Higgy's Handshake - The Gopher D

Posted by Higgy

Losing is never fun. Losing to a rival is even worse. But as the Minnesota football team and its fans recover from hangovers Sunday - football and otherwise - there is finally a silver lining in a loss to the archrival Wisconsin Badgers. Though the visitors hung on to Paul Bunyan's Axe for the 10th season in a row, progress was finally evident and tangible Saturday.

Rivalry game losses always taste bitter.

I, like many Minnesota fans, have been more than encouraged by the eight-win season and four-game winning streak, but entered Saturday with the trepidation that we weren't quite ready to compete with a team of Wisconsin's caliber. What I saw surprised me. Physically, we were competitive with the Badgers on both sides of the ball. I expected us to get lit up on both lines. We didn't run for a ton of yards and the offense as a whole struggled (that's being polite), but the line of scrimmage was a pretty even battle throughout and, for a Gopher fan, that's incredibly encouraging.

The Minnesota defense played an outstanding game. It limited Wisconsin to 20 points and 197 rushing yards just a week after the Badgers exploded for 51 points and 554 yards on the ground. Wisconsin came in averaging 38.5 points per game. Despite being put in countless bad spots thanks to the offense, the Gopher D held the mighty Badgers well below their averages across the board.

For that performance, this week's Higgy's Handshake is extended to the entire MINNESOTA DEFENSE.

To examine why the whole unit is worthy of praise, let's start by digging into the numbers. I'm going to focus on the run defense, because running the ball is Wisconsin's biggest strength and its main offensive identity, and the Gophers' performance in that area was both unexpected and impressive.

Wisconsin has 3,276 yards on 484 carries this season. That's good for an outstanding average of 6.8 yards per carry. The Badgers have run for 35 touchdowns this season. In 11 games, those numbers average out to 297 yards and 3.2 rushing scores per game.

Saturday, it was a much different story. Minnesota held the Badgers to exactly 100 yards below its average, as the Badgers mustered "just" 197 yards on the ground on 45 carries. Wisconsin averaged 4.4 yards per carry, and managed just one score on the ground.

On the Badgers' first possession of the game, I'm told James White had a 49-yard run. I didn't see it because I was in one of the lines for "concessions" on our way into the stadium. But if you subtract that one big play out of Wisconsin's stats, Minnesota's performance looks even more impressive.

Without that play, the Badgers ran for just 148 yards on 44 carries and a very un-Wisconsin-like 3.36 yard per carries. Minnesota limited the explosive Melvin Gordon to just 69 yards on the ground, and with that run absent from White's stat line, he went for 76 yards on 25 carries and an average of 3.05 yards per carry. Both backs average more than 115 yards per game and 6.5 yards per carry. Great effort, Gopher run defense.

The Gophers defense did a good job keeping
the skunks in the popcorn box Saturday.

When you factor in that the Minnesota offense coughed up three costly fumbles and didn't put any points on the board, it adds a degree of difficulty to what the defense achieved. Also, Minnesota's only score of the game was a euphoria-inducing pick-six by Aaron Hill that sent my top hat flying three rows in celebration. The Gophers allowed just seven points in the second half, held the Badgers to a pair of field goals (and one missed kick) to limit damage in the red zone, and blew up a ridiculous swinging-gate fake field goal for a big fourth-down stop.

Individually, several players stood out. Hill had six tackles, his defensive touchdown and a forced fumble, and the senior LB continues to lead and make winning plays. Damien Wilson had eight tackles, Cedric Thompson had nine and a forced fumble, and Antoinio Johnson continues to impress with his fundamentally-sound tackling as led the team with 10 stops. Ra'Shede Hageman and Roland Johnson both had 2.0 tackles-for-a-loss. Eric Murray and Brock Vereen continued to play well. The whole unit impressed Saturday, playing as a team, taking on blockers and swarming to the ball.

To add some historical context, let's examine the other two matchups against Wisconsin in the Jerry Kill era. A year ago, the Badgers blew us out by scoring 38 points and running for 337 yards (6.2 yards per carry), and in 2011 Wisconsin put up 42 points with 283 rushing yards and an even-better 6.3 yards per carry. That team probably could've run for more, but their far-more-competent free-agent signing at QB (Russell Wilson) gave the Badgers balance they're not used to, and he was 16-for-17 for 178 yards and four scores that day.

I want to add a couple disclaimers to this analysis and praise for the Gopher D. First, we DID give up the 49-yard to White, so any full examination of the stats should rightfully include that result. But pulling it out helps give a more accurate picture of how the defense played for the duration of the game minus one mistake.

Also, our defense played great, but Wisconsin's defense played even better. The Badgers are blessed with an outstanding, balanced defense. They made life difficult for our offense, and deserve a ton of credit for the win. No doubt Phil "Full" Nelson has more than a handful of throws he'd like back and his receivers have a few drops they'd like back as well. Minnesota's three fumbles were likely the difference in the game. But a lot of that was caused by the Badger defense, which is tremendous and deserves a ton of credit. And other than Hill's pick-six, their offense didn't turn the ball over, and Wisconsin certainly earned Saturday's victory and deserves a 10th-straight season with the Axe.

But the progress was evident. This whole season has symbolized a big step forward for Kill's crew, and Saturday - especially on the defensive side - might have been some of the best evidence yet. Wisconsin is a botched kneel-down (and some mishandling by the officials) from a top-10 ranking and an inside track on another BCS appearance, and we traded blows with them straight-up for four quarters.

Saturday's cold-weather tailgate and game
will be a day to remember, even in defeat.

I don't like the term "moral victory" because wins truly are decided in just one place - the scoreboard. Saturday, Wisconsin won. Minnesota lost. But so many times Gopher losses at the hands of the Badgers resulted only in questions and despair. Saturday's loss actually contained some answers, and proved that we're improving. For the first time in a while, the Gophers and their fans can feel optimistic that college football's oldest rivalry will be much more of a true rivalry in the seasons to come. The foam version of Paul Bunyan's Axe will spend another year in Fon Du Lac with Reb, but I'm finally hopeful I'll get to see it again in the next year or two.

EXTRA POINTS
-Our offensive line and David Cobb deserve credit for Saturday's performance as well. I assumed we'd duplicate our performance against Iowa and run for about 30 yards against the Badgers 'great defense. But Cobb crossed the 1,000-yard plateau and Minnesota ran for 102 yards. Cobb had 68 yards on 17 carries and an average of 4.0 yards per carry. If you had told me those numbers before the game, I would've gladly taken them. He proved to be more of a physical runner than I imagined, and continues to be a breakout star.

-What could have been. Minnesota led 7-3 and drove into Badger territory in the second quarter. If the Gophers find a way to finish that drive and get a touchdown and go into the half up 14-3, it's a much different game. Instead, Nelson fumbled. Wisconsin scored a TD and added a field goal for a 13-7 lead at the half. Hopefully our team learns from the missed opportunity, and it's all part of the growing and learning process in the long run for our young QB and a squad still being schooled on the finer points of victory.

-My favorite Badger fan interaction of the day: A pair of Wisconsin fans wandered past our tailgate and decided to heckle the Classy Gentlemen. I posed them with a simple challenged to prove their fandom.

Badger fan: "Gophers suck!"
Me: "Name me three starters on the Wisconsin defense."
Badger fan: "Uh ... Chris Borland baby!"
Me: "Congratulations. That's one. Two to go."
Badger fan: "Uh ... uh ... uh ... Badgers rule!"
Me: "So you can't do it?"
Badger fan: "The name of the guy who will be tackling David Cobb in the backfield all day long!"
Me: "You can name our running back, but only one starter on your defense?"
Badger fan: "We're so drunk we don't know who the players are! Yeah! Go Badgers!"
Me: "I think we're done here. Move along"

The Classy Gentlemen make it a perfect home season
for jumbotron appearances, and even get some TV time.
(Photo courtesy of Magsh)

-Kudos to Gopher fans for braving the cold and filling up The Bank with more than 53,000 fans in attendance - a new record. It was absolute bedlam when Hill picked off Stave and scampered into the end zone, and the noise level was great for a number of big defensive plays. An environment like Saturday's is exactly what I envisioned when the on-campus, outdoor stadium was finally green lit. However, as I mentioned after the Iowa loss, it would be nice to win one of those huge well-attended games to turn some of the casual fans in attendance into die-hards. The Nebraska and Penn State wins certainly helped in that regard. Hopefully the first steps have been taken, and next year we can enjoy a similar home-field advantage throughout the season, and the team can reward the fans who show up.

-Friday was an extremely busy day at Recession Proof. If you didn't see Big Party's report from the downtown pep rally or either of Butler's Backtracks, they're all well worth a read. The Butler father-son duo provided some great stuff, with Kellen's latest Gopher-related school project and Butler's reclamation from the Dark Side.

-Losing aside, it was a great day. Six hours of tailgating and a three-hour game with a high of 15 degrees is never fun, but sometimes those type of environments are the most memorable. I finally started getting cold in the last six or seven minutes of the game, but maintained pretty well throughout the day. Our group gave a collective cheer when the temperature ascended into double-digits around 11 a.m.

The tailgating was top-notch starting when Lot 37 opened at 8:30 a.m. We successfully combined classy attire with warmth and had a great day. Big Party's cousin Adlick is a master turkey deep-fryer and a great addition to the tailgate despite his red and white attire. His cajun-injected turkey was delicious and fried to perfection. My stuffing muffins turned out pretty tasty, and the whole Thanksgiving-themed spread was positively delicious. Big Party and Butler brought a full-out potato blitz, Bruiser brought the pies and the Raps contributed bloodys, appetizers and delicious desserts.

Flony was at his all-time culinary best. He made "Bacon Bombs" for the fryer, which featured a piece of cheese inside a biscuit, wrapped in bacon and deep fried. Amazing. And he also replicated Paul Bunyan's Axe in meat form ... a pork meatloaf in Axe shape completely thatched in bacon. It was incredible, and drew a lot of interest from passersby. Though the Badgers retained the Axe on the field, we won the battle of the Food Axe in the parking lots, and victory tasted like heaven. I leave you with a collage of the tailgating highlights. It was a great day, and great to have visitors like the Raps, Adlick and Christy and Rife in town, and nice to welcome the Shanes to Section 117. Gopher-Badger weekend is one of my 3 or 4 favorite weekends every year, and this one didn't disappoint.

Cousins enjoy deep-fried turkey excellence. A meat Axe (top center) added to a storied rivalry showdown.