuts,  including Bucknell transfer defensive back Ethan Robinson. He finished with three tackles, and a pass defended. He said they’ll learn from their Week 1 mistakes.

"We just have to finish. I feel like we were in a position to make a lot of plays, we had them where we wanted them to be, we just have to finish," Robinson said. "Whether that’s a missed tackle, capitalizing on turnovers, we just have to finish."

The Gophers host Rhode Island at 11 a.m. Saturday at Huntington Bank Stadium.