Turnaround team is back in Tempe

TEMPE, ARIZ. - Willie VanDeSteeg was a sophomore near the end of a breakthrough season the last time he went to play a football game in Arizona.

In late December of 2006, the University of Minnesota football team finished the regular season with three consecutive Big Ten victories over Indiana, Michigan State and Iowa -- teams with a total of six conference victories among them -- to improve to 6-6 and qualify for a bowl.

"We won three games to go to that game," VanDeSteeg said. "We, as a program, felt like we had turned things around. And then, we were beating Texas Tech, showing 'em how to play football. Then things kind of fell apart."

Funny how quickly things can change. You remember that Insight Bowl? The Gophers blew the biggest lead in bowl history, losing to an emergent Texas Tech team 44-41 in overtime. Within 48 hours, coach Glen Mason's 10-year run was over. Not long after came the hiring of Tim Brewster, which was followed by a 1-11 2007 season.

And now, back to the Insight.

VanDeSteeg is a senior now. He'll be playing in his third bowl game under his second head coach with his fourth defensive coordinator. The Gophers are 7-5; the seniors on this team have their last opportunity to win eight games in a season. So much seems the same as two years ago, but VanDeSteeg said things are different.

"Obviously it's the same bowl," he said. "Two years ago we were at where we're at right now. But we didn't have seven wins, we had six. This is a new staff. This team is very, very young. There are a lot of good players being recruited into the program. This team is going in the right direction."

Is he right? More importantly, does this Gophers team, which will play an explosive Kansas team at 5 p.m. today, have a brighter future than the one that hung out in Tempe in 2006?

A matter of perspective

If you're drinking from a half-full glass you point to the Gophers' six-game turnaround from last season and proclaim it the best in Division I this season. But if the glass is half-empty you look at a team that went from 6-7 to 1-11 in Brewster's first year and conclude the Gophers merely have returned to the point they were at Mason's departure.

Almost everything about the current Gophers can be viewed as half-full, or half-empty. They won seven of their first eight games, but lost their past four. The three-game conference winning streak early in the season included road victories at Illinois and Purdue. But none of those three teams -- Indiana is the third -- is in a bowl game. The Gophers beat two teams that earned bowl bids -- Florida Atlantic and Northern Illinois -- but didn't beat a team that ended the regular season with a winning record.

If you're relentlessly optimistic -- a phrase Brewster has adopted as his own -- you agree with the coach.

"I'm extremely pleased with the progress we've made this season," he said. "We won one football game last season and we're here at the Insight Bowl as a 7-5 football team. That's the biggest turnaround in college football this season, and it was done at the University of Minnesota."

The team's senior regulars -- VanDeSteeg, linebackers Deon Hightower and Steve Davis and tight end Jack Simmons -- all started in the Gophers' last Insight Bowl. All four say they believe they are leaving the Gophers on higher ground.

"Two years ago we had to win three games just to qualify for a bowl," Simmons said. "We were a much older football team. That's one of the reasons this game is so important. The youth on this team will need some momentum heading into spring. Our senior class never won eight games."

The 2008 Gophers are a young team. Five freshman started the regular-season finale on offense alone. Brewster said he believes the Gophers, filled with youth, wore down at the end of the season. Certainly that was true on offense which, after receiver Eric Decker was hurt, finished the season in a slump that eventually enveloped the defense. The defense, last in the nation last season, improved in every area this year, especially in forcing turnovers.

The offense, though, took a step back, at least down the stretch, enough that Brewster hired Tim Davis from Alabama to coordinate a more physical running game.

Looking ahead

Athletic director Joel Maturi has seen enough to say Brewster has earned a contract extension.

"I'm pleased with where we are," Maturi said. "I'm certainly aware of the irony that two years ago we were 6-6 and going to the Insight Bowl and now we're 7-5 and we're back there. I'm aware of how this [bowl] game, in many ways, changed the direction of University of Minnesota football. But if you measure the energy and excitement that our football program possesses right now, with a team that is made up mostly of young players, a team that looks like it will sign another very good recruiting class, will be moving into an on-campus TCF Bank Stadium, the future looks very positive."

Brewster came in with the reputation of being a recruiter. Last year he signed a well-regarded first full class. That class took some hits -- linebacker Sam Maresh underwent heart surgery while quarterback MarQueis Gray and linebacker Spencer Reeves were not academically eligible. But all three will be back next year, along with another class that, at this point looks strong. Add to that the eligibility of transfers Matt Carufel (Notre Dame) and Kim Royston (Wisconsin).

As evidenced by the current four-game losing streak, there still is a lot of work to be done. The Gophers could be a better team next year and win fewer games. Their nonconference schedule includes Syracuse, Air Force and California. Indiana and Michigan come off the conference schedule, replaced by Michigan State and Penn State.

But VanDeSteeg sees a bright future for his soon-to-be former team.

"You lose a couple seniors, but this team is going in the right direction," he said.

A victory today would help others share that opinion.