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University of Minnesota Athletics
Insight Bowl Gopher Game Day Blog
12/31/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
It's game day for Minnesota Golden Gopher Football. Follow along with us here on GopherSports.com as Minnesota plays an important Big Ten road game at Illinois. Garry Bowman and I (Andy Seeley) will give you some insight into the game, a bit of a running commentary and hopefully a look inside some of the things you might not get watching the game on television or listening on the radio. As always, feel free to send a note with a question or comment on the blog, send them to aseeley@umn.edu.
7:00 p.m. (MST)
A sack and third-and-long ends Minnesota's possession.
I hate to say an early good-bye. But all of our staff has to head to the field. With 6:07 remaining, Minnesota still trails 35-21. We apologize for the early end to the blog. Good night from Tempe!
6:50 p.m. (MST)
Big play on third down for Cedric McKinley. He just picked up his second sack of the ballgame. The Gophers still have a shot after that stop. But it will be difficult. Alonso Rojas just hit what may have been the best punt I've ever seen. His running, rugby-style punt hit at the Minnesota 10-yard line, skipped inside the five and kicked out of bounds inside the 1-yard line. It was a 63-yard punt, but it was placed absolutely perfectly.
The ball is currently resting one inch away from Minnesota's own goal line. That's where they'll begin this possession, down two touchdowns with 10:56 remaining in the game.
6:43 p.m. (MST)
Eric Decker has now broken the school record for receptions in a bowl game. His seventh went for a six-yard touchdown catch. He currently has eight receptions for 149 yards and that last score. The Gophers are back within two scores, 35-21, with 13:01 remaining in the game.
6:40 p.m. (MST)
Eric Decker has tied a school record for receptions in a bowl game with six. His 143 yards receiving tonight are a Gopher bowl record. Third-and-10 for Minnesota at the KU 20-yard line. On fourth-and-5, a pass interference penalty has kept Minnesota's drive alive. First-and-goal at the 7.
6:32 p.m. (MST)
Minnesota's defense got a quick, three-and-out. So KU will be forced to punt from its own end zone. Marcus Sherels calls for a fair catch at the Kansas 48-yard line. So, the Gophers will have good field position again. But they still trail by 21, 35-14, with 47 seconds left in the third quarter.
6:30 p.m. (MST)
QB sneak comes up inches short. First-and-10 for KU inside its own 1-yard line.
6:27 p.m. (MST)
Fourth-and-goal for the Gophers inside the KU 1-yard line. Coach Brewster has called a time out to discuss the situation. I'd be willing to bet they are discussing the play call, not the possibility of a field goal. The Gophers need a score here!
6:16 p.m. (MST)
Troy Stoudermire just gave the Gophers some good field position to work with. His 60-yard kickoff return was the longest of the season for Minnesota. First-and-10 at the KU 38-yard line.
6:11 p.m. (MST)
Rough turnover for Minnesota. After picking up a first down, DeLeon Eskridge lost the ball in a scrum in the middle of the field. KU recovered and quickly made the Gophers pay. This time it was Kerry Meier, who found Dezmon Briscoe wide open on the first play after the turnover for a 32-yard touchdown. Briscoe has 12 receptions for 180 yards and three scores. The 12 catches are an Insight Bowl record and we still have more than one-and-a-half quarters to play. With 8:03 remaining in the third quarter, Kansas 35 - Minnesota 14.
6:07 p.m. (MST)
Eric Decker has five receptions for 121 yards so far in this game. He came into the game with 925 yards, so his 75-yard reception to open the game put him at 1,000 yards for the season. That makes him just the fourth Gopher to pick up 1,000 yards receiving for a season.
6:07 p.m. (MST)
Willie VanDeSteeg came up with a sack on KU's last possession, helping to lead to a punt. VanDeSteeg now has 10.5 sacks for the season and 21.5 for his career. His 2008 total is now 0.5 sack better than his 2006 total of 10, moving this season's output into No. 5 all-time at Minnesota.
5:59 p.m. (MST)
Three-and-out is not what the Gopher offense was looking for to start the second half. But that's what happened. Justin Kucek just boomed a rocket of a punt, however. His 55-yard punt, along with an illegal block penalty on Kansas, will put the Jayhawks at their own 16-yard line to start their first possession of the second half.
5:55 p.m. (MST)
We're all set for the second-half kickoff. KU kicker Jacob Branstetter sends it to the 3-yard line. Troy Stoudermire returns it out to the Gophers' 25-yard line and Minnesota will have it first-and-10 there.
5:48 p.m. (MST)
Word on the sideline is a number of folks down there feel as though the pass interference call against Steve Davis earlier in the second quarter really changed the momentum of the game. Rather than a punt or a long field-goal attempt for Kansas, it became a fresh set of downs, which resulted in a touchdown drive. Things are still fairly upbeat on the Minnesota bench, though.
As Garry said in the previous post, it will be important for Minnesota to score (or at least move the ball well) to open the second half.
5:40 p.m. (MST)
That's the first half. The Gopher offense put up a respectable 194 yards of total offense, but were not able to keep up with Kansas as the Jayhawks totaled 307 yards. Most of KU's production came via the right arm of quarterback Todd Reesing, who completed 19 of 23 passes for 221 yards. Hopefully an omen at the end of the half for the Gophers, though. Reesing was picked off by Steve Davis as time expired. It was the first career interception by the senior team captain. Plus Minnesota will open the second half with the football.
5:32 p.m. (MST)
No surprise that Eric Decker is having a big day. After struggling with injuries late in the season and seeing his production fall off, Decker is now healthy and putting up big numbers. He has 4 catches for 112 yards so far in the first half. Not to be out done, Kansas' Dezmon Briscoe has 10 for 147.
5:28 p.m. (MST)
Minnesota will have to do something it has yet to do this season if the Gophers are going to pull out a win in the Insight Bowl. The Maroon and Gold is 0-3 on the year when trailing at the break. Earlier this year Minnesota trailed at the half against Ohio State, Michigan and Iowa.
5:25 p.m. (MST)
Kansas gets into the end zone again and it looks like the Gophers will have a big up-hill climb in the second half as Minnesota trails 28-14 with 1:07 to go in the second quarter. After starting strong on offense, Minnesota has just not been able to keep pace with the Jayhawks. Kansas has rolled up 307 yards, including 221 passing yards by Reesing, in the first half.
5:20 p.m. (MST)
Kansas' Todd Reesing finally missed on a pass attempt, snapping a string of 13 in a row - a KU school record. Unfortunately for the Gophers, he has picked up right were he left off with two more hook-ups as the Jayhawks have moved to the Minnesota 5-yard line following back to back completions.
5:03 p.m. (MST)
A friendly pass interference penalty against Minnesota's Steve Davis on third-and-10 just gave Kansas new life on this possession. The possession -- of course -- ends in a touchdown. Jayhawk QB Todd Reesing found Dezmon Briscoe for his second TD reception of the game. It was a 10-play, 69-yard drive that took 5:15 off the clock.
Coach Brewster's wish for controlling time of possession has swung back toward KU. The Jayhawks have had the ball for more than 12 minutes, while Minnesota has controlled the ball for just short of nine minutes.
4:54 p.m. (MST)
A mental mistake just cost Minnesota some field position. Justin Kucek got off a nice, 53-yard punt, pinning Kansas at its own 16-yard line after a short return. But a late hit out of bounds gives KU another 15 yards. Now, it will be first-and-10 at the 31-yard line.
4:48 p.m. (MST)
That's the end of the first quarter, as DeLeon Eskridge rushes for four yards. With the score tied at 14-14, that is easily the highest combined scoring first quarter for Minnesota this season. The most previous combined points in a Gopher football game this season was a combined total of 13 at Purdue. (Minnesota 7, Purdue 6).
4:44 p.m. (MST)
Kansas answered Minnesota's long drive with one of its own. Todd Reesing just found Kerry Meier for a four-yard touchdown pass in the back left corner of the end zone. It capped a nine-play, 80-yard drive that took 4:36 off the clock. With 12 seconds remaining in the first quarter, it is all knotted up at 14-14.
Minnesota has done a pretty decent job of putting pressure on Reesing. But they are unable to get their hands on him. Coach Brewster talked all week about limiting his movement in the pocket and not allowing him to see passing or running lanes. Unfortunately, Reesing hurt the Gophers by doing just that on that last drive.
4:31 p.m. (MST)
Jon Hoese just scored his second career touchdown. A two-yard plunge over the right side for Hoese capped off a 13-play, 79-yard drive that took 6:03 off the clock. Coach Brewster said he wanted to control the ball for 35 minutes in this game and felt the Gophers could win if they accomplished that. So far, they are off to a good start at possessing the ball with that long scoring drive.
Joel Monroe's PAT has given Minnesota its first lead of the game. With 4:48 remaining in the first quarter, Minnesota 14 - Kansas 7.
4:29 p.m. (MST)
The first big coaching call of the game was just made by Gopher head coach Tim Brewster. He elected to go for it on fourth-and-1 from the KU 3-yard line. Jon Hoese rushed for a yard and picked up the first down. First-and-goal at the 2-yard line.
4:19 p.m. (MST)
The Gopher defense has picked up a stop. KU recorded a first down on its second possession, but then stalled. KU's punt was downed at the Minnesota 21-yard line. Let's see what the Gopher offense dials up this time.
4:11 p.m. (MST)
Minnesota almost answered on its first play, as Eric Decker took a reverse pass from David Pittman 75 yards deep into Kansas territory. Three plays later, Jon Hoese gets his first career rush and his first career touchdown with a one-yard plunge into the end zone. Joel Monroe's PAT has tied things up at 7-7 with 13:18 left in the first quarter.
The 75-yard reception for Decker was Minnesota's longest play of the year.
Has anyone caught their breath yet? Wow! What a start to this game.
4:08 p.m. (MST)
One offensive play into the game and Kansas holds a 7-0 lead. The Gophers got great pressure on Reesing on the game's first play. But Reesing was able to elude the rush and found Dezmon Briscoe alone down the left sideline for a 60-yard touchdown pass. Not the start the Gophers wanted for sure. Now, it will be up to the offense to answer.
4:03 p.m. (MST)
The captains are on the field. We were just informed that it is 73 degrees with 21 percent humidity and the winds are calm at kickoff. Kansas has won the toss and elected to receive at the
4:03 p.m. (MST)
The captains are on the field. We were just informed that it is 73 degrees with 21 percent humidity and the winds are calm at kickoff. Kansas has won the toss and elected to receive at the north end zone. So, we'll get a look at how the Minnesota defense contends with Jayhawk QB Todd Reesing and the high-powered Kansas offense righ toff the bat.
4:00 p.m. (MST)
Both teams have taken the field, amidst a great deal of fireworks here in Tempe. Let's hope there are plenty more fireworks for the Gophers once this game gets started.
3:55 p.m. (MST)
We're in the midst of five different United States Air Force parachutists dropping onto the field here at Sun Devil Stadium. The first had a KU flag attached to him, the second had a Minnesota flag. The third and fourth had Insight Bowl flags and the fifth was flying Old Glory. We're just about 15 minutes away from kickoff. If you're watching on the NFL Network, Coach Brewster will be interviewed just before kickoff by sideline reporter Lindsay Soto.
Don't forget, if you're a Comcast subscriber in the Twin Cities area, you can watch the game on Channel 180, as long as you have a digital converter box. The color guard is on the field and the National Anthem is about to start. Back with more when we get a little closer to getting this contest under way.
3:50 p.m. (MST)
The Minnesota Marching Band has finished its pregame show. There are some pre-game presentations taking place on the Sun Devil Stadium turf. The Kansas band will take the field next. We're about 20 minutes away from kickoff.
It looks as though the Gophers will be wearing their all-maroon uniform combination today. Minnesota is the home team and therefore will be wearing their dark uniforms. Today's game officials are from the Southeastern Conference. Back in a few minutes with any other news and notes we can glean prior to kickoff.
