The Wake

The University of Minnesotafootball team earned something it hadn’t had in 35 years: a place among the top 25 ranked teams in the Associated Press preseason poll. Even though the Gophers finished off the list at the 25th spot, they have already demonstrated how they will be climbing the charts all year long.

In general, most rankings project this year’s team to end up in fourth place in the Big Ten, which is where they placed last year. This year the conference is extremely competitive and has more teams ranked among the top 25 than any other conference with six teams. En route to their first 10 win season since 1905, the Gophers finished last year with an overall record of 10-3 and a conference record of 5-3.

This year’s team will undoubtedly end up with a better record and can be expected to reach the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1960. Like last year, the main attraction of the team is the running game. A ground attack that averaged 289.2 yards last year, which was third best in the nation, is anchored by a dominant offensive line that includedfour of its five starters, and is topped off with the best rushing tandem in the nation of Marion Barber III and Laurence Maroney. The strategy will be the same as last year: pound the ball on the ground down the heart of the defense, thus wearing out the opposition both physically and mentally, and maintaining control of the clock in order to keep the opposing offense off the field.

The underrated Jared Ellerson, along with fellow wide receiver Paris Hamilton and tight end Matt Spaeth, hopes to provide some balance to the offense by creating plays in the passing game. It is vital that some plays are made through the air in order to spread out the opposing defense and stop them from crowding the line of scrimmage in preparation for the run. So far, quarterback Bryan Cupito is looking extremely sharp, and he seems to be more of a “pure” passer than the versatile Asad Abdul-Khaliq of last year.

Darrell Reid leads a bigger and faster defense this year that hopes it can play in a more “proactive” style this year instead of the “reactive” style it seems to have had for the past few seasons. Making more plays and creating more turnovers will help take pressure off the offense and will definitely decrease the odds of blowing a biglate-game lead, which happened in the Michigan game last year, as we all unfortunately remember.

Kicker Rhys Lloyd is coming off a great season in which he kicked two game winning field goals in the Wisconsin and Oregon games. Lloyd also handles the punting duties, and he will prove to be a huge asset in close games where field position plays a huge role in the outcome of the game.

It is very clear that this Gopher team has enough talent to play in Pasadena, Calif., in early January, but whether the team and coaching staff as a whole are ready to handle the hype of possibly winning the Big Ten title is another story. Gopher football finished last season with only three losses, the first of which came at the Dome against Michigan. We all remember how the Gophers gave up 31 points in the fourth quarter to choke away this game. Then, a totally demoralized team lost the next week to a very beatable Michigan State team at home. If the Gophers make one more play in the Michigan game, they are undefeated heading into the final game of the season at Iowa. This would’ve given the team a much better bowl game and quite possibly a lot more attention in preseason.

Last year’s team was a lot closer to winning the Big Ten than some may think. Since the Big Ten schedule rotates every couple of years, we don’t have to play Ohio State or Purdue for the second consecutive year. Look for the Gophers to seize the opportunity this year with the breakthrough victory coming in front of more than 100,000 fans at the “Big House” in Ann Arbor, Mich., en route to a Rose Bowl season.