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Joe Christensen covered Major League Baseball for 15 years, including three seasons at the Baltimore Sun and eight at the Star Tribune, before switching to the college football beat. He’s a Faribault, Minn., native who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1996. He covered Jim Wacker’s Gophers for the Minnesota Daily and also wrote about USC, UCLA and the Rose Bowl for the Riverside Press-Enterprise before getting this chance to cover football again.
Email Joe to talk about the Gophers.
Posts about Gophers game day
Gophers can't get offense going, fall 21-13 to Wildcats
Posted by: Phil Miller Updated: October 13, 2012 - 2:15 PM
MarQueis Gray returned to energize the Gophers' offense. But his return was short-lived -- and so was Minnesota's chance at victory.
Gray, who hadn't played since spraining his left knee and ankle on Sept. 15, scored the Gophers' lone touchdown, but when he was re-injured in the third quarter, Minnesota couldn't score again. The result was a 21-13 loss to Northwestern, dropping Minnesota to 0-2 in the Big Ten.
Max Shortell started the game as Minnesota's quarterback, and led a 76-yard drive on the Gophers' first possession that ended with a 31-yard field goal by Jordan Wettstein. Gray surprised the Wildcats by lining up at wide receiver during that drive, gaining 16 yards on a sideline pass.
But when Shortell suffered a minor injury on the second drive, Gray took over, and played the rest of the half. He did more than that, too: The senior quarterback energized the Gophers' offense with his running ability, including a 25-yard scoring run that briefly pulled Minnesota within three points.
He led Minnesota to another field goal on their first drive of the second half, but then went down with another injury on the Gophers' next possession, and the offense was never the same. Shortell drove Minnesota inside the 5-yard line late in the fourth quarter, but on fourth-and-goal from the six, he overthrew a fade pass to freshman Andre McDonald and the Gophers' shot at ending their two-game losing streak to the Wildcats was all but gone. The Gophers got the ball back in the final minute, but Shortell was hit in the pocket and fumbled the ball, the Gophers' third turnover of the day.
The first turnover was the most costly -- linebacker Lamonte Edwards fumbled the opening kickoff, and Northwestern tailback Venric Mark scored a touchdown just 11 seconds into the game.
That was just the start for Mark, who battered the Gophers' defense in the same manner that Iowa's Mark Weisman did two weeks ago. After Mark's 27-yard scoring run on the game's first snap, he followed up by racing 47 yards to set up a 2-yard touchdown plunge by quarterback Kain Colter, then ran untouched on a 48-yard scoring romp in the second quarter, finishing the half with 151 yards on only 11 carries, just short of Weisman's 165-yard first half for Iowa.
But just as they had against Iowa, the Gopher defense steadied itself at halftime, and held Northwestern without a point on its last seven possessions.
Mark added only 31 yards after halftime, finishing with 182 yards on the ground. Gray led the Gophers with 86 yards on nine carries, while tailback Donnell Kirkwood added 73 yards on 18 carries.
Shortell completed nine of 19 passes for 103 yards; Gray was 7-for-11 for 66, and one interception.
The second half was played in a light but steady rain, which held down the TCF Bank crowd. Announced attendance was 49,651, but the stadium was roughly two-thirds full.
Halftime: Mark's 2 TDs put Northwestern up 21-10
Posted by: Phil Miller Updated: October 13, 2012 - 12:48 PM MarQueis Gray is back. Too bad he's only the second-most effective ground-gainer on the field.
Northwestern tailback Venric Mark has battered the Gophers' defense in the same manner that Iowa's Mark Weisman did two weeks ago, and the result is a 21-10 Northwestern lead over Minnesota at halftime.
Mark scored his first touchdown just 11 seconds into the game on a 27-yard run (after Gopher kick returner Lamonte Edwards fumbled the opening kickoff), set up Kain Colter's 2-yard touchdown plunge on the next drive with a 47-yard run, then ran untouched on a 48-yard scoring romp in the second quarter, finishing the half with 151 yards on only 11 carries, just short of Weisman's 165-yard first half for Iowa.
Max Shortell started the game as Minnesota's quarterback, and led a 76-yard drive on the Gophers' first possession that ended with a 31-yard field goal by Jordan Wettstein. Gray surprised the Wildcats by lining up at wide receiver during that drive, gaining 16 yards on a sideline pass.
But when Shortell suffered a minor injury on the second drive, Gray took over, and played the rest of the half. He did more than that, too: The senior quarterback energized the Gophers' offense with his running ability, including a 25-yard scoring run that briefly pulled Minnesota within three points.
The half ended with steady rain falling, sending many fans among the two-thirds-full stadium crowd heading for cover.
Rain stays away from TCF Bank Stadium
Posted by: Phil Miller Updated: October 13, 2012 - 10:05 AM It appears that the thunderstorm forecasted for today will miss TCF Bank Stadium, at least until after the Gophers' game finishes.
A light mist has settled over the stadium and the clouds are low, but there's no rain, and none is expected now until later this afternoon. It's 50 degrees and getting warmer, a pretty nice October morning for football, actually. The Gophers' offense, wearing maroon jerseys and gold pants, and Wildcats' special teams, in white and purple, are on the field warming up, and the outdoor pregame parties appear unaffected by the weather.
The Gophers' gameplan was unaffected, too, according to Coach Jerry Kill, who insisted earlier this week that nothing would change about his team's play-calling if rain was falling. The Gophers would like to run, would like to control the clock -- "I've won plenty of games in bad weather," Kill said -- and that's true in rain, snow, mist or sunshine.
Wildcats mindful of prying eyes when calling plays
Posted by: Phil Miller Updated: October 12, 2012 - 9:54 AM The visitor's sideline at TCF Bank Stadium is across the field from the press box. So maybe the guys holding the purple "Northwestern" banner will have the day off Saturday.
For the past couple of weeks, the Wildcats have assigned a couple of staff members to hold the banner up while Northwestern's offense was on the field, to block views from behind of the signals being relayed to the quarterback. The reason, coach Pat Fitzgerald confirmed at his weekly news conference, was a suspicion that opposing coaches in the press box may try to steal their signs.
"Absolutely. We're smarter than we look. We know what's going on," Fitzgerald said, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. "We're getting into Big Ten play now. We know that they know that we know."
Familiarity breeds temptation, Fitzgerald figures, and the Wildcats have faced some Big Ten coaching staffs for several years, plenty of time to pick up a few hints about what's coming. "When you're playing in the non-conference (season), it's not as big of a concern," the eighth-year coach said. "But when you're playing in league play, like I said -- we know that they know that we know."
There's not much that they can do to hide the signals when facing the press box, as they will against the Gophers. But Northwestern took the precaution of screening their signal-relay players from anyone watching from behind.
But isn't it practically impossible to pick up crucial signals from behind? "You'd be surprised," Fitzgerald said.
Halftime: Gophers can't stop Weisman, trail 24-0
Posted by: Phil Miller Updated: September 29, 2012 - 12:38 PM IOWA CITY -- Mark Weisman has personally turned around the Gophers' season. Too bad he plays for Iowa.
The Hawkeyes' running back, who opened the season as a backup fullback, has shredded Minnesota's running defense, and the result is a 24-0 halftime lead over the shellshocked Gophers.
Weisman has rushed for 165 yards and a touchdown in the game's first two quarters, averaging 9.7 yards per carry, mostly on nothing-tricky runs off tackle. Weisman has rushes of 15, 44, and 32 yards, and a touchdown from eight yards out. Quarterback James Vandenberg has a score on a quarterback sneak from 1 yard out.
And the Hawkeyes, only 2-2 in non-conference play, showed they can pull a trick play, too. Early in the second quarter, Vandenberg handed off to Weisman, who drew the defense toward him before pitching the ball back to his quarterback. Vandenberg then hit receiver Jordan Cotton wide open near the end zone, an easy 47-yard touchdown.
The Gophers' offense has shown none of that production; Minnesota's longest drive, in six first-half possessions, traveled only 21 yards, and the Gophers, who came into the game at 4-0, have punted five times. Minnesota has been outgained 328 yards to 75 at halftime.
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