Minnesota Football vs Ohio State: Postgame Exit Survey

The Ohio State Buckeyes were able to hold off a spirited effort from the Minnesota Golden Gophers on Saturday, opening the door for some cautious optimism from the Gopher faithful.

What is your Tweet-length (140 280 characters or less) summary of the Gophers’ 30-14 loss to Ohio State?

GoAUpher: Surprised haiku:

Hey that wasn’t bad

I thought OSU would roll

Better than I thought

gopherguy05: It was a lot better than expected, but to no surprise youthful mistakes ended up costing them a chance at an epic upset.

Iowa Gopher: I went in with no expectations, yet somehow felt disappointed at the end. I’m not sure how that is possible.

Ustreet: Going to watch a movie was a good decision.

mowe0018: A strangely frustrating game that gives hope for a brighter future.

To borrow a Fleck-ism, who is your pick for “Nekton of the Week” from the game?

GoAUpher: Carter Coughlin for defense, because damn. Mohamed Ibrahim or Tyler Johnson for offense, also because damn.

gopherguy05: Because others will give the credit to Mohamed Ibrahim, I’ll give Carter Coughlin some love. He just made the Ohio State right tackle his beotch out there on Saturday. That tape will be what you see when he is selected in the NFL Draft... in a few years rather than 1.5.

Iowa Gopher: I’m going to split this between Ibrahim and the offensive line, because both were very impressive on Saturday against a superior opponent. The offensive line was obviously the most surprising, considering how poorly they had played previously.

Ustreet: Iowa Gopher for tweeting through it.

mowe0018: How about a hat tip to Tyler Johnson, who had a terrible turnover, but was very productive with eight catches for 119 yards?

At what point did you start to realize that this game wasn’t going to be a total disaster?

GoAUpher: When Ohio State didn’t come out rolling in the third quarter. I was waiting for halftime adjustments and the Gophers to turn back into a pumpkin. That did not happen and I was pleasantly surprised.

gopherguy05: After the first quarter when Minnesota dominating both of the lines wasn’t a fluke for a single drive. Things looked really good for a while, but the lack of depth and youth eventually took over.

Iowa Gopher: When there were five lead changes before halftime. I certainly did not expect this to be a back-and-forth contest.

Ustreet: At some point on Slack, Iowa Gopher was weirdly positive.

mowe0018: When the Gophers responded to Ohio State’s first touchdown of the game with another touchdown of their own. They showed bounce back I didn’t expect.

The Minnesota Movers delivered their best game of this season in Daniel Faalele’s first career start. Coincidence?

GoAUpher: Maybe, but I’m going to go with no because I like thinking giant human beings are doing neat things.

gopherguy05: Only partially, but I do think not having a weak link at right tackle made the whole unit better. But it was the best game of the year by far from the other four spots as well.

Iowa Gopher: To be honest, I don’t know. I thought the entire offensive line looked much improved, and I’d be surprised if one new starter was the key to making things click. But I don’t care what caused it. I just hope they can sustain it.

Ustreet: Not a coincidence that the tight ends featured a lot more because there was less of a need to go to max protect.

mowe0018: One would be quite foolish to believe it was.

How much of the Buckeyes’ 412 passing yards was Dwayne Haskins and how much of it was the Gophers’ secondary?

GoAUpher: Mostly Haskins, but his being good just meant he was in a perfect position to torch a depleted Gophers secondary. Which, sigh... really wish I didn’t have to use the words “depleted” and “Gophers secondary” in the same sentence for a second year in a row.

gopherguy05: He damn good, but let’s be honest, he wasn’t exactly throwing against the ‘85 Bears out there. I’ll say 60 percent Haskins, 40 percent our backup secondary.

Iowa Gopher: Haskins is good and his receiving corps is good, and to combine those two things with blown coverages by a depleted secondary is about as lethal as it gets. This is also the same defense that allowed 300+ passing yards against Iowa, so I’m inclined to believe that there are some serious problems in the secondary for Minnesota.

Ustreet: Someone has to catch his throws, and that someone was open an awful lot based on the highlights.

mowe0018: Our secondary was down three starters from the beginning of the season for a majority of the game. That being said, Haskins is a very good quarterback, so some of both would be the most accurate answer.

Three straight losses and Minnesota is now 3-3. Are three more wins on the table? Chart their path to bowl-game eligibility.

GoAUpher: Beat Illinois (who is almost Rutgers bad). That’s one. Pick up two out of Nebraska, Indiana, Purdue, or Northwestern. All of those teams are beatable. That said, all of them can certainly beat Minnesota. Having multiple units play like they did against Ohio State would certainly go a long way to grabbing those other two wins.

gopherguy05: If the lines play like they did Saturday, then I say yes. There is no reason they can’t beat three of Nebraska, Indiana, Illinois, Purdue, and Northwestern. If they revert back to how they played against Maryland or Iowa, it’s gonna be an epic struggle to find two more wins, much less three. But I think they get it done with three wins in a row over Nebraska, Indiana and Illinois. Throw in one more over Purdue or Northwestern to finish 7-5.

Iowa Gopher: I’d like to think this team can beat a winless Nebraska and, of course, Illinois. I really don’t know what to expect from Indiana, especially since it feels like they haven’t played Minnesota in a decade. I shudder at the thought of Purdue quarterback David Blough torching this porous secondary. Northwestern seems to have figured things out. And as for Wisconsin... yeah, no. It’s going to be uphill climb, and I think they end up at 5-7 again.

Ustreet: Yes. Nothing changed about the season as a result of this game.

mowe0018: Anything is within the realm of possibility if one chooses to believe in it.