Stats help explain Gophers turnaround

My assignment for the Tuesday paper was to write about the five biggest reasons for this year's Gophers football turnaround. Look for that later in tonight's first editions.

Meantime, I looked up a bunch of Gophers stats, comparing this year to last year. In no particular order, here's what I found:

Category: 2012/2013

Average time of possession: 31:03/33:23

Philip Nelson's passer rating: 104.4/141.6

Turnover margin: -2 (22 committed, 20 caused)/+6 (9 committed, 15 caused)

Points scored per game: 22.1/30.7

Yardage allowed per game: 358.6/380.8

Yardage gained per game: 321.4/367.9

Rushing yardage per game: 151.9/218.5

Leading rusher: Donnell Kirkwood 73.7 yards per game/David Cobb 94.2

Fourth down conversions: 7-for-16, 44%/11-for-14, 78.6 %

Net punting average: Christian Eldred (primarily) 34.2 yards per punt/Peter Mortell 38.1