Scoggins: Loss returns Gophers football fans to program's routine

CHAMPAIGN, ILL. – This team was supposed to be different. Maybe not perfect or overpowering, but different.

Surely this Gophers football team wouldn't tease fans and bring heartache like so many others in years past. Longtime followers of the program know too well how that story goes. Build expectations, get everyone excited, generate some buzz and …. Splat.

Same old, same old.

But this season and this team felt different, right? The schedule fell in its favor. It had a few nice wins. The defense and running game looked strong. The Big Ten looks vulnerable.

Take care of business and enter that November grind with some real momentum and then, who knows where this thing could lead?

Still feel that way after Saturday and another splat: Illinois 28, Gophers 24?

"There's nothing perfect in life," coach Jerry Kill said outside his locker room at Memorial Stadium. "It should hurt. If it doesn't hurt, then that's a problem. Those kids are hurting in there."

Everything set up perfectly for the Gophers. They had a chance to start 4-0 in the conference for the first time since 1967. They sat alone atop the Big Ten West Division. They faced what many consider the worst team in the conference.

They had an ideal opportunity to enter their bye week in good spirits and bubbling with confidence in anticipation of their Iowa-Ohio State-Nebraska-Wisconsin closing stretch. That final third of the season was supposed to define them.

So how did they treat this moment and all the complimentary bouquets being tossed their way? They came out flat, listless, on both sides of the ball.

Their defense got carved up for 14 points in the first quarter. Their offense managed three points and 86 total yards in the first half against an Illinois defense that allowed an average of 40.3 points and 402.7 yards rushing in its first three conference games.

The Gophers dug themselves an 11-point halftime hole for the second consecutive week against an inferior opponent.

Cobb looked distraught after the game. He blamed the loss on his fourth-quarter fumble that was returned for a touchdown and the game's deciding points. His mistake was costly, for sure, but the game wasn't lost solely on that miscue.

Everyone had a hand in this one, coaches and players.

"We didn't make a play when we needed to," Kill said.

Particularly in the passing game. Illinois held Cobb in check for all but one long run, but the Gophers passing game turned Jekyll & Hyde.

Mitch Leidner passed for 240 yards, but he completed only 12 of 30 passes. He connected on several deep passes to spark the second-half comeback, but he misfired wildly at critical times.

Their execution and offensive play-calling with the game on the line were head-scratchers. On the play before Cobb's fumble, Leidner caused his own sack by holding onto the ball for an eternity in the pocket.

On the next series, the Gophers faced a third-and-4 and called for a low-percentage deep pass to KJ Maye that fell incomplete.

Given yet another chance, the Gophers moved the ball to the Illinois 26-yard line. But Leidner threw three consecutive incompletions, including an errant pass to an open Fruechte up the seam. Leidner was sacked and fumbled on fourth down.

"I take the blame for that because there's a lot of passes that I need to complete that I didn't," Leidner said.

This was a bad loss in so many ways. This kind of stinker felt familiar and no doubt will make long-suffering fans of this program say, "See, I told you."

"Find out what kind of men we are," Fruechte said.

A bad loss doesn't have to ruin their season, but it certainly leaves a bad taste. Maybe the Gophers will recover and surprise us in November. But they had an opportunity to keep momentum going and they just kicked it away.

Same old, same old.

Chip Scoggins • chip.scoggins@startribune.com