By Skip Myslenski
NUsports.com Special Contributor
It was the third play of their first series on a windswept Saturday, and the 'Cats faced a third-and-seven at their own 19. A snap earlier, buffeted by gusts that reached 26 mph, Clayton Thorson had offered low to superback Danny Vitale. But here, with a delayed blitz on the way, he stood firm at the right hashmark and launched a laser through the wind and across the field to Christian Jones on the left boundary for 16 yards and a first down. This was what is conventionally called a major-league throw.
Then it was the back end of the second quarter, and the 'Cats faced a third-and-three at their own 39. This time Minnesota, their opponent here at Ryan Field, came with a blitz at the snap. But again Thorson stood firm and, even before Jones came out of his break, launched another laser against the wind that the receiver collected for six yards and another first down. This was a throw worthy of a Ph.D.
Finally it was deep into the fourth quarter and, on a first-and-ten at the Gophers' 49, the 'Cats fumbled the ball in the backfield. A week earlier, in a similar situation, Thorson had picked up the ball and tried to make a play and fumbled it away, which led to a quick Cardinal touchdown. Here he just fell on it. "The best play I thought he had today," Pat Fitzgerald would later say of this moment. "So. Just growing and growing."
"I felt good. I felt comfortable," Thorson himself would say of his performance this day, but that very much understated the case. For here, against the Gophers, he operated with poise and precision, and emanated a maturity that belied his status as a redshirt freshman in just his fifth start. He committed no turnovers and never once tried to force a pass into coverage. He snuck for one touchdown and scampered around end on a designed play for another. He distributed the ball to eight different receivers and, against a defense that had limited opposing quarterbacks to a 53.5 percent completion rate, he connected on 73.7 percent (14) of his 19 attempts.
On this Saturday, quite simply, he was very much in control, and gave a glimpse of all the possibilities within him.
No one had control of this game through the first quarter on Saturday, it here reflecting the brawl these teams traditionally deliver. The Gophers picked up 30 yards on their first possession before punting. The 'Cats, on theirs, drove to a Jack Mitchell field goal with Thorson completing five-of-his-seven attempts in the series. The Gophers picked up 42 yards on their next possession before failing to convert a fourth-and-seven. The 'Cats, on theirs, went three-and-out. But now it all changed.
Now the 'Cat defense, so dominant all year, reared up and asserted itself and simply smothered the Gophers. "I challenged them this week," Fitzgerald would later say of this group. "I thought for a couple weeks they weren't having as much fun as they did earlier in the year. I really thought they came back with that type of passionate performance today."
"We're a focused group, so sometimes we get caught up in just doing our job and making sure we're doing the right thing," explained D end Dean Lowry. "Coach Fitz wants us to really have fun out there. When everyone's having fun, you're usually winning games. That's the key to playing well. Just going out there and having fun with your brothers and making plays."
Lowry himself would now make the first play, corralling Gopher running back Shannon Brooks for a two-yard loss early in the second quarter. Then, on the very next snap, corner Matthew Harris picked Minnesota quarterback Mitch Leidner, and that unleashed the proverbial feeding frenzy. The numbers tell the story well enough here. The Gophers, in the first quarter, rolled up 72 yards on 17 plays, an average of 4.2 yards per play. But in the second they managed just 20 yards on 15 plays, an average of just 1.3. "They're going to make plays. We're going to have to bounce back. That's just football," safety Godwin Igwebuike would later say of this stark turnaround. "We know what we're here for, we know what we're doing. After that, it was clockwork."
Thorson, in turn, stretched the 'Cats lead to 10 with a five-yard run late in the first half after Miles Shuler set them up on the five with a 55-yard punt return. Then they took the second-half kickoff and, going against the wind, slowly, inexorably, ground down the Gophs with their young quarterback leading the way. He found Flynn Nagel for nine on a third-and-three and, on another third-and-three, found Warren Long for nine. He found Mike McHugh for 11 on a fourth-and-seven at the Gophers' 28 and, on third-and-two at the 10, he ran for four.
The 'Cats would stall now and finally settle for another Mitchell field goal. But they had taken 8:55 off the clock and later Fitzgerald would say, "That third quarter drive offensively really set the tone for the second half. To chew up that amount of time with them having the wind was critically important for the second-half success. It was critically important to this game."
The 'Cats, on their next possession, would put this game away, and here it was Justin Jackson who carried the load. He would get just 20 carries on this day after getting 33 against Ball State and 35 against Duke, but still he would net 120 yards, 51 of them coming on this drive that ended with Thorson sneaking in at 1:25 of the third to push their lead up to 20. That ballooned to 27 at 11:41 of the fourth when middle linebacker Anthony Walker picked up a Leidner fumble and traipsed 13 yards for a score, and now the Gophs' bus was running and waiting to take them home.
The 'Cats defense, for the day, would hold them to just 173 yards of total offense, would limit them to just 74 yards on the ground, would keep them off the scoreboard while pitching its second shutout of the year. "That's what we expect as a defense," Igwebuike would say. "As crazy as it might seem, every time we come into a stadium, we expect to limit (a team) as much as we can. If it's a shutout, who-rah. As the game progresses, part of it is not letting up on the pedal. Even if we're dominating the game, we're going to keep going. We're not satisfied until the clock hits zero and we come out with that dub-yah (W)."
Thorson, in turn, finished with 128 passing yards and 24 rushing yard and--most importantly--his fifth straight win as a starting quarterback. "Clayton's showing a lot of amazing growth," Christian Jones would finally say of him. "Since day one, he's been doing whatever he can to get better. And he never really accepts his performance is really good. He's always talking about what he could have done better.
"That shows signs of someone who's going to be really great."
NUsports.com Special Contributor
It was the third play of their first series on a windswept Saturday, and the 'Cats faced a third-and-seven at their own 19. A snap earlier, buffeted by gusts that reached 26 mph, Clayton Thorson had offered low to superback Danny Vitale. But here, with a delayed blitz on the way, he stood firm at the right hashmark and launched a laser through the wind and across the field to Christian Jones on the left boundary for 16 yards and a first down. This was what is conventionally called a major-league throw.
Then it was the back end of the second quarter, and the 'Cats faced a third-and-three at their own 39. This time Minnesota, their opponent here at Ryan Field, came with a blitz at the snap. But again Thorson stood firm and, even before Jones came out of his break, launched another laser against the wind that the receiver collected for six yards and another first down. This was a throw worthy of a Ph.D.
Finally it was deep into the fourth quarter and, on a first-and-ten at the Gophers' 49, the 'Cats fumbled the ball in the backfield. A week earlier, in a similar situation, Thorson had picked up the ball and tried to make a play and fumbled it away, which led to a quick Cardinal touchdown. Here he just fell on it. "The best play I thought he had today," Pat Fitzgerald would later say of this moment. "So. Just growing and growing."
"I felt good. I felt comfortable," Thorson himself would say of his performance this day, but that very much understated the case. For here, against the Gophers, he operated with poise and precision, and emanated a maturity that belied his status as a redshirt freshman in just his fifth start. He committed no turnovers and never once tried to force a pass into coverage. He snuck for one touchdown and scampered around end on a designed play for another. He distributed the ball to eight different receivers and, against a defense that had limited opposing quarterbacks to a 53.5 percent completion rate, he connected on 73.7 percent (14) of his 19 attempts.
On this Saturday, quite simply, he was very much in control, and gave a glimpse of all the possibilities within him.
No one had control of this game through the first quarter on Saturday, it here reflecting the brawl these teams traditionally deliver. The Gophers picked up 30 yards on their first possession before punting. The 'Cats, on theirs, drove to a Jack Mitchell field goal with Thorson completing five-of-his-seven attempts in the series. The Gophers picked up 42 yards on their next possession before failing to convert a fourth-and-seven. The 'Cats, on theirs, went three-and-out. But now it all changed.
Now the 'Cat defense, so dominant all year, reared up and asserted itself and simply smothered the Gophers. "I challenged them this week," Fitzgerald would later say of this group. "I thought for a couple weeks they weren't having as much fun as they did earlier in the year. I really thought they came back with that type of passionate performance today."
"We're a focused group, so sometimes we get caught up in just doing our job and making sure we're doing the right thing," explained D end Dean Lowry. "Coach Fitz wants us to really have fun out there. When everyone's having fun, you're usually winning games. That's the key to playing well. Just going out there and having fun with your brothers and making plays."
Lowry himself would now make the first play, corralling Gopher running back Shannon Brooks for a two-yard loss early in the second quarter. Then, on the very next snap, corner Matthew Harris picked Minnesota quarterback Mitch Leidner, and that unleashed the proverbial feeding frenzy. The numbers tell the story well enough here. The Gophers, in the first quarter, rolled up 72 yards on 17 plays, an average of 4.2 yards per play. But in the second they managed just 20 yards on 15 plays, an average of just 1.3. "They're going to make plays. We're going to have to bounce back. That's just football," safety Godwin Igwebuike would later say of this stark turnaround. "We know what we're here for, we know what we're doing. After that, it was clockwork."
Thorson, in turn, stretched the 'Cats lead to 10 with a five-yard run late in the first half after Miles Shuler set them up on the five with a 55-yard punt return. Then they took the second-half kickoff and, going against the wind, slowly, inexorably, ground down the Gophs with their young quarterback leading the way. He found Flynn Nagel for nine on a third-and-three and, on another third-and-three, found Warren Long for nine. He found Mike McHugh for 11 on a fourth-and-seven at the Gophers' 28 and, on third-and-two at the 10, he ran for four.
The 'Cats would stall now and finally settle for another Mitchell field goal. But they had taken 8:55 off the clock and later Fitzgerald would say, "That third quarter drive offensively really set the tone for the second half. To chew up that amount of time with them having the wind was critically important for the second-half success. It was critically important to this game."
The 'Cats, on their next possession, would put this game away, and here it was Justin Jackson who carried the load. He would get just 20 carries on this day after getting 33 against Ball State and 35 against Duke, but still he would net 120 yards, 51 of them coming on this drive that ended with Thorson sneaking in at 1:25 of the third to push their lead up to 20. That ballooned to 27 at 11:41 of the fourth when middle linebacker Anthony Walker picked up a Leidner fumble and traipsed 13 yards for a score, and now the Gophs' bus was running and waiting to take them home.
The 'Cats defense, for the day, would hold them to just 173 yards of total offense, would limit them to just 74 yards on the ground, would keep them off the scoreboard while pitching its second shutout of the year. "That's what we expect as a defense," Igwebuike would say. "As crazy as it might seem, every time we come into a stadium, we expect to limit (a team) as much as we can. If it's a shutout, who-rah. As the game progresses, part of it is not letting up on the pedal. Even if we're dominating the game, we're going to keep going. We're not satisfied until the clock hits zero and we come out with that dub-yah (W)."
Thorson, in turn, finished with 128 passing yards and 24 rushing yard and--most importantly--his fifth straight win as a starting quarterback. "Clayton's showing a lot of amazing growth," Christian Jones would finally say of him. "Since day one, he's been doing whatever he can to get better. And he never really accepts his performance is really good. He's always talking about what he could have done better.
"That shows signs of someone who's going to be really great."