The Minnesota Golden Gophers improved to 2-1 on the young season on Saturday afternoon at Huntington Bank Stadium cruising to a 27-0 win over the Nevada Wolfpack. The Gophers defense was fantastic in the win, keeping Nevada to just total 172 yards.
Sophomore running back Darius Taylor only had 16 touches in the win but had an extremely efficient day with 161 total yards, 80 of them coming on a highlight reel worthy 80-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. He also had each of the Gophers three touchdowns in the win, a career high for the Michigan native.
Quarterback Max Brosmer was efficient for a second straight game as well, completing 16-of-26 passing attempts for 191 yards and one touchdown. He did throw one interception in the game.
The Gophers would open up the scoring on Saturday on their first drive of the game, going 52 yards across eight plays before Dragan Kesich nailed a 52-yard field goal to give the Gophers a 3-0 lead. Kesich also make a chip shot from 21 yards out at the end of the first quarter to extend the Gophers lead to 6-0.
Late in the second quarter, the Gophers would get into the endzone for the first time on Saturday, as Darius Taylor found took a short Max Brosmer check down pass into the end zone, to give the Gophers a 13-0 lead with four minutes remaining in the first half.
After forcing a Nevada three-and-out following Taylor's first touchdown of the day, the Gophers would get the ball back with two minutes remaining, having to go 69 yards for a score.
In prior instances, the Gophers may have chosen to go with a conservative approach. That was not the case on this particular drive. On the eight play drive, Max Brosmer would drop back six times, completing three of the attempts for 47 yards, though his fifth attempt of the drive would result in a pass interference call that put the Gophers at the Nevada four yard line. Two plays later, Darius Taylor would punch it in from four yards out to give the Gophers a 20-0 lead with just over 30 seconds remaining in the game.
The Gophers offense would carry that momentum into the second half, this time coming on a highlight reel run by Darius Taylor as he broke multiple tackles and evaded several other defenders en route to an 80-yard touchdown, giving the Gophers a 27-0 lead.
While the Gophers offense had itself a strong day with 172 total yards allowed, it may have been the Gophers defense that was the story of the game. Corey Hetherman's unit was dominant for a second straight week, forcing three turnovers and four sacks while also getting a second-straight shutout, the fifth of the P.J. Fleck era.
Nevada quarterback Brandon Lewis was consistently under pressure and as a result completed 15-of-23 passing attempts for just 114 yards with no turnovers while throwing three interceptions. Nevada's dangerous rushing attack wasn't able to have any success in the game, totaling just 58 rushing yards on 31 carries, a mere 1.9 yards per attempt.
The Floyd of Rosedale will once again be on the line as the Gophers look to keep Floyd in house after a 12-10 win in Iowa City last fall. Kickoff for that matchup is set for 6:30 p.m. CT.
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