Minnesota Football’s first opponent struggles, Volleyball rolls, and Soccer splits

Happy Game Week Monday!

Or game week Wednesday, if we’re trying to equate this week to a traditional one. Stupid Thursday night kickoffs making everything weird. Anyway, let’s get to the big stories from the weekend:

New Mexico State gets rolled in opener

The Aggies did not look good against Wyoming Cowboys on Saturday night during their home opener in Las Cruces. Coming off a 7-6 season capped by an Arizona Bowl win, NMSU was hoping to maintain their momentum in 2017. Wyoming showed that they might have a ways to go first. Basically the game broke down like this:

• NMSU was HORRIBLE on offense. How bad were they? Well...

Things didn’t get a lot better in the second half. Given that NMSU had a Top-10 offense in raw numbers last season this would qualify as a step back.

• The Aggies weren’t horrible on defense through the whole game, but the overall numbers don’t look good either. Basically Wyoming was able to do what they needed and ran away with things late. At the same time, New Mexico State’s defense wasn’t completely overwhelmed from the get-go, but they couldn’t keep up after spending 41 minutes on the field. Prediction: we’re probably going to run the ball a little bit on Thursday night.
• Do you enjoy penalties? If yes, New Mexico State is your team. 12 penalties. 57 yards. And that included drive extending bonehead stuff. Woof.
• The recaps. Our friends at Mountain West Connection have their breakdown of the game. The Casper Star-Tribune was glad Wyoming at least gave the home fans one chance to see Striking the Wonder Dog. Three big takeaways from the Las Cruces Sun. Plus some highlights via the Mountain West Conference.

Volleyball opens with a two match sweep

The Gophers opened the year ranked #4 with a nice chance to show off versus Florida State and North Carolina at the Big Ten/ACC Challenge and they did not disappoint! The Gophers swept FSU in straight sets on Friday night before handling a persistent Tar Heels squad in 4 sets. Full recap on both matches will drop soon.

Soccer splits the weekend

The Gophers picked up a double overtime win over Ole Miss on Friday but fell 2-0 to #22 ranked Washington State on Sunday.

• vs Mississippi: Minnesota trailed after the first half despite out-shooting Ole Miss 12-5 after giving up a goal in the 8th minute. The Gophers equalized early in the 2nd on a goal by Celina Nummerdor in the 52nd minute. However, it wasn’t until the 109th when freshman Megan Gray was able to secure the game winner.
• vs Washington State: The Gophers first loss of the season came to the nationally ranked Cougars. Wazzu outshot the Gophers 10-6, scoring in the 6th and 77th minutes. Head coach Stephanie Golan had the following to say following the loss: “We battled today and we had long stretches of really good possession. Our kids kept their heads in a game where they easily could have not and this is going to make us better at the end of the day.”

The Gophers next match is on Thursday night against DePaul at 6pm.