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

Points allowed per game: 24.7/23.4

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 %

Penalty yardage per game: 50.2/36.4

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

Field goals: Jordan Wettstein 14-for-22/Chris Hawthorne 12-for-15