The Gophers were jubilant in the visitors' locker room in Champaign, Ill., two weeks ago, their season's primary goal accomplished. Two games remained in the season, but "we consider those an opportunity to keep this going," quarterback Philip Nelson said at the time.
Turns out, they were indeed an opportunity -- to ruin all that optimism, to spoil those good feelings.
The Gophers have more than a month to recapture their zeal for football, and they might need it, because the past two weeks have punctured a season that felt a lot more successful before Nebraska and Michigan State got their mitts on it. The Gophers weren't competitive against the Legends Division champion Cornhuskers a week ago in a 38-14 loss on the road, and their offense ground to a virtual standstill Saturday, leading to a 26-10 home loss to the Spartans.
The freshman quarterback has looked like any freshman would under relentless defensive pressure, and the Gophers defense has reverted to being trampled by tailbacks. Attendance has sagged at TCF Bank Stadium, where the student section was three-fourths empty on Saturday.
Their coach spent last week answering questions about a disgruntled walk-on-turned-walk-off receiver, then made everyone forget them by raising new ones about his health. His boss expressed "100 percent" support for Jerry Kill, but athletic director Norwood Teague also acknowledged that Kill's seizures are creating a perception problem for the program, and probably a recruiting problem, too.
No wonder these Gophers are looking forward to getting out of town.
"The bowl experience is a great experience, but we can't be satisfied with just getting to go to a bowl," defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys said. "We need to take a week and get our thoughts together, and then we have to go win that thing and get the tide turned here."
It's a pretty strong tide, though.
