Game 600: Golden Gophers “devour” Scarlet Knights, 42-7, in Collegefootballfan.com’s 600th Game
The Birthplace of College Football, NJ – One of our one hundred Guest Game Analysts (GGAs) celebrating Collegefootballfan.com’s 600th college game since 1979, pondered something about “modern technology” in this day and age that would allow a Golden Gopher to devour a Scarlet Knight. Joe Benvenuto (East Stroudsburg U. Alum and fan) said he could not envision a Gopher devouring a Knight in shining armor. However, he and the rest of us saw this before our very eyes as Minnesota (7-0, 4-0) gnawed away at the hosting Scarlet Knights to lead at halftime, 14-0. After most of our New Jersey contingent returned to tailgating at halftime, a few of us hung in until the end of the third frame when the Gophers led, 21-0. Some, such as Paul Fraley and his brother James decided they would stick it out until the end just to see if Rutgers could score. Their resiliency paid off as the Golden Gophers defeated the inept Scarlet Knights, 42-7. Rutgers’ (1-6,0-5) only score came when trailing 42-0 before crossing the goal line with 5:33 left in the game.
Multiple winners this weekend
The Gophers moved up to No. 17 in the AP poll with their victory. This easy win, however, not only paid off dividends for Minnesota football, but for several Boonton (NJ) Knights of Columbus charities like NJ Special Olympics, local veteran’s groups, and Caelynn’s Crusaders for Cystic Fibrosis, they won as well. The 100 fans, friends, and family members including 26 visiting Minnesota fans known as the “Gopher Tails” joined together to celebrate. Proceeds collected were raised to support these charities. The beautiful weather prior to the 3:30 kickoff couldn’t have been better for all to “devour” and imbibe at a great tailgate party enjoyed by all.
Despite the anticipated game result, the experience to tailgate with friends and new acquaintances was a great college football experience. Many from points east, even Jersey, and from Minnesota attended a tailgate at the Birthplace of College Football for the first time. If Rutgers could pull this program together in the future, many would come back to enjoy this again. However, a competitive program would be imperative for the Jersey visitors.
Hurry up and then wait
Minnesota scored first on its second possession with Rodney Smith’s three-yard TD to finish an 87-yard drive. Smith led the Gopher running game with 111 yards on 19 carries and two TDs. By the of the game, he totaled more than twice as many passing yards as Rutgers and only 30 fewer rushing yards than the entire RU team. The Gophers started off somewhat sluggishly, however, and other foes the past few weeks put the Knights in jeopardy by the end of the first period. The Gophers won most of their games thus far in close, hard fought contests right up until the end.
In the second, CB Phil Howard picked off John Langan’s pass to start a Gopher drive from the 23. Seventy-seven yards later, Rashod Bateman caught a 13-yard TD from Tanner Morgan (15 for 25, 245 yards, two TDs). U of M’s only other scoring opportunity came on a missed FG. You surmise that the Gopher D was tough. However, with a third string QB, a coach who was only a HC in high school prior to three weeks ago, and without a key RB red-shirting after the exit of uninspiring HC Chris Ash and his clueless offensive coordinator, John McNulty, the RU offense struggles against all comers to say the least. Six RU drives in the first half accumulated only 28 yards with one ending on a first play INT. Most of our college football tailgaters in section 116 decided they’d seen enough and preferred the enjoyment of tailgating back in the parking lot. The Minnesota fans understandably watched their team continue to play for an undefeated season. Their current HC, P.J. Fleck, mentored under former HC Greg Schiano as an assistant at Rutgers, and now he has his program going in the right direction.
Hanging in there
To start the second half, Minnesota got back to work on offense scoring on their first series on Smith’s 16-yard run. The RU defense gets credit with some toughness as the anemic Scarlet Knight offense kept them on the field for most of the game after three and outs or worse. This time though, they followed up with a 17-play drive only to result in a missed FG keeping Minnesota in the lead at the end of three, 21-0. The futile Rutgers effort got harder to watch. With several others including Grill master Frank Scarpa (Rutgers Newark), we headed back to host the end of my Game 600 celebration as many already lost interest in watching the anemic RU offense continue to sputter. The dark night was closing in on the Scarlet Knights.
Minnesota’s offense sparked new life after our exit as the few among us remained to see if RU could actually score. The Gopher drive continued into the final period finishing with Mohamed Ibrahim’s six-yard TD run. Then BAM! Antoine Field picked of Langan’s very next pass and returned it 33 yards for a score only ten seconds since the last. RU went out in three plays once again. Following a punt to start a drive from their 44, Morgan fired a 56-yard scoring strike to Tyler Johnson for the 42-0 lead at Rutgers Homecoming with an announced attendance of 26,429. Basically, our new friends and their fellow Golden Gopher fans were all that remained.
King of the Big Ten West, for now
The Scarlet Knights finally put together a scoring drive against the Golden Gophers subs finished off by Kay ‘Ron Adam’s five-yard run. The Gophers triumphed, 42-7, but the competition or lack thereof had much to be desired. Minnesota jumped up to No. 17 in the AP. With Wisconsin’s 24-23 upset to Illinois, the Golden Gophers stand atop the Big Ten West alone with tough tests still remaining ahead of them.
Next!
Minnesota returns home to host the Terps of Maryland (3-4, 1-3) who defeated RU two games ago, 48-7. After Maryland, the Gophers get a bye week before hosting No. 7 Penn State. Next, they’ll travel to No. 20 Iowa and then to Northwestern. They finish at home against now No. 13 Wisconsin.
Rutgers hosts independent Liberty (5-2) in its final non-conference game. Like Rutgers of old, they’ll probably see the Flames as an inferior foe going in and get blown out in the end. The Flames don’t resemble UMass who RU defeated in their season opener. GGA Bill Serafin (Montclair State) surmised that Rutgers and UMass should schedule each other every week. That way they could both possibly finish their seasons close to .500.
Collegefootballfan.com moves on to Game 601 heading back to Annapolis for a key American Athletic Conference West game when the Midshipmen of Navy (5-1,3-1) host the improved Tulane Green Wave (5-2,2-1). Navy comes off a 35-3 win over South Florida. Tulane got roughed up by Memphis, 41-17. Navy fell earlier to the Tigers, 35-23. This’ll be a tight one.
Thanks to many
Despite the lack of an exciting game, it was a great time for all who attended our celebratory Game 600. There are many to thank for driving us, pre-game cooking, setting up, bringing treats for all, taking pictures, leading us in a “Gopher Tails” tradition, cleaning up after, and contributing donations for our charitable causes just by buying our “game packages” and attending. It all started though on September 16, 2017 at Hopcats in Minneapolis. Anthony Cavalli and I attended the Minnesota-Middle Tennessee State game that day won by the Gophers. Anthony matriculated as a resident and as a student at U of M’s Med School (for some strange reason, he’s moved back to his native Florida since, where he now practices).
That evening we met Dave Herbeck and Kevin Linstrand and their wives at Hopcats. They told us about their group of fans known as the “Gopher Tails”, and that they had been to all Big Ten venues except for two – Michigan State and Rutgers. I told them that when they came down for the latter, I’d try to meet them. As things looked like they could fall into place to celebrate my Game 600, we were all in. Timing, weather, and everything else (except a better effort by Rutgers) fell into place. A great time was had by all! Those who attended will remember this tailgate together for the rest of their lives. Thanks to Dave and Kevin for helping organize things on their end to get together with us. We should do this more often!