Jerry Kill's fears came true Thursday night as the Gophers lost to No. 2 TCU 23-17 before a sellout crowd at TCF Bank Stadium.
All last week Kill said he was concerned that TCU would completely outplay the Gophers' lines both offensively and defensively, and that came to pass with the Gophers being held to 341 total yards while the Horned Frogs had 449 total yards.
Kill's squad wasn't at full strength and that has to be taken into account, with Josh Campion, a fifth-year senior and maybe the team's best offensive lineman, sitting out because of concussion symptoms. Then Ben Lauer had to be removed at left tackle when he was ineffective playing on a banged-up knee.
Still the Gophers simply didn't have any kind of pass rush all night as the strong Horned Frogs offensive line completely dominated.
It didn't help that the Gophers turned the ball over twice at key moments in the first half. Quarterback Mitch Leidner was sacked by Terrell Lathan, who was beating the Gophers' patchwork offensive line all night, and fumbled the ball away, giving TCU possession at the Gophers 15-yard line. TCU would score two plays later to go up 10-0.
The score would stay that way into the second quarter, when the Gophers embarked on a five-play, 59-yard drive that was their best of the night up to that point, but a fumble by Rodrick Williams that was recovered in the end zone by TCU.
There also were three defensive pass interference calls on Gophers star defensive back Eric Murray.
No matter how you look at it, TCU won all of the statistical battles. It had 25 first downs to the Gophers' 18, its time of possession was 34:50 compared to 25:10 for the Gophers, and it had 50 penalty yards compared to 60 for Minnesota.