Gophers notes: Gophers win without Leidner, TE Williams

The Gophers defeated San Jose State 24-7 on Saturday with Mitch Leidner and Maxx Williams on the sideline with injuries. Will they be ready to play in next week's Big Ten opener at Michigan?

"I wish I knew that," coach Jerry Kill said. "… Not playing [Saturday] certainly helps, no question about that."

Williams has a calf injury. The sophomore tight end was not in uniform but was active during warmups, helping teammates get ready for the game.

Leidner has a sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee and turf toe — a sprain of the ligaments around his left big toe. Kill said Leidner practiced Thursday and was able to run straight ahead but had trouble turning.

"He wasn't full speed, so I thought it was in the best interest to play Chris [Streveler]," Kill said. "And Mitch understood that."

Leidner was in uniform and went through pregame warmups, throwing passes, but No. 3 quarterback Jacques Perra took reps with the second-team offense.

With time running out, the Gophers inserted No. 4 quarterback Conor Rhoda to take the game's final snaps. Rhoda used his redshirt last year, and they don't want to burn Perra's redshirt unless they have to.

For the first time in four games, the Gophers appeared to come out of this one without a new injury concern. Ben Lauer and Jonah Pirsig have both been banged up, but they shared playing time at right tackle. Defensive end Alex Keith was out, but Kill sounded optimistic about getting him back soon.

"Hopefully we'll get Maxx [Williams] back, and there are a lot of people that hopefully we get back this week," Kill said. "That'll be critical going to Michigan."

The Gophers announced that 47,739 tickets were sold, but the crowd thinned out dramatically as the thunderstorm approached in the second half.

Under NCAA rules, games must be suspended if there is lightning within a few miles of the stadium. So the first weather delay in TCF Bank Stadium's six-year history came with 11:38 remaining and lasted 63 minutes.

"We were just moving around stretching, trying to stay loose, so we didn't come out flat," Gophers linebacker Damien Wilson said.

The Gophers didn't make a field goal in their first three games, but they'd only had one attempt. Freshman Ryan Santoso ended that drought less than three minutes into this game, as he connected on a 38-yarder.

Santoso later missed from 49 yards. With two more touchbacks in this game, Santoso now has 15 touchbacks out of 19 kickoffs this season.

Last week, ESPN.com asked coaches which coach they'd want their son to play for (other than themselves). The top two choices were Georgia's Mark Richt and Oklahoma's Bob Stoops. Kill finished tied for third with Stanford's David Shaw.

This week, ESPN.com asked which coach is the most underrated. Kill finished in a tie for fifth with Kansas State's Bill Snyder, behind Duke's David Cutcliffe, Oregon State's Mike Reilly, East Carolina's Ruffin McNeill and Michigan State's Mark Dantonio.