It Was a Maryland Massacre on Halloween Weekend at TCF Bank Stadium; Gophers Look Ready for Penn State

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Well, the Gophers played Maryland today. They spanked that ass…. again, for all of the same reasons they’ve spanked that Big Ten ass all year. Because they are better, and they take the field more focused and more prepared than they’re lesser conference opponent. That’s what good teams do.

That’s all I need to write, correct? I mean fuck… what else needs to be said?

But, I won’t stop there. Let’s at least get into the first half. There was a lot of action to be had. It was a slaughter-fest on Halloween weekend at The Bank. It only took two plays from the line of scrimmage, for this game to feel out-of-hand. Maryland had run over the Gophers defense, during their last two meetings, so they caught our defense off-guard when they passed on the first play, for a WHOPPING 7 yards. On 2nd-and-3 though, Tyrrell Pigrom tried the middle of the field…. where Antoine Winfield Jr. lay in wait…

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Like I said before, it got out of hand quickly after that interception led to Tanner Morgan playing “.500” with Rashod Bateman, for a touchdown. Then, the defense forced a 3-and-out, before Tanner Morgan drove the offense 74 yards, on 12 plays, and Seth Green punched it into the endzone on a 10-yard keeper out of the Wildcat. That drive took 7 minutes and 29 seconds, in total. The Gophers had the ball for 10:32 out of 15:00 of the 1st quarter minutes.

The first quarter wasn’t even over yet and the Gophers were looking for more points. 2 minutes and 31 seconds into the 2nd quarter, they found what they were looking for, through the air again. This time, Tanner paid off his trusty senior for a 16-yard score; the Gophers’ easiest yet.

The 1st half onslaught finally ended in fireworks, when Coney Durr took a tipped pass 72 yards, to the house. At that point, it was 28-0 and the turtles were dreaming of roads they could be laying shell-down on.

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Maryland found a way to slow down Tanner Morgan late in the first half (once), when he overthrew (yes, I guess it is possible) Rashod Bateman. After a big return and a couple of big plays, the defense would hold and force the Terrapins into a field goal. Their luck wouldn’t get any better in the 2nd half.

The Gophers would score two more touchdowns, both on the ground. Rodney Smith finished off a drive in the 3rd and Seth Green got his second TD of the game in the 4th. There isn’t much else to get into, when it comes to gameplay that mattered. It was a massacre. The Terrapins scored a TD late in the 4th quarter, off of a fluke mistake on defense, but it was long-over by then.

Jacob Clark and Treyson Potts found the field as freshman, late in the game. Potts looked damn good in limited action, carrying the ball 4 times for 42 yards and a touchdown. Clark got to show off his deep ball once too. It’s beautiful.

Now, the Gophers will wait two weeks before hosting Penn State, in by far the most important college football game held in this state in over 60 years. Both teams will be undefeated after Penn State beat the shit out of Michigan State today too.

Bring it.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

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