I needed a night’s sleep to write about the Gophers game last night against 16 Penn State. Did I know it would be a long shot for the Gophers to beat Penn State? Yes. Did I think if the offense played like they did the first few weeks it was possible? Also yes. In a game, the Gophers needed to have just to stay in B1G title contention, and they didn’t show up.
The offense played in their first game without Tanner Morgan, who was out due to injury, in close to 6 years. Starting in his place was Redshirt Freshman QB Athan Kaliakmanis making his first college start and first start since 2019. The offense didn’t look good for the 3rd game in a row. The O-line couldn’t block, the receivers couldn’t get separation, QB making his first start. All of it adds up to a long shot. They did not trust Athan to throw the ball at the beginning of the game and relied heavily on Mo Ibrahim, which made it so Penn State could load the box and stop the run. Mo finished with 30 carries for 102 yds and 1 TD. His 15th straight game with over 100 yards rushing. That TD also tied the school record. Athan finished 9/22 for 175 1 TD and 1 Int.
With the offense playing so bad in this game the Gophers needed the defense to step up and play well. They did not play well, in the first half the defense forgot to cover the Penn State TEs. Things did not get much better in the 2nd half, the defense could not make a stop. The defense gave up 479 yards and 45 points. This was not a typical defensive game for the Gophers.
Moving forward the Gophers need to figure it out on offense. The line needs to block, the receivers need to get separation and they need to put some points up on the board. The defense needs to figure out what they did in the first 4 games of the season and start doing that again. They will try again next week at home against Rutgers (4-3). Penn State will stay at home and play Ohio State (7-0).
Phil Kujawa
