Demry Croft, Rodney Smith earn Big Ten honors for Gophers

By Randy Johnson Star Tribune

November 13, 2017 — 9:00pm

When a quarterback rushes for nearly 200 yards and a running back piles up almost 300 all-purpose yards, people take notice.

And that's exactly what happened Monday, when the Big Ten named Gophers quarterback Demry Croft its co-offensive player of the week and running back Rodney Smith its special teams player of the week. Each was instrumental in the Gophers crushing Nebraska 54-21 on Saturday and leveling their record at 5-5 with two games remaining.

Croft, who had struggled in his three previous starts, put it all together against the Cornhuskers, rushing 10 times for 183 yards and three touchdowns, including a 73-yard TD run and a 64-yard gain to set up another TD. The sophomore from Rockford, Ill., also was efficient in the passing game, finishing 9-for-15 for 105 yards; two of the incompletions were throwaways and two were dropped passes.

Smith, a junior from Jonesboro, Ga., returned the opening kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown on his way to a career-high 279 all-purpose yards. He rushed 24 times for 134 yards, caught one pass for 10 yards and had 135 yards on three kickoff returns.

The Big Ten honor was the first for Croft, who shared the offensive player of the week award with Ohio State running back Mike Weber. Smith won the special teams honor for the first time. Last year, he earned conference offensive player of the week honors for his efforts against Rutgers, when he had 257 all-purpose yards.

Empty seats at TCF

Saturday's announced attendance of 39,993 was the second lowest in TCF Bank Stadium history, ahead of the 38,162 the Gophers drew for Northwestern last fall. It showed that Nebraska isn't bringing nearly as many fans for road games or attracting fans as an opponent.

In its three previous visits to Minneapolis as a Big Ten member, the Cornhuskers helped draw 54,062 in 2015, the second most in stadium history; 49,995 in 2013; and 49,187 in 2011.

The Gophers are averaging 43,873 this year, a slight increase over last year's 43,814. They should get a boost from the Nov. 25 home finale against unbeaten Wisconsin, which is in the hunt for a playoff berth. If attendance for the Wisconsin game hits 52,000, Minnesota's average would creep above 45,000 for the season. That would be the second-lowest season average in the stadium's nine-year history, but it's better news than last year's average drop of 8,541 from a stadium-best 52,355 in 2015.