Tag: Minnesota Golden Gophers Football

Five Minnesota players who Badger fans need to know

Here are five Minnesota Gophers who Badger fans should keep a close eye on throughout Saturday’s matchup between Wisconsin and Minnesota.

The matchup Badger fans have been eagerly anticipating all season is finally upon us, as No. 12 Wisconsin will look to take back Paul Bunyan’s Axe from No.10 Minnesota in the Twin Cities on Saturday afternoon in this year’s rendition of one of college football’s most heated rivalries. As if the game was in need of any more hype, this year’s showdown between these two bitter foes will also serve as a Big Ten West championship game, with the winner destined for a berth in the conference title game in Indianapolis.

It’s been a dream season for head coach P.J. Fleck’s Golden Gophers, whose only loss of the season to this point came a couple of weeks ago against Iowa in a thriller at Kinnick Stadium. Fleck has clearly elevated his program to new heights, and after Minnesota’s beatdown of the Badgers at Camp Randall at the end of last season, it appears as though the days of Wisconsin’s consistent dominance over its border rival are over.

It was a bit of a surprise to find the Badgers listed as 3-point favorites in this one as of Wednesday morning, but after getting embarrassed by the Gophers last season, it would be shocking if they don’t come to play on Saturday. However, make no mistake, it will be an uphill battle for Wisconsin to slow down this Minnesota squad in what is sure to be a hostile atmosphere on the road. These aren’t the Gophers Badger fans have grown accustomed to routinely pounding anymore, as Fleck has a squad loaded with talent, especially on offense.

Here are five players on the opposing sideline who Badger fans should keep a close eye on throughout the game.

Tanner Morgan – Quarterback

2019 stats: 67.9% passing, 2,679 yds, 26 TD, 5 INT

Morgan has been a revelation under center for the Gophers this season, emerging as one of the Big Ten’s top quarterbacks seemingly out of nowhere after not even serving as Minnesota’s full-time starter last year. His production has been key to the program’s shocking level of success in 2019.

The Davey O’Brien Award semifinalist is the conference’s leader in passing yards and trails only Ohio State’s Justin Fields in passing touchdowns and passing efficiency rating. Morgan is a good bet to throw for at least 200 yards each time out, reaching that benchmark in seven of Minnesota’s 11 games this season.

Wisconsin’s secondary struggled yet again against Purdue last weekend, which isn’t great news for the Badgers as they prepare to stifle the most potent aerial attack they have seen all season aside from Ohio State. If defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard doesn’t come up with some effective schematic changes to bolster the passing defense, Morgan and his talented wide receiver corps are going to shred the Badgers all afternoon.

Tyler Johnson – Wide Receiver

2019 stats: 66 rec, 1,025 yds (15.5 avg), 10 TD

Nov 9, 2019; Minneapolis, MN, USA; Minnesota Golden Gophers wide receiver Tyler Johnson (6) catches a one handed touchdown pass over Penn State Nittany Lions cornerback Keaton Ellis (2) in the first half at TCF Bank Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports

Minnesota could have the two best wide receivers in the conference, and there’s a case to be made that Johnson is at the top of the list.

The senior is putting the finishing touches on a marvelous career in the Twin Cities, and he’s doing so with a bang. Johnson is already over 1,000 receiving yards for the second year in a row, leading the conference in that category as well as receiving touchdowns. The only player he trails in receptions is the next one on this list.

Johnson had a solid outing in Minnesota’s victory over Wisconsin last season (four catches for 76 yards), and he enters Saturday’s matchup on a bit of a hot streak, having gone over 100 receiving yards in the Gophers’ last three games.

NEXT: Rashod Bateman/Antoine Winfield Jr./Carter Coughlin

Pages: Page 1, Page 2

The biggest reason Wisconsin should be confident versus Minnesota

Another look at the game we’re all waiting for: the Wisconsin Badgers versus the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

There are certainly reasons for the Wisconsin Badgers to be worried about the Minnesota Golden Gophers, but what is their main reason to feel confident on Saturday? One could come up with several legitimate answers. This is not a “there’s only one right answer” kind of question. However, I do feel that one answer stands out more than others.

You will recall how poorly Wisconsin played against Illinois. That was a distracted, uneven, emotionally subdued game the week before a big clash against Ohio State. Would that loss to Illinois lead to a dispirited, disjointed Wisconsin team in Columbus? No, it did not. Wisconsin lost to a better team that day, but the Badgers’ defense played its best 25 minutes of the season at the start of that game.

Yes, Wisconsin thrashed Michigan and casually brushed aside Michigan State. The statistics looked better and the thrill of emphatic wins certainly felt better. Yet, when adjusted for the caliber of opposition, Wisconsin standing up to Ohio State’s loaded offense in the first 25 minutes of play — allowing a measly field goal to a juggernaut — strikes me as UW’s best 25 minutes of defense this season.

The key point is that UW played elite defense one week after playing subpar defense. That tells me Wisconsin can put ordinary performances in the rearview mirror; adjust; and learn from mistakes. That first half against Ohio State told me that Jim Leonhard can — and probably WILL — have his group ready to handle what P.J. Fleck has in mind for the Badgers.

Yes, without question, a big reason for Wisconsin to be confident against Minnesota is the play of the offensive line in tandem with Jonathan Taylor. That running game can win in Minneapolis. That offense can control the ball and keep the Gophers’ offense off the field. Yes, it is painfully clear that the defense’s difficult second half against Ohio State was a product of the offense not keeping the ball as much as anything else. Wisconsin is in better position to help its defense in this game against Minnesota. If you want to cite that reason as the main source of confidence for UW against the U of M, I wouldn’t really argue with that.

I would only emphasize that even if Wisconsin’s offense helps the defense in this game, there will be moments when the Badgers’ defense will have to be self-sufficient. I don’t see Wisconsin scoring every time it touches the ball. I also don’t see UW completely shutting down Minnesota, either. My more precise point is that the Badgers will need to go through a 10- or 15-minute period in this game when their offense isn’t clicking, and they need to hunker down and thwart Minnesota’s offense. No, that dynamic probably can’t be sustained for 45 minutes. No, that dynamic definitely won’t be sustained for the full 60 minutes. It CAN be sustained for 10 to 15, and even for 25… as we saw against Ohio State, before the Buckeyes finally scored a touchdown late in the first half and then gained momentum after halftime.

Wisconsin’s defense slept against Illinois and then awakened in a magnificent first-half performance against an elite offense in Columbus. That is the foremost reason for the Badgers to expect success — and conquest — against Minnesota in the game of the year for both sides.

Wisconsin must tune in, turn on, and drop Minnesota out

One of several perspectives on the upcoming game between the Wisconsin Badgers and Minnesota Golden Gophers.

Timothy Leary never could have known he would establish the framework for the upcoming showdown between the Wisconsin Badgers and the Minnesota Golden Gophers. The 1960s counterculture guru coined the expression, “Turn on, tune in, drop out,” to neatly summarize the larger themes and messages he wanted to convey to his audience.

“Turn on” meant gaining a higher and sharper consciousness, enabling a person to be more connected with the inner self. “Tune in” meant establishing harmony with the world and creation, aware of one’s surroundings. “Drop out” meant shedding personal baggage and detaching from a cluttered cultural mindset which prevented one from gaining clear insights into the nature of life. Say this much for Wisconsin: That last emphasis on greater clarity certainly applies to this game against Minnesota. Coach Leary might actually have known what he was talking about.

In the title of this piece, I switched the order of the first two Leary commandments for a simple reason: Turning it on against the Golden Gophers — elevating the Badgers’ level of play from the previous several weeks — won’t happen unless or until Wisconsin tunes in and blocks out the noise and the distractions provided by College GameDay and the media spotlight which will greet this game, arguably the biggest in the entire history of the Badgers-Gophers football series, and certainly the biggest game since 1962. Wisconsin has to be tuned in for the “turning on” and “dropping Minnesota out” of the Rose Bowl to happen. Focus is the first point of emphasis.

This point is obvious enough, but it merits a little more explanation. I wrote last week about why Wisconsin fans shouldn’t be too worried about the uneven performance against Nebraska. I will briefly reiterate that point after another ragged and choppy display against Purdue: This team took a few powerful punches in Champaign and Columbus. Many teams need time to recover from a few significant emotional blows. Wisconsin had been roaring through its season until the fourth-quarter stumble against Illinois. Then, Ohio State did what Ohio State has been doing to every opponent this season: It bludgeoned an opponent into submission. Wisconsin had to take its lumps. Players have been less certain about themselves. The injuries in the secondary certainly haven’t helped, but the level of play isn’t nearly as crisp or as confident on defense as it was for the first several weeks of the season.

Yet, beneath the struggles lies an elemental reality: With Minnesota surprisingly rising to the top tier of the Big Ten, the Badgers knew — when they lost in Columbus — that the Gophers provided the “circle in red” game in November. Iowa was a task to be handled. Nebraska and Purdue were games to get through and check off on a box. No one was going to remember those games unless Wisconsin lost them. Those were the “take care of business” games in which even the most impressive 59-0 victory really wouldn’t have proved much. The other side of the coin is that Wisconsin’s sloppy displays against the Huskers and Boilermakers ALSO don’t prove very much.

It was always Minnesota. The Golden Gophers, once they announced themselves as contenders this season, were always going to be the team by which Wisconsin measured the success of its 2019 journey. Does Wisconsin want a rematch with Ohio State? Sure it does… but even if the matchup happens and Ohio State thumps the Badgers again, Wisconsin won’t suffer in the realm of national perception. Everyone knows Ohio State is an elite team. There is absolutely no shame in losing big to the 2019 Buckeyes, who had Dwayne Haskins last year and somehow got BETTER at quarterback this year. That’s just unfair. If Wisconsin loses to OSU a second time, no one will hold it against the Badgers.

It’s all about Minnesota. If Wisconsin — after living in an emotionally diminished world the past few weeks, in games which felt like burdens more than opportunities and offered very little upside beyond the bottom-line value of winning and staying in the Big Ten West race — can tune in and turn it on against the Gophers, Madison will be euphoric. The UW community will party deep into the night next Saturday and early Sunday.

If Wisconsin — struggling to play its best football for roughly a full month — answers the bell with a top-tier effort and ruins P.J. Fleck’s season on the road, claiming back Paul Bunyan’s Axe while winning the Big Ten West, nothing else will matter as much as that. Penn State might get the Rose Bowl bid (even though it might not deserve it, but that’s a separate conversation). Ohio State might go to the playoff. The Badgers might finish 10-3 after the flawless first several games of the season, which could be seen as a disappointment by college football fans in other regions of the country. Yet, for Wisconsin to take some punches and then rise to a high level in the spotlight — against Minnesota, in a high-stakes game in the larger history of this rivalry — would give Badger fans one of the more satisfying feelings they have ever experienced.

All the drift and inconsistency of the past few weeks haven’t felt that great. They haven’t been fun to watch on television or in the stands. Yet, in these three games against Iowa, Nebraska and Purdue, one basic point has remained intact: Wisconsin hasn’t needed to be its very best to handle any of those teams. In a sport where — as we can see — even Ohio State can snooze after taking a 21-0 lead at home, or Oklahoma very nearly blew a 21-point lead at home for the second time in November, we are reminded that college athletes won’t be mentally airtight, impervious to lapses or letdowns, over a full season.

Yes, the past three weeks haven’t shown Wisconsin at its best. So what? If Wisconsin tunes in, turns it on, and drops Minnesota out of the national picture (and the Rose Bowl) this Saturday, no one in Madison will care about those past three weeks. Moreover, no one would have any legitimate reason to do so. Minnesota is here. Wisconsin just has to tune in and let the rest take care of itself.

Wisconsin-Minnesota now means even more, thanks to Iowa

Reaction to Iowa beating Minnesota, which makes the Nov. 30 game between the Golden Gophers and the Wisconsin Badgers even bigger.

Thank you, Iowa. That is what the Wisconsin Badgers and their fans are saying after the Hawkeyes ended Minnesota’s dreams of producing an unbeaten season. The 23-19 Iowa triumph in Kinnick Stadium served a very important purpose for Wisconsin: It gave Minnesota one Big Ten loss. Wisconsin, with two Big Ten losses, has been brought back into the Big Ten West title hunt. Wins over Purdue and then Minnesota will give the Badgers another ticket to Indianapolis and a chance to get a (possible, not guaranteed) rematch against Ohio State.

You know Wisconsin wants that rematch. You know Wisconsin wanted the Minnesota game to be a division championship battle. You know Wisconsin needed Minnesota to lose once before Nov. 30 in order for the Badgers to have a realistic chance at going to the Rose Bowl. (Penn State will have a say in this conversation, but that is a separate matter.)

As big as the battle for Paul Bunyan’s Axe always is, and as fierce as the rivalry between Wisconsin and Minnesota — not just the football programs, but the two states — has often been, the Badgers-Gophers clash just got a lot bigger. Thank you, Iowa.

Given how rare Wisconsin and Minnesota have been very good teams at the same time, it is worth cherishing this upcoming battle. The 2016 game was the biggest UW-U of M game in recent memory. Minnesota won nine games that season, including its bowl game. Wisconsin won 11 games.

Before 2016, you would have to go all the way back to 1962 to find a time when both programs were prominent and prosperous. Wisconsin beat Minnesota, 14-9, in the 1962 game between the two schools. The great Badger team quarterbacked by Ron Vander Kelen, which also contained future UW athletic director Pat Richter, went to the 1963 Rose Bowl and played USC in a classic game. Richter, of course, hired Barry Alvarez as head football coach, the most important moment in Wisconsin football history. Wisconsin’s prominence today is rooted in that one decision, which changed everything for football in Madison.

Thank you, Iowa. Wisconsin-Minnesota could be for a ticket to Pasadena. It WILL be for a ticket to Indianapolis, barring a highly improbable UW stumble against Purdue. It is always for the Axe, but this year, it will be for a lot more than that.

Wisconsin’s play vs. Nebraska won’t cut it against Minnesota

An initial reaction to the Wisconsin Badgers’ victory over the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

The Wisconsin Badgers defeated the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Saturday. They won by 16 points. They won without too much drama. Yet, given how flawed the Huskers are, a strong Wisconsin team would have blown the doors off this game. As it was, Nebraska was still in the hunt midway through the fourth quarter. Wisconsin needed a red-zone stop to finally feel good about this game. Until then, the Badgers had to legitimately doubt whether they could put away Nebraska.

That is a problem. Victory should not — and cannot — obscure that reality. Wisconsin handled a bad team well enough to win, but not nearly well enough to inspire confidence about the Nov. 30 matchup against Minnesota on the road. We will continue to unpack various nuances of that game — it’s not as though next week’s Purdue game will offer a hugely revealing insight into the Minnesota contest — but for now, we can simply assert this basic point: Wisconsin’s level of play was nowhere near what Paul Chryst needs it to be against Minnesota.

If the Badgers play like this against the Golden Gophers, they might not merely lose. They might get run out of the building and feel very dissatisfied about the nature of their season. Sure, Minnesota is impressive (we’ll see if the Gophers beat Iowa; this article was written before the start of that game in Iowa City). If the Gophers happen to beat the Badgers by playing a phenomenal game, so be it. Wisconsin can’t control how well Minnesota plays. Wisconsin can control how the Badgers play, and right now, the Badgers aren’t playing particularly well, especially on defense.

Yes, the offense still needs work. Jonathan Taylor can’t keep fumbling (his fumble at Illinois was very costly). Jack Coan has to be more accurate. The offense isn’t a finished product. Yet, the offensive line is knocking the snot out of opposing defensive fronts. Wisconsin can beat Minnesota based on the way the O-line is performing.

On defense, however? Good luck standing up to Minnesota’s speed at wide receiver or the Gophers’ pace, or P.J. Fleck’s scheme. If Nebraska could bust open big holes; if the Huskers could gain first downs with the run on third and seven; if Scott Frost could make Jim Leonhard’s defense look bad for most of the first three quarters; if a 34-14 lead wasn’t entirely safe (and it wasn’t, not with Nebraska being 15 yards from making the score 34-28); and if the back seven was slow to defend a number of downfield pass plays yet again, how will Wisconsin contain Minnesota’s offense?

That question — as we come closer to Nov. 30 — has to dominate coaches’ meetings. It has to be a central talking point on the practice field. It has to be the topic Wisconsin’s defensive players think about. What happened against Nebraska wasn’t acceptable. Victory can’t allow the Badgers’ defense to ignore that point.

Wisconsin fixed problems against Iowa, but will that beat Minnesota?

Considering the Wisconsin Badgers’ situation relative to the Minnesota Golden Gophers after UW’s win over the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Had the Minnesota Golden Gophers not beaten Penn State and made themselves an even bigger target for the Wisconsin Badgers, we wouldn’t be devoting quite as much time or energy to the task of beating the Gophers on Nov. 30. Yet, one can’t work with events as one wishes they would be. One must deal with events as they actually are. It’s called living in the real world.

Minnesota has made itself more of a problem for Wisconsin. It’s not what UW fans wanted, but it is the reality the Badgers must confront. That will be a very hard game to win. Therefore, it is worth spending some of these November days focusing not just on Nebraska and then Purdue, but on P.J. Fleck and his folks. How will the Badgers go into Minneapolis and come away with Paul Bunyan’s Axe?

Based on Wisconsin’s win over the Iowa Hawkeyes this past Saturday, a number of interesting questions and attached tension points have emerged. The question I will explore in this particular piece is as follows: Can Wisconsin win this game simply by eradicating mistakes, or will the Badgers need to push themselves far beyond their limits?

Yes, the best answer is “both,” but let’s be clear before we continue with this brief piece: Against Ohio State (or, to use a non-Big Ten example, LSU or Clemson), it is obvious that Wisconsin and other second-tier teams in the United States have to play way over their heads and make “value-added” plays to have a real chance to win. Is Minnesota that kind of opponent? I am inclined to say “no,” but my opinion doesn’t matter that much. A reasonable middle ground on this question is that while Minnesota certainly isn’t in Ohio State’s league, the Gophers made Penn State look bad for much of this past Saturday’s game and — had they not fumbled when leading by two scores in the third quarter — could have blown the doors off the Nittany Lions.

Minnesota went from being “a team which beats up on the bottom of the Big Ten” to “a team that is for real” against Penn State. Do we know yet if the Gophers are not merely “for real” and “a team to be taken seriously,” but genuinely ELITE? I don’t think so.

The tricky part for Wisconsin: The Badgers can’t use that lack of knowledge to assume they can win merely by avoiding mistakes against the Gophers. This leads us into the heart of this piece, and one of the most fascinating tension points of the game on Nov. 30 in TCF Bank Stadium:

The Badgers’ offense improved when the dumb penalties ceased. Wisconsin’s offense got out of its own way. Its running game flourished when the Badgers weren’t behind schedule. Two plus two equals four.

However, after the offense got out of its own way, the defense allowed a 75-yard touchdown and endured another one of its fourth-quarter swoons, the previous one being against Illinois. We wrote about the problems in the secondary which have allowed that alarming detail to remain part of this team’s identity in the second half of the season.

Imagine, then, if both the offense and the defense spend a full game not making huge mistakes, with the level of performance we saw from Jack Coan (tolerable, but not spectacular). Is that going to be enough against the Gophers? It’s an interesting query. One could go back and forth on that topic.

The strength of the argument rests with the offensive line. If there aren’t any false-start penalties and Jonathan Taylor gets four or more yards per carry, the Badgers could pound Minnesota’s defensive front and turn this game into the trench warfare battle they want. A game based on the elimination of mistakes could be all Wisconsin needs.

The weakness of this argument is based on the awareness of how much speed Minnesota has, not only in relationship to Iowa but to a Wisconsin team which was outflanked at times by Illinois. Keep in mind that if Jack Coan throws the ball against Minnesota the way he did against Iowa, the Gophers’ closing speed in the secondary might turn Wisconsin catches into incompletions on successful pass breakups. Eliminating bad mistakes from the ledger sheet will put Wisconsin in position to win, but that might not be enough to put UW over the top.

Yes, Wisconsin’s offense fixed its problems versus Iowa, and the team in general took a clear step forward from the previous two games. Yet, will that be enough to beat Minnesota? You don’t have to answer that question right away… and that’s part of the point. Wisconsin will have to wrestle with that question over the next few weeks. This is the reality facing the Badgers, now that the Gophers have made themselves such an obstacle, at least in 2019.

The secondary is primary for Wisconsin if it wants to beat Minnesota

A look at the Wisconsin Badgers’ secondary heading into the final stretch of the regular season.

There is a difference between playing poorly and playing “not well enough.” This reality is a good framework to use when assessing the Wisconsin Badgers’ secondary the past few weeks.

Solid and competent through two and a half or three quarters, the Wisconsin secondary has let down its guard in the fourth quarters of recent games against Illinois in October and then this past Saturday against Iowa. The similarities between the two games are very obvious, and they inform how the Badgers need to improve before the clash against the Minnesota Golden Gophers later this month. Beating Minnesota will enable this season to be remembered with a sense of satisfaction. If the Badgers are to build themselves to a point where they can withstand all of P.J. Fleck’s arrows and spears, the secondary — which hasn’t been bad — needs to be a lot better.

If a team or position unit does its job for two and a half or three quarters, it doesn’t deserve extremely low grades, but if that unit has enough lapses in the final 15 to 20 minutes of a game, no one will care how good the first two and a half quarters were. Such was the reality for Wisconsin after the Illinois game. That scenario very nearly unfolded again versus Iowa, but Chris Orr’s tackle on the 2-point conversion spared the Badgers an overtime period and a possible crisis.

Wisconsin led Illinois 20-7 deep into the third quarter. Illinois scored 17 points in the final 16 minutes to win. Wisconsin led Iowa 21-6 after three quarters. Iowa scored 16 points in the final 15 minutes to very nearly forge a tie. The Badgers’ secondary is like LeBron James in his disastrous 2011 NBA Finals series against the Dallas Mavericks: He wasn’t worth a dollar because he always came a quarter short.

LeBron couldn’t solve the fourth quarter in that series, as a member of the Miami Heat. The Mavs raised their game, and LeBron froze instead of becoming sharper in the cauldron of pressure. Something akin to that has happened with the Wisconsin secondary against Illinois and now Iowa. The Badgers gave hardly anything away and put an opposing offense on lockdown for nearly 45 minutes, and then lost the plot in the final 15.

Iowa’s Tyrone Tracy got free on an intermediate/deep-intermediate pass and outraced the Wisconsin defense the rest of the way for a 75-yard touchdown which changed the tone and trajectory of Saturday’s fourth quarter in Camp Randall Stadium. Illinois produced pass plays of 48 and 29 yards against Wisconsin to fuel its comeback. The Illini also got a 43-yard touchdown run in their late rally.

The big pass plays which have struck Wisconsin’s secondary have not been long bombs, either. These are not cases of quarterbacks throwing 50-yard heaves and the receivers outleap Badger cornerbacks. These are intermediate or deep-intermediate throws which involve a long run after the catch is made. Angles, reactions, positioning, and responsibility all enter into these shortcomings. They keep recurring, and they have to be nipped in the bud.

Wisconsin has a 75-cent defense right now. Finding that fourth and final quarter of quality is primary for the Badgers and their secondary.