Gophers only undefeated Big Ten West team after weekend of upsets

The results came trickling in Saturday afternoon and evening as if it were election night, and they were the stuff of Gophers fans' dreams.

At about 2:30 p.m., Northwestern's 31-23 loss to Duke became final.

At 5:54, time expired on Wisconsin in a 17-14 loss to Washington State.

Roughly 20 minutes later, Iowa had lost 10-7 to Iowa State.

And then at 10:24 p.m. came the final jolt of news. Nebraska lost 45-42 to Georgia Southern, a defeat that 14 hours later cost coach Scott Frost his job.

Suddenly, the Gophers (2-0) are the only remaining undefeated team in the Big Ten's West Division. Granted, they haven't started conference play yet and their opponents so far have been a downtrodden New Mexico State program and a rebuilding FCS squad in Western Illinois, but they've dominated both foes by a combined score of 100-10.

"We did what we were supposed to do,'' Gophers coach P.J. Fleck said following Saturday's 62-10 drubbing of Western Illinois.

What they're supposed to do now — if they're to become a Big Ten title contender — is go out and win a West Division that appears to be there for the taking.

Saturday's results revealed flaws in some teams expected to contend for the West title and reinforced the flaws in others. The shortcomings of Nebraska, Wisconsin and Iowa were especially evident.

In Lincoln, the Huskers (1-2) lost their 10^th consecutive game by eight points or fewer and were 5-22 in one-score margins during Frost's five seasons. Frost, the former national title-winning quarterback at Nebraska, never could instill winning habits as Huskers coach. This year, a defense that's given up an average of 31 points (98^th nationally) and 492 yards (125^th nationally) were part of his undoing. An ill-advised onside kick attempt in the 31-28 loss to Northwestern didn't help, either.

Charged to clean up the mess is Mickey Joseph, whose first game as interim coach will be Saturday against No. 6 Oklahoma in Lincoln.

Wisconsin's problem Saturday was the inability to win the key situations. Despite outgaining Washington State 401-253 and possessing the ball for more than 38 minutes, the Badgers (1-1) had only two touchdowns to show for it. In the fourth quarter, Graham Mertz threw an interception at the Cougars' 14 and Clay Cundiff lost a fumble at the WSU 12 after a 24-yard gain. The Badgers also missed two field-goal attempts.

Iowa's offense has been a mess during its 1-1 start. In a 7-3 win over South Dakota State, Iowa's points came on two safeties and a field goal set up by a shanked punt that gave the Hawkeyes possession at the Jackrabbits 27. Against Iowa State, the Hawkeyes scored their lone TD after a blocked punt set them up at the Cyclones 16.

The Gophers' flaws have yet to be exposed, largely because their first two opponents didn't have the athletes to do so. That might change Saturday against Colorado and definitely will change in their Big Ten opener on Sept. 24 at No. 11 Michigan State.

"We're gonna need everybody as we keep moving forward as we get into Power Five football,'' Fleck said.

Fleck credited his team for its work habits during the opening stretch of the schedule against teams that were underdogs by more than 35 points. Players, he said, have tuned out the noise of points spreads and the nonconference schedule.

"The challenge to the players is making the internal message way louder than the external,'' Fleck said. "We knew that when you looked at the film, we were gonna have better players. But that doesn't mean you're going to win the game. We've had examples of that in the past. I had maybe one or two of those at Western Michigan. I have one or two of those here. That's football. That's why you play the game.''