The Golden Bears led for most of the game after scoring a touchdown in the first quarter.. The Gophers were able to tie the game with a 1-yard rush from graduate student Cam Davis.
Minnesota came back briefly in the third quarter after getting a second touchdown, but four minutes later, Cal responded. Cal led, going into the last quarter of the game 17-14.
Cal’s defense held off the Gophers for the rest of the game, while their offense went on to score 10 more points. The final score was 27-14.
The previous week, the Gophers blew out the Northwestern State University Demons with a final score of 66-0. Redshirt junior lineman Maverick Baranowski said there was no need to linger on their win.
“At the end of the day, we watch that film, move on to Cal and get ready for the game this week,” Baranowski said.
During the game against the Demons, junior running back Darius Taylor suffered a hamstring injury in his third carry of the game. The offense had to adjust for their starting running backs’ absence against Cal.
Redshirt junior A.J. Turner started in Taylor’s place against Cal. There have been no updates on Taylor’s recovery time. However, head coach P.J. Fleck said Taylor’s injury is not as bad as they thought.
One challenge Fleck mentioned before the Cal game is the West Coast and Midwest time difference.
“There are a lot of things it does with your brain, your mind, and your mindset,” Fleck said. “How do you train all week to make sure that you can have the best performance you possibly can from 9:30 on your body naturally to 1 a.m.”
Baranowski added that another challenge the Gophers were looking out for is Cal’s true freshman quarterback, Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele.
“Their quarterback is very good, especially for a young player,” Baranowski said. “It is going to be an exciting week for the defense.”
After the first loss for the Gophers, Fleck said everything that could have gone wrong in the game went wrong, and that it is the responsibility of the head coach.
“We lost the ball, 0 for 2,” Fleck said. “I’m sure we lost tackling, didn’t break enough tackles.”
Fleck added it is not any one player’s responsibility to win a football game, but rather the whole team’s.
Cal was the first away game where redshirt freshman quarterback Drake Lindsey started for the Gophers.
Fleck said everything Lindsey does this year as a starter is going to be a first for him, and Lindsey will continue to learn as time goes on.
“There are going to be so many firsts for him,” Fleck said. “It just goes back to his preparation, which has been outstanding. His maturity and leadership is beyond his years right now.”
Despite some of the mistakes the Gophers made in the game against Cal, Fleck said it is all correctable.
“We will do everything we can, and I know we will,” Fleck said. “I love this football team, I love how hard they work.”
The Gophers will return to Huntington Bank Stadium for their first conference game against Rutgers University on Sept. 27.
