Minnesota vs Middle Tennessee State Football Recap

The Minnesota Golden Gophers were sweating bullets for much of Thursday evening’s game in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. They somehow lived to tell about their experience and avoided what would have been a devastating defeat.

The Gophers and coach Tim Brewster – playing a Middle Tennessee team that was without its best and most dynamic performer – trailed for a significant portion of the second half before rallying to win the game in the fourth quarter. A ten-point fourth quarter allowed the Gophers to come from behind for the win.

Duane Bennett led the Minnesota offense with a career-high 187 yards rushing.  Senior fullback Jon Hoese scored all three Gophers touchdowns, matching his career total.

The game was tied 14-14 at halftime, and the Blue Raiders took the lead on a 31-yard field goal by Alan Gendreau on their first drive of the second half. 

Minnesota would begin to wear MTSU down after that. 

The Gophers’ next drive took 11 plays, and although it ended in a punt, it set the stage for two long scoring drives.  The Gophers rolled 97 yards in 15 plays in 6:31 to tie the score 17-17 on an Eric Ellestad field goal with 14:11 to play.  After stopping the Blue Raiders on the next possession, Minnesota took over on its own 23-yard line and rolled down the field again, taking its first lead of the second half on Hoese’s third touchdown of the game 15 plays and 9:10 later on the game clock. The Gophers’ defense – blitzed in the middle third of this game – battened down the hatches in crunch time and smothered the Blue Raiders’ last desperate attempts at a tying touchdown, and a very relieved ballclub hopped on a plane to Minneapolis, fortunate to live another week.

This would have been such an awful loss for the U of M because Middle Tennessee was without the services of Dwight Dasher, the best quarterback in the Sun Belt Conference and a formidable dual-threat quarterback. Dasher’s hybridized talents enabled MTSU to win the New Orleans Bowl last year and become the preseason favorite for the Sun Belt title. However, just two weeks before the start of the season, it was revealed that Dasher received some payments from a booster, obviously a no-no in the contemporary climate of college sports. Dasher was suspended, and with that went MTSU’s best chance of winning this game. It’s actually somewhat remarkable that this game was as close as it was, not a good sign for Minnesota in the weeks to come.

Minnesota did at least control the game on the ground, piling up 281 yards rushing and enjoying a 45:34-14:26 edge in time of possession.  The Gophers did not turn the ball over.

Minnesota took a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter, but MTSU tied the score on a 22-yard touchdown pass from Logan Kilgore to Sancho McDonald with :36 left in the first half.

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