Sep. 25—As a 31-point underdog, Appalachian State’s massive upset of traditional powerhouse Michigan in 2007 holds a special place in annals of college football.
On Saturday, the Gophers effectively said: “Hold my beer.”
Coming off an impressive 30-0 beatdown at Colorado last week, Minnesota was a 31-point favorite over a young and struggling Bowling Green team on a 10-game losing streak to FBS programs since early November 2019.
Yet Minnesota’s passing game and special teams kept sputtering and sputtering in a mistake, penalty and turnover-filled 14-10 loss at Huntington Bank Stadium. Considering betting lines, Saturday’s game ties App. State’s shocker for the second-biggest Big Ten upset in at least the last 40 years. The largest upset was when Minnesota was a 31.5-point favorite and lost to Northwestern in 1982.
The U’s homecoming crowd Saturday booed as coaches and players went to the locker room trailing 7-3 at halftime, and when they opted to punt while down in the fourth quarter, they chorus cascaded.
Gophers head coach P.J. Fleck said there was “not one thing” this week to foreshadow such a face-plant on Saturday. “We had a great week of practice,” he said. After the game, Fleck told his team: “Whatever you felt like could be some of the worst football we could have played, we just put it out there.”
Fleck lost for the first time in 14 non-conference games and none of his 20 Big Ten losses holds a candle Saturday’s considering this team’s vast experience and internal expectations to compete at the top of the Big Ten West.
“We made some mistakes (Saturday) that were uncharacteristic of our football team, and I’m talking like our football team since we’ve been here,” Fleck said.
The Gophers put Bowling Green on its schedule back in November 2017, during Fleck’s first season, and they will pay the Mid-American Conference school $1.45 million for the trip. Given the Falcons’ recent struggles, the U’s organizers did their part in putting an expected cupcake up as its homecoming opponent.
So that fat check, along with ruining the U’s homecoming, will be nice parting gifts to go with the W.
The loss for Minnesota is more head-scratching. The Gophers just destroyed Colorado in front of roughly 10,000 fans in Boulder, a fun-loving party amid the program’s first road shutout of a Power Five team since 1977. It looked like the type of victory that could springboard the team on a long winning streak in a favorable reopening of Big Ten play.
Not anymore.
“(We) couldn’t have played any worse,” Fleck said on the radio postgame.
Minnesota had three turnovers and were lucky to not have a fourth. They allowed four sacks and suffered seven penalties, some coming at the worst times. They were also bailed out a few times by Bowling Green, which has 71 players that graduated in 2020 or 2021. But the breaks stopped coming.
Minnesota had only 94 yards of total offense in the first half and lost its top receiver Chris Autman-Bell to an ankle injury on the first drive. They finished with a paltry 241 yards, and the passing offense dragged them down.
Veteran QB Tanner Morgan completed only 5 of 13 passes for 59 yards. Morgan fumbled after a 18-yard gain in the first half and had two interceptions in the second half. The offensive line struggled with blitzes and stunts. The Falcons brought Kansas transfer Davon Ferguson on a cornerback blitz in the first half for a sack and had the same success when they dialed it up in the second half.
Minnesota got an interception from Mariano Sori-Marin in the first quarter, but despite starting the drive from the Falcons’ 23, the U had to settle for a field goal.
Minnesota’s offense failed to convert on fourth-and-1 from its own 29. The line was beat and Trey Potts had to eat a 5-yard loss. Bowling Green put together a 24-yard touchdown drive, which Fleck put in his shoulders considering it was his fourth-down call that backfired.
The U responded early in the third quarter with backup quarterback Cole Kramer coming in for a play and rushing for a 18-yard score, the first of his career. It gave Minnesota a brief 10-7 lead.
Fleck said he tried to calm his team down at the half and that he liked the adjustments they made for the second half. But he fell to 0-17 at Minnesota when trailing at the half; none of those predecessors will sting more.