WEEK 1 FOOTBALL GAME NOTES - Minnesota 44 Kent State 0

GAME NOTES
Minnesota 44 (1-0), Kent State 0 (0-1)
Aug. 31, 2006
Attendance: 20,126

**Note - a replay of Thursday night's game between Minnesota and Kent State will be available in the Gold Zone on Saturday morning. Highlights, interviews and Glen Mason's post-game press conference now available.

Minnesota Series/Specialty Notes
• This was the first meeting between Minnesota and Kent State. Minnesota now leads the all-time series 1-0. This is the second time Glen Mason has faced Kent State and he is now 2-0. Mason beat Kent State while he was at Kansas in 1989, 28-21.
• Tonight’s game marked only the eighth time the Gophers have opened on the road in the past 30 years.
• The Gophers won their fifth straight season opener. Minnesota is 86-31-6 all-time in season openers and 8-2 all-time in season openers under Glen Mason.
• This was the Gophers fifth straight victory over a MAC opponent. Minnesota is 22-2-1 all-time vs. MAC teams and 2-1 against the MAC all-time on the road.
• Minnesota earned its 17th consecutive victory over non-conference opponents in the regular season with their win over KSU. The Gophers streak of 17 wins is the longest in the Big Ten, nine wins ahead of Ohio State. The Gophers last loss to a non-conference team in the regular season occurred at Toledo in 2001.
• The Gophers are 4-1 all-time on Thursday nights, including four consecutive victories. All five Thursday games have occurred since 2001.
• Minnesota is 8-2 all-time in road games against non-conference opponents under Glen Mason.

Minnesota Individual Notes
• Freshman E,J. Jones (RB), sophomore Jack Simmons (TE), freshman Ned Tavale (OG), senior Tyson Swaggert (OG), junior Neel Allen (DT), junior Dominique Barber (FS) and junior Desi Steib (CB) all made the first starts of their careers.
• Matt Spaeth started his 30th consecutive game, the longest current starting streak on the team.
• Bryan Cupito surpassed 300 completions for his career in the first quarter,
• Bryan Cupito moved into a tie for third all-time with Rickey Foggie for career touchdown passes with 34.
• Bryan Cupito extended his school record streak of consecutive games with a touchdowm pass to 12.
• Eric Decker’s first career reception for the Gophers went for a 39-yard touchdown in the first quarter.
• Jack Simmons recorded his first career reception with a 17-yard catch in the first quarter.
• With a three-yard touchdown run in the first quarter, Alex Daniels became the first player since Jermaine Mays in 2002 to score both an offensive and defensive touchdown in his career. Daniels scored on a 13-yard blocked punt return for a touchdown last season against Colorado State (9/10/05).
• The Gophers scored on their first three drives of the game (TD, TD, FG) and with the exception of their last possession of the first half which ended due to time expiration, the Gophers scored on their first seven drives, including touchdowns on six of those drives.
• Mario Reese earned his first career fumble recovery in the first quarter, on a play in which he also was credited with the forced fumble, the third of his career.
• Neel Allen earned his first career sack in the second quarter.
• Steve Davis recorded the third multi-sack game of his career.
• Alex Daniels earned his first 100-yard rushing game of his career with 155 yards.
• Alex Daniels became the 12th player to record a 100-yard rushing game during Glen Mason’s tenure at Minnesota (1997-present). Daniels joins Thomas Hamner, Byron Evans, Billy Cockerham, Tellis Redmon, Thomas Tapeh, Marion Barber III, Asad Abdul-Khaliq, Terry Jackson II, Laurence Maroney, Gary Russell and Amir Pinnix.
• Alex Daniels recorded the first multi-TD game of his career with 3.
• Daniels’ three rushing touchdowns represented the first time a Gopher player has had three rushing touchdowns in a game since Gary Russell had three last season at Indiana (11/5/05).
• Dominic Jones picked off the first pass of his career in the third quarter.
• Matt Spaeth had the 13th multi-catch game of his career.
• Willie VanDeSteeg earned the first sack of his career in the third quarter.
• Jamal Harris earned his first career multi-interception game with 2 and was the first Gopher to intercept two passes in a game since Michael Lehan had two against Arkansas in the 2002 Music City Bowl (12/30/02).
• Amir Pinnix recorded his second career 100-yard rushing game with 114 yards.
• Alex Daniels and Amir Pinnix each surpassed 100 yards rushing, marking the 32nd time in school history the Gophers have had tow players rush for 100 yards in the same game and the 20th time in the Glen Mason era (1997 – pres.). This is the 16th time the Gophers have achieved that feat since 2002.

Minnesota Team Notes
• The Gophers recorded their first shutout since blanking Illinois 45-0 on Oct. 23, 2004 and it was their first shutout of an opponent in their season opener since beating Southwest Texas State 42-0 in their 2002 opener. It is the fourth shutout during Glen Mason’s tenure.
• The Gophers registered their first multi-interception game since they had two against Purdue last season (9/24/05) and it was the first time since Sept. 18, 2004 at Colorado State that they had three interceptions in a game.
• The Gophers forced six turnovers, the most takeaways the team had in a game since they forced six against Northwestern on Oct. 2, 1999.
• The five fumbles forced by Minnesota were the most since they forced five vs. Illinois on Oct. 3, 2002 and the three fumble recoveries by the Gophers were the most since they recovered three at Purdue on Sept. 28, 2002.
• The Gophers limited KSU to only 150 passing yards, the lowest total against Minnesota since Northwestern had 127 passing yards on Sept. 25, 2004.
• Minnesota held Kent State to only 13 passing attempts and seven completions. That is both the lowest attempt and completion total against the Gophers since Wisconsin had 12 attempts and six completions on Nov. 23, 2002.
• The Gophers five sacks were the most in a single game since they had five against Ohio State on Nov. 2, 2002.
• The Gophers have now amassed at least 300 yards of total offense in 39 of the past 40 games dating back to the 2002 season.
• The Gophers surpassed 300 yards rushing with 322 against Kent State, reaching the 200-yard rushing mark for the 29th time in the last 38 games and the 300-yard mark for the ninth time in the past 15 games.
• The Gophers have scored a least one rushing touchdown in 40 of their last 42 games dating back to 2002.
• The Gophers have now won 33 consecutive games when holding their opponent to 20 points or less. Minnesota’s last loss to a team scoring 20 or fewer was against Ohio State on Oct. 23, 1999 (L 20-17).
• The Gophers extended their streak of consecutive games without allowing a sack to eight and their streak of consecutive games without allowing multiple sacks to 18. Both of those marks are new school records.
• Since 2003, the Gophers are 19-3 in games in which they score first and 22-2 in games in which they lead at halftime.

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