Hartman: Gophers done in by lack of Big Ten experience

One thing the Gophers' 23-7 loss to Iowa on Saturday proved is that the program is still in the building stage and not ready to compete with more experienced football teams.

The score actually didn't tell the story of how much Iowa outplayed the Gophers in this game.

Watching this game, it was evident that coach Jerry Kill had better players when he was at Northern Illinois, where he and had time to build the program. It was Northern Illinois that both handed Iowa its only loss of the season and also crushed Purdue on Saturday.

Kill has mentioned more than once that the youth of this team will be a problem, and this game again demonstrated how important experience is.

The Hawkeyes completely dominated the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, and like Kill said, when you get outplayed on both sides of the line, you aren't going to win games.

Iowa gained 246 yards on the ground to 30 for the Gophers, with Mark Weisman leading the charge with 24 carries for 147 yards.

And Hawkeyes first-year starting quarterback Jake Rudock performed like he was Joe Montana, with the Gophers defensive line not laying a hand on him the entire game. He completed 15 of 25 passes for 215 yards, including a 74-yard completion for a touchdown.

But Nelson is a better passer than Leidner, and it was likely that Kill and the coaches, in studying film, decided the Gophers would have trouble running the ball and decided going through the air was the solution if they were to win this game.

Kill explained how Leidner would have been used. "If we'd have got into a situation where Philip was using his legs a lot and had to run, yes. We would have played Mitch. But we never got in that situation. We couldn't run the ball, we had to throw the ball. So we went with maturity, and that was the decision that was made."

Now the Gophers face the tough task of playing on the road at Michigan and Northwestern the next two weeks, and both teams are better than Iowa.

It will be a real challenge these next two games.

No doubt the Vikings need to win Sunday's game for a lot of reasons, but an important fact to remember is that they will have 14 players in uniform today in London when they face the Steelers who will be free agents next season.

There is no chance the Vikings will sign all of the starting free agents next season.

And with this year's schedule being so much more difficult the rest of the way, the chances of this team turning its season around are not very good.

Among the free agents are players who make up the heart of the defense, including linemen Jared Allen (who will make $14.2 million this season), Kevin Williams ($4.9 million), Brian Robison ($4.4 million), Fred Evans ($1.45 million) and Everson Griffen ($630,000), and starting cornerback Chris Cook ($630,000).

Griffen, the fourth-round pick from 2010 who has developed into one of the most versatile players on the defense, being able to play a number of positions, might be in a position to get a fantastic contract because of his great improvement.

The offensive side of the ball isn't quite as problematic, except for running back Toby Gerhart, who is making $630,000 this season and certainly has been great to have around when Adrian Peterson wasn't available, and Charlie Johnson, who has developed into an outstanding left guard and is making $2.45 million this year.

Next season will no doubt be a rebuilding year if a number of key free agents decide to leave the club or the club declines to bring them back.

Following the loss at home to the Browns last week, players were left trying to figure out what the team can do to try and find continued success and turn their season around after their 0-3 start.

"Like I've been saying all week, we have to be consistent, and right now we're a very inconsistent football team," Allen said. "One good half, one bad half. Our two- minute drill needs to pick up. We need to figure this thing out and we need to figure it out fast."

Robison said that, while the defense might have forced four turnovers each of the past two weeks, that doesn't matter going forward. "We're not playing good enough defense to win ball games and we have to figure it out," he said. "We can't rely on breaks. We have to make plays, and right now we're not making them."

SID's JOTTINGS