A sunny day allowed the Gophers football team to pick up their first win of the season as they crushed Rhode Island 48-0 at Huntington Bank Stadium on Saturday.
The Gophers defense pitched a shutout, including three interceptions and a fumble, whereas the Rams did not snap the ball once in Gophers territory. Minnesota ended up resting its starters for the final quarter having amassed a sizable lead.
Gophers head coach P.J. Fleck said having to wait 10 days to play following the loss to North Carolina “festered” the team.
“It was more like fertilizer, it just grew and grew and grew,” Fleck said. “Every day they came out with the right mindset. We gave them three things on offense, defense and special teams to get better at and they did that.”
Max Brosmer started his fourth career game as quarterback against Rhode Island.
Darius Taylor made his 2024 debut at tailback for the Gophers after missing week one due to injury. Safety Darius Green started his first game after missing week one, but the Gophers were without defensive back Jai’Onte’ McMillan, who was injured in the North Carolina game.
Minnesota’s defense held the Rams to a three-and-out on the opening drive and a 20-yard completion by Brosmer to Christian Driver got the offense into Rhode Island territory. The Gophers stalled and fifth-year kicker Dragan Kesich drilled a 53-yard field goal putting the Gophers up first.
Two drives later still without a score, Rhode Island tried their backup quarterback, Clemson University transfer Hunter Helms, replaced Devin Farrell for a drive but the Gophers’ defense forced a punt.
Brosmer came out firing to start the second quarter throwing six straight times, completing five along with a Jameson Geers drop. Minnesota marched down the field and capped off the drive with a Taylor touchdown extending the Gopher lead to 10.
The Rams started the drive with three straight throws of their own but the fourth pass was intended for Shawn Harris Jr. and ended up in the hands of Minnesota’s Aidan Gousby for an interception.
The Gophers utilized running backs Taylor and Marcus Major out of the backfield in the passing game and drove down the field. The maroon and gold pushed Major through to the endzone from the 2-yard line.
When Farrell had the ball on the Rams’ next drive, defensive lineman Deven Eastern caused a fumble and Minnesota’s Jack Henderson pounced on the ball and the Gophers took over right outside the redzone.
Shortly after, junior linebacker A.J. Pena sacked Brosmer for a loss of 14 yards forcing Kesich to kick a career-long 55-yard field goal that he missed.
Minnesota led 17-0 and outgained Rhode Island 191 to 67 in the first two quarters. Brosmer finished the half completing all but five of his passes, and Taylor set a career-high with 35 receiving yards.
Brosmer established a strong connection with wide receiver Elijah Spencer, who caught three passes for 37 yards to open the second half. Brosmer completed his fifth consecutive pass to start the half this time finding Driver for another Gophers touchdown.
Farrell found Harris Jr. over the middle for 18 yards, picking up just the third first-down for the Rams of the game.
After Rhode Island’s fourth punt of the game, Minnesota leaned on its two best offensive weapons in Jackson and Taylor, who both picked up first downs. Brosmer continued his pinpoint accuracy hitting Le’Meke Brockington down the sideline for a 29-yard touchdown, putting the Gophers up 31-0 over the Rams.
Having built up the lead, young Gophers players had the opportunity to play. Freshman Koi Perich got his first taste of the field on defense for Minnesota.
Farrell opened the fourth quarter with a pass that was tipped into the air by redshirt senior linebacker Cody Lindenberg and intercepted by Perich.
The freshman said the saying in the defensive backs room is, “Tipped balls and overthrows, got to get those.”
Drake Lindsey made his collegiate debut at quarterback replacing Brosmer. The freshman from Fayetteville, Arkansas led a scoring drive to start his Gophers career as Kesich hit a 47-yard field goal.
Helms returned under center after the interception by Farrell and nearly threw an interception of his own that Gophers defensive back Coleman Bryson dropped on the sideline. Two plays later, Henderson picked off Helms and walked into the endzone making it 41-0 Minnesota.
Henderson said he was thankful for the pressure the defensive line got that forced the throw from the quarterback.
“I was in the box presnap, the quarterback thought he had a one-on-one with our corner,” Henderson said. “The receiver ran a curl and my job there was curl flat, so it was perfect.”
The Minnesota defense got another stop, so Perich got the ball in his hands again on a punt return where he picked up 28 yards. The Gophers had returned three punts for just eight yards before Perich’s return.
“I got to take it to the crib,” Perich said as teammate Anthony Smith laughed aside him. “That’s my only thought on that.”
Lindsey led the offense down the field finishing it off with an eight-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Willams. The first passing touchdown of Lindsey’s career on his second consecutive scoring drive.
