How about last night, my goodness. Last Saturday in college football was like a shitty appetizer that you eat because you’re starving. None of last weeks games were really any good but I was so excited to have college football back that I didn’t care.
With that being said, last night was electric, exciting, and awesome. Ohio State went into a hostile Huntington Bank Stadium in the rain and won 45-31. Prior to the game and even going into the fourth quarter, I was calling for a Gophers upset but no such luck.
The worst part of this game was that P.J. Fleck and the Golden Gophers didn’t cover the 13.5 point spread, they missed it by HALF A POINT.
This game was great though. You had two programs that had very opposite seasons in 2020 as the Golden Gophers went 3-4 and only had two guys get drafted. For the Buckeyes, they went 7-1 and lost in the National Title Game to Alabama and had ten players get drafted.
The slate was wiped clean heading into the 2021 season and Minnesota, led by redshirt senior quarterback Tanner Morgan and redshirt senior back Mohamed Ibrahim were ready to battle with the Buckeyes.
On the other sideline, the Buckeyes returned two of the nations top receivers in Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson along with starting guard Paris Johnson Jr. so their offense seemed set, except for one position, quarterback.
Redshirt freshman C.J. Stroud won the job in the spring but he had big shoes to fill after Justin Fields led the Buckeyes to a Natty appearance and was drafted in the first round by the Bears. Update, Stroud exceeded expectations in his opener.
I really didn’t have a lot of confidence in Stroud, that was my main reason for thinking the Gophers would pull off the upset of the number four team in the nation. He proved myself and a lot of other fans wrong as he threw for 294 yards with 4 touchdowns and only 1 interception.
His two top targets balled out and proved why they are two top five options in the country. Olave caught four passes for 117 yards and 2 touchdowns while his counterpart Garrett Wilson reeled in five palls for 80 yards and 1 touchdown.
Ohio State also received help on the ground from running back Miyan Williams as he rushed for 125 yards on only 9 carries while also reaching pay dirt once.
On the defensive side of the ball, the Buckeyes received help from sophomore safety Ronnie Hickman who tallied eleven tackles. Other contributions came from junior edge rusher Zach Harrison who had 3 tackles and a sack and sophomore linebacker Cody Simon with seven tackles and a sack.
For Minnesota, Tanner Morgan passed for 205 yards and a touchdown, but their biggest help came on the ground from Mohamed Ibrahim who rushed for 163 yards on 30 carries with 2 touchdowns.
The Golden Gophers didn’t have many defensive standouts. Senior linebacker Mariano Sori-Marin had 6 tackles and senior defensive back Terell Smith recorded 2 tackles and had the lone interception on Stroud.
Minnesota drops to 0-1 and will be on the road at Miami Ohio to play against the Red Hawks. For Ohio State, they start their run back to the championship at 1-0 and have a MASSIVE game back home in Columbus next week against the Oregon Ducks.