Minnesota Football-Minnesota Beats Oregon State 48-14

P.J. Fleck became the first Minnesota coach since Murray Warmath to win his first true road game as Minnesota defeated Oregon State 48-14. The Gophers played Fleck ball to near perfection in the second half to close out the game in style. Minnesota forced three turnovers and had several timely explosive plays.

Conor Rhoda had an efficient game. The Gophers elected to run the ball 57 teams before all the subs came in, so Rhoda was only asked to throw the ball eight times. He was 7/8 for 158 yards and a touchdown. The touchdown was to Tyler Johnson on the exact same play as last week’s. I for one hope coaches continue to forget to show this play to their team during film review.

Demry Croft played sparingly after a fumble in the second quarter, but did pull the ball on a read option and take it 64 yards to the house.

Neither Rodney Smith or Shannon Brooks cracked 100 yards, but the duo finished with 183 combined yards on the ground and four touchdowns. They both had several highlight reel runs.

This was a strong road performance that should give the team more confidence heading into a game against MTSU.