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University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Open Kill Era at No. 25 USC Saturday
8/29/2011 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 29, 2011
How to Listen to Gopher Football Games
Gophers Open Kill Era vs. No. 25 USC
The University of Minnesota Golden Gophers will open their 128th season of intercollegiate football with a trip to Los Angeles. Minnesota will play its first game under head coach Jerry Kill at USC Saturday, Sept. 3 in a 12:36/2:36 p.m. PT/CT matchup.
The Gophers were 3-9 last season, but won their final two games under interim head coach Jeff Horton. USC was 8-5 in 2010, including a 32-21 victory over Minnesota at TCF Bank Stadium.
Minnesota is opening the season on the road for the third straight year. The Gophers lifted the lid on 2009 at Syracuse with a 23-20 OT win and won 24-17 at Middle Tennessee to open the 2010 campaign. They have won 14 of their last 16 season-openers and four straight when opening the season on the road.
ABC will televise the game, with Carter Blackburn, Brock Huard and Shelley Smith on the broadcast.
Gopher Grid-Bits
>Minnesota is 89-32-6 all-time in season-openers for a winning percentage of .724.
> The Golden Gophers have outscored their last seven season-opening opponents by an average score of 37.6-17.1 That includes a 23-20 overtime win in 2009 and a 24-17 victory last year.
> Minnesota has played 127 seasons of college football, coming into 2011. Only three other schools -- Rutgers (141), Michigan (131) and Navy (130) have played more.
> The Gophers are 25-27 all-time vs. current members of the Pac-12. Minnesota had a winning record vs. the league prior to this year. But an 0-3 mark vs. Colorado pushed the Gophers under .500.
> Minnesota came from behind in all six of its victories in 2009 and all three in 2010. The last time the Gophers won a game without trailing was a 17-6 win at Purdue on Oct. 25, 2008.
Killer Loyalty
University of Minnesota head coach Jerry Kill has an unbelievably loyal staff. Of Kill's nine full-time assistants and head strength and conditioning coach, the staff has a total of 94 combined consecutive years of service under him.
There are only six NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision head coaches with more combined consecutive years of service among their assistant coaches.
Perhaps the most impressive statistic when comparing Kill's staff to the five ranked ahead of it is the number of different head coaching positions held by the respective coaches on the list. Kill has made five different head coaching stops -- Saginaw Valley State (Mich.), Emporia (Kan.) State, Southern Illinois, Northern Illinois and Minnesota. Of the other five, two of the head coaches have been at one school for their entire careers. The other three have only made two head coaching stops.
The following is a look at each of Minnesota's assistant coaches and their years of service under Jerry Kill (not including this season): Eric Klein - 17; Tracy Claeys - 16; Rob Reeves - 15; Matt Limegrover - 12; Brian Anderson - 10; Pat Poore - 10; Jay Sawvel - 10; Jeff Phelps - 3; Jim Zebrowski - 1; Bill Miller - 0.
Gray Matters
Former Gopher quarterback Adam Weber entered the 2010 season as one of the most experienced quarterbacks in the nation. He ended up his career by starting every game for four years straight and set a Big Ten record for starts and consecutive starts by a QB with 50. In 2011, enter Marqueis Gray. Gray is the only signal-caller on the Minnesota roster who has ever taken a snap at quarterback in a collegiate football game. He has six starts in his career, but all were as a wide receiver. He has not been a starting quarterback since his senior year in high school.
Stoudermire's Switch
Senior cornerback Troy Stoudermire made a successful transition from wide receiver to cornerback in mid-season last year. He was suspended for the Northern Illinois game (Game 4). When he returned to the team, he was moved to the secondary. By the end of the season, he ranked No. 6 on the team in tackles (37), first in pass break-ups (5) and added two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries.
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