Gophers do everything possible to lose...then win

Gophers 35
Georgia Southern 32

They're making a big deal about it being the 10th anniversary of TCF Bank Stadium this year, although this is actually the 11th season of the stadium. Either way, this venue has never featured a football game as downright nutty as what I witnessed in person today.

This was supposed to be the last cupcake victory before a bye week and then the start of Big Ten play. But the Gophers turned it into a slog, then a disaster, then a mad dash for survival. Somehow they came out of it all with a win.

The tone was set early. Tanner Morgan tried to throw a pick on his 1st pass. On his second, he succeeded, and it led to a quick GSU touchdown. But okay, every big underdog makes a few plays. The Gophers got a pair of TDs, sandwiched around a GSU FG, then added another for a 21-10 lead. So at that point you figured things would settle in for a romp.

But, in one of many utterly absurd coaching decisions by the Row The Boat Guy today, the Gophers went for a 4th and 1 from inside their own 50. They were stopped, as they were all day, and GSU turned the short.field into momentum and a TD that made it 21-20 at the half.

Especially embarrassing for the home team in the first half was how this supposedly inferior, overmatched team from the Sun Belt Conference was absolutely manhandling the Gophers in the trenches on both sides. What good is this behemoth OL the Gophers have if they can be pushed around like that? There were so many short yardage plays today the Gophers run game got stopped on. It didn't help they kept running the exact same play. Up the middle. No creativity. And they didn't protect Morgan well at all.

The Goofs opened the 2nd half with a drive that gained no points but at least ate up half the quarter. And GSU wasn't doing anything on offense anymore, so once the Gophers punched in another TD later and got a fumble deep in GSU territory what remained on the game seemed a mere formality. Kick a FG with 6 minutes left and play out the string.

Then all hell.broke loose.

The FG was blocked. Then GSU guy picked it up, and somehow he was allowed to run downfield a ways, then weave around to the other side of the field and then take it all the way for a touchdown. 77 yards, but he had to have run 100. Fortunately they stopped the 2 point try, which followed a penalty call I did not understand.

Then the Gophers double down on the incompetence. As they attempt to pick up a few first downs and run out the clock, the OL gets clowned again, a couple GSU defenders get through, and force Morgan to fumble...which is returned for a touchdown.

Anyone who has watched Gopher football for any length of time has seen some ridiculous shit. But giving up a blocked FG and a fumble return for back to back touchdowns is pretty unique even for this program.

But then, somehow, these idiots pulled another rabbit out of another hat. And you've never seen a more disorganized winning drive late in a football game.
For one, it started laughably bad, with a holding penalty and a sack pushing the Gophers.back to their own 6. It was like 3rd and 30. But then Morgan had a long pass to make 4th down reasonable. Then they converted. But I was losing my fucking mind up in the stands. They were not hurrying. Morgan is already annoyingly chaotic at the line. He's always running up.to the center, then looking to the sidelines and doing all this other activity. But he kept doing it even with the seconds ticking away.

Once they crossed midfield they looked a little more organized. But then they got hosed on a call on the sideline where a catch was ruled.no catch, then reviewed and confirmed even though it was clearly a catch. Morgan hit Bateman down the sideline, who toe tapped to about the 10. Then a slant got them down to the 1.

Oh no. This was how it was all going to end. A team that was completely unable to get one yard in any key spots all day, needing 1 yard to win the game. And yep, they ran it up the.middle again and got stuffed. No timeouts, clock running, and again they were taking so long that they only had maybe 1 more in bounds play.
So instead of another run, Morgan lofted a fade to the corner of the endzone to Tyler Johnson, who came down with the game winning touchdown.

I'm surprised they didn't find a way to give up a hail mary at the end, although they did send the kickoff out of bounds.

It's a tremendously entertaining win, but a bad win. This team is not very good.