2011 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team

The 2011 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team represented the University of Minnesota for the 2011 college football season. The Golden Gophers are members of the Big Ten Conference and played their home games at TCF Bank Stadium. They were led by head coach Jerry Kill for his first season as head coach at Minnesota. They finished with 3–9 overall record, 2–6 in Big Ten Legends play.

2011 Minnesota Golden Gophers football
Conference	Big Ten Conference
	Legends Division
2011 record	3–9 (2–6 Big Ten)
Head coach	Jerry Kill (1st season)
Offensive coordinator	Matt Limegrover (1st season)
Defensive coordinator	Tracy Claeys (1st season)
Captain	Game captains
Home stadium	TCF Bank Stadium (Capacity: 50,805)

2011 Big Ten Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
Legends Division
No. 11 Michigan State x		7	–	1					11	–	3
No. 12 Michigan %		6	–	2					11	–	2
No. 24 Nebraska		5	–	3					9	–	4
Iowa		4	–	4					7	–	6
Northwestern		3	–	5					6	–	7
Minnesota		2	–	6					3	–	9
Leaders Division
No. 10 Wisconsin xy$		6	–	2					11	–	3
Penn State x		6	–	2					9	–	4
Purdue		4	–	4					7	–	6
Ohio State		3	–	5					6	–	7
Illinois		2	–	6					7	–	6
Indiana		0	–	8					1	–	11
Championship: Wisconsin 42, Michigan State 39
$ – BCS representative as conference champion % – BCS at-large representative x – Division champion/co-champions y – Championship game participant Rankings from AP Poll

Roster

2011 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class FB 30 Mike Henry So OL 52 Zac Epping  Fr OL 53 Tommy Olson Fr OL 58 Ed Olson So OL 60 Ryan Wynn Sr OL 62 Zach Mottla So OL 63 Jon Christenson Fr OL 64 Caleb Bak  Fr OL 65 Josh Campion Fr OL 66 Luke McAvoy Fr OL 68 Chris Bunders Sr OL 69 Jacob Glickstein Jr OL 70 Sean Ferguson  Fr OL 71 Kyle McAvoy Fr OL 73 Joe Bjorklund Fr OL 74 Marek Lenkiewicz  Fr OL 75 Brooks Michel So OL 76 Jimmy Gjere  Fr OL 77 Foster Bush Fr OL 78 Ryan Orton Sr QB 3 Dexter Foreman Fr QB 5 MarQueis Gray Jr QB 11 Max Shortell Fr QB 12 Moses Alipate So QB 16 Tom Parish  Fr QB 19 Adam Lueck Jr RB 20 Donnell Kirkwood  Fr RB 22 Duane Bennett  Sr RB 25 Devon Wright  Fr RB 27 David Cobb Fr RB 31 Cole Banham  Fr RB 32 Lamonte Edwards  Fr RB 33 Cameron Gatling Jr TE 42 Ernie Heifort Fr TE 45 Gavin Bronson Fr TE 47 Alex Bisch  Fr TE 81 John Rabe Jr TE 83 Drew Goodger Fr TE 85 Eric Lair Sr TE 87 Sahr Ngekia So TE 88 Collin McGarry Sr WR 1 Brandon Green  Jr WR 2 Ge'Shun Harris Jr WR 6 Da'Jon McKnight Sr WR 8 Cameron Wilson  Fr WR 13 J.D. Pride  Fr WR 14 Connor Cosgrove  Fr TE 85 Bryce Witham  Jr WR 14 Matt Kloss Jr WR 15 Marcus Jones Fr WR 17 C.J. Cesario  Fr WR 18 Derrick Engel Jr WR 23 Luke Trucilla Fr WR 80 Devin Crawford-Tufts So WR 82 A.J. Barker So WR 84 Victor Keise So WR 86 Malcolm Moulton So WR 89 Logan Hutton  Fr	Defense Pos. # Name Class CB 11 Troy Stoudermire Sr CB 27 Cedric Thompson Fr DB 3 Kim Royston Sr DB 5 Johnny Johnson Sr DB 6 Michael Carter Jr DB 7 Tyrone Bouie  Fr DB 9 Christyn Lewis Sr DB 13 Derrick Wells Fr DB 14 Kyle Henderson Sr DB 16 Steven Montgomery Fr DB 21 Bock Vereen So DB 23 Grayson Levine Fr DB 24 James Manuel So DB 28 Kenny Watkins So DB 29 Shady Salamon Sr DL 36 Chase Haviland So DB 40 Nathan Tow-Arnett Jr DB 45 Bryan Klitzke Sr DE 49 Matt Garin So DE 55 Thieren Cockran Fr DE 91 Kendall Gregory-McGhee So DB 92 Leston Simpson Jr DE 93 Ben Perry  Fr DE 95 D.L. Wilhite Jr DE 98 Michael Amaefula Fr DE 99 Ra'Shede Hageman So DL 46 Cameron Botticelli  Fr DL 62 Eric Jacques So DL 67 David Stommes So DL 89 Curran Delaney Jr DL 90 Austin Hahn Jr DL 94 Harold Legania  Fr DL 97 Anthony Jacobs Sr DT 96 Brandon Kirksey Sr LB 1 Drendan Beal So LB 4 Keanon Cooper Jr LB 8 Spencer Reeves Jr LB 17 Peter Westerhaus Fr LB 26 Mike Rallis Jr LB 34 Jephte Matilus Fr LB 35 Dominic Schultz Fr LB 39 Gabe Mezzenga  Fr LB 43 Ryan Grant Jr LB 44 Brent Singleton So LB 47 Quinn Baudcco Fr LB 48 Judd Paffrath Jr LB 50 Patrick Sveum Sr LB 51 Gary Tinsley Sr LB 57 Aaron Hill So LB 59 Joey Balthazor So	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K 7 Chris Hawthorne So K 31 David Platner Fr K 38 David Schwerman Sr K 39 Jordan Wettstein Jr LS 40 Jared Hartman Fr LS 48 Jake Filkins So LS 96 Dave Ramlet  Fr P 37 Peter Mortell Fr P 41 Dan Orseske So

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 3	2:30 pm	at No. 25 USC*	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles	ABC/ESPN2	L 17–19	68,273[1]
September 10	2:30 pm	New Mexico State*	TCF Bank Stadium Minneapolis	BTN	L 21–28	48,807
September 17	2:30 pm	Miami (OH)*	TCF Bank Stadium Minneapolis	BTN	W 29–23	49,950
September 24	6:00 pm	No. 12 (FCS) North Dakota State*	TCF Bank Stadium Minneapolis	BTN	L 24–37	48,802
October 1	11:00 am	at No. 19 Michigan	Michigan Stadium Ann Arbor, Michigan (Little Brown Jug)	BTN	L 0–58	111,106
October 8	11:00 am	at Purdue	Ross–Ade Stadium West Lafayette, Indiana	ESPN	L 17–45	38,207[2]
October 22	2:30 pm	No. 13 Nebraska	TCF Bank Stadium Minneapolis	ABC/ESPN2	L 14–41	49,187[3]
October 29	2:30 pm	Iowa	TCF Bank Stadium Minneapolis (Battle for Floyd of Rosedale)	BTN	W 22–21	46,543[4]
November 5	11:00 am	at No. 15 Michigan State	Spartan Stadium East Lansing, Michigan	BTN	L 24–31	72,219[5]
November 12	2:30 pm	No. 16 Wisconsin	TCF Bank Stadium Minneapolis (Battle for Paul Bunyan's Axe)	BTN	L 13–42	49,158
November 19	11:00 am	at Northwestern	Ryan Field Evanston, Illinois	BTN	L 13–28	27,050
November 26	2:30 pm	Illinois	TCF Bank Stadium Minneapolis	BTN	W 27–7	41,549
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from Coaches' Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

[6]

Game summaries

@ USC

Matt Barkley threw three touchdowns to Robert Woods as the Trojans won their 14th straight season opener. Barkley went 34-of-45 with 304 yards while Woods caught 17 passes, a USC single-game record, for 177 yards in the win. D.J. Morgan added 18 carries for 70 yards in the win for USC.

Duane Bennett ran for a touchdown while Max Shortell threw for a touchdown but was intercepted on the final drive for the Golden Gophers, who failed to win in the debut of new head coach Jerry Kill.

Bennett finished with 53 yards on 15 carries while MarQueis Gray went 7-of-12 with 94 yards and added 48 yards on 16 carries for Minnesota, which went just 3–9 last season.

The Gophers never led in the game, but made it a one-score possession with 8:03 to play when Shortell hit Brandon Green on a short pass to the left and the receiver curled around his defender and into the end zone from 12 yards out to make it 19–17.

Minnesota got the ball back at its own nine-yard line with just over two minutes to play. However, the drive only made it to the Minnesota 28 and on 3rd-and-1 Shortell was picked off by Torin Harris and the Trojans killed off the rest of the clock.[7]

vs. New Mexico State

Aside from losing the game 28–21, this game represented a scare for Minnesota outside of the game itself as head coach Jerry Kill had a seizure with 20 seconds left in the game and was taken away by ambulance.

Kill was stabilized, and Minnesota's team physician said the coach's condition was not life-threatening. Kill has had similar episodes three times before in his career, but never missed a game, and his assistants said they weren't worried.

Regarding the game, the Aggies set the tone from the start with a six-play, 60-yard drive. Manley hit Rogers for a 26-yard score, with cornerback Brock Vereen and safety Shady Salamon failing to reach Rogers in time. Manley had help from Robert Clay, who rushed 20 times for 97 yards and a touchdown. Taveon Rogers had 88 yards receiving and two scores.

MarQueis Gray had another uneven performance at quarterback for the Gophers, who hadn't lost their first two games to start a season since 1992. Da'Jon McKnight made a handful of acrobatic catches, finishing with 146 yards and one touchdown, and tight end Colin McGarry dived to haul in a 10-yard score in the corner of the end zone and pull the Gophers within 21–14 right before the half.

Gray, who was relieved in the third quarter by freshman Max Shortell because he had cramps on a hot day, finished with 110 yards rushing on 17 attempts. He went 16 for 32 through the air for 211 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. Gray threaded a perfect pass to McKnight on a quick post route for a 4-yard touchdown with 11:47 left, pulling the Gophers within 28–21.

He nearly tied the game later on a rollout with a head-first dive at the pylon with 7:51 left, and the initial ruling on the field was a touchdown. But a replay review determined his foot was out of bounds.

On fourth and 1, Edwards was stopped and NMSU took over.

Clay and Victor Johnson ground down the clock for the Aggies, and the Gophers didn't get the ball back until 2:09 remained, starting at their own 11-yard line with no timeouts. This proved to be too much for the Gophers to overcome.[8]

Iowa

1 2 3 4 Total Iowa 0 7 7 7 21 • Minnesota 0 7 3 12 22 Date: October 29 Location: TCF Bank Stadium, Minneapolis Game start: 2:30 p.m. CDT Television network: BTN

Scoring summary 2 5:06 IOWA Marvin McNutt 12-yard pass from James Vandenberg (Mike Meyer kick) IOWA 7-0 2 1:13 MINN Collin McGarry 3-yard pass from MarQueis Gray (Jordan Wettstein kick) Tied 7-7 3 8:44 IOWA Marcus Coker 1-yard run (Mike Meyer kick) IOWA 14-7 3 2:03 MINN Jordan Wettstein 28-yard field goal IOWA 14-10 4 13:51 IOWA Marcus Coker 1-yard run (Mike Meyer kick) IOWA 21-10 4 8:22 MINN Duane Bennett 1-yard run (pass failed) IOWA 21-16 4 2:48 MINN MarQueis Gray 3-yard run (run failed) MINN 22-21

[9]

References

1. "Minnesota Golden Gophers vs. USC Trojans Box Score". ESPN. September 3, 2011. Retrieved September 3, 2011.
2. "Minnesota Golden Gophers vs. Purdue Boilermakers Box Score". ESPN. October 8, 2011. Retrieved October 8, 2011.
3. "Nebraska Cornhuskers vs. Minnesota Golden Gophers Box Score". ESPN. October 22, 2011. Retrieved October 22, 2011.
4. "Floyd Stays Home After Gophers' 22-21 Comeback". University of Minnesota Department of Athletics. October 29, 2011. Retrieved January 1, 2015.
5. "Minnesota Golden Gophers vs. Michigan State Spartans Box Score". ESPN. November 5, 2011. Retrieved November 5, 2011.
6. Schedule
7. https://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/events/76365/recap?article_id=162277%5B%5D
8. "New Mexico State's Win Clouded by Minnesota Coach's Collapse". ESPN. September 10, 2011. Retrieved January 1, 2015.
9. "Minnesota Rallies to Stun Iowa, Claim Bronze Pig". ESPN. October 29, 2011. Retrieved January 1, 2015.

External links

Media related to 2011 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team at Wikimedia Commons