Fleck era begins with stellar defense in Gophers' 17-7 win over Buffalo

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MINNEAPOLIS — Well, it wasn’t pretty offensively, but it was the right result for Gopher fans.

Racking up 408 yards of total offense, the University of Minnesota topped the University of Buffalo 17-7 in front of 43,224 fans Thursday night inside TCF Bank Stadium. The win makes P.J. Fleck the first Gophers head coach to win their debut since 1986.

“I’m proud of our team for finding a way to win,” Fleck added in his postgame press conference. “At the end of the day, I’ve learned a very valuable lesson as a young head football coach; going on my fifth year already which is kinda crazy. Never not appreciate a win.”

It was announce by Fleck toward the end of fall camp that both quarterbacks, senior Conor Rhoda and sophomore Demry Croft, would receive valuable snaps in the season opener Thursday night. He would essentially using the snaps in game situations as the deciding factor on who to roll with for the vast majority of the season.

Rhoda would receive the two series and look to make his case for the starting gig early. Despite only mustering one completion for 13 yards in a five-play first series that resulted in a punt, the second series displayed the ability the Gophers possesses to be explosive.

On a 2-and-10 from the Minnesota 39-yard line, Rhoda caught the snap and fired to a wide open Tyler Johnson, who raced 61-yards to give the Gophers an early 7-0 lead.

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Only a sophomore, Johnson has shown growth as a route runner from his freshman campaign. Also, it was a good example of Rhoda’s decision making. The Bulls attacked the second down play with a cover 3 look in a two-high safety scheme only to adjust to a single-high safety. With true freshman Demetrius Douglas running a deep crossing route from the slot, the eyes of the safeties were influenced just enough to open a window. That window just happened to be where Johnson broke off his dig. Johnson finished the contest with a team-high 6 receptions for a game-high 141 yards and the lone score.

“Ty got more passes probably thrown to him than he’s ever seen in one game,” Fleck added. “And, he did a heckuva job making some big, tough catches and he has to come down with more.”

That would be the lone bright spot for the Rhoda in the first half however as he would struggle generating timing and even sailed a few passes over the heads of his target. His biggest mistake came when the Gophers had the opportunity to extend the lead to 21-7 late in the second quarter. Seeing one-on-one coverage, Rhoda attempted a fade that was easily picked off by Buffalo’s Cameron Lewis. Prior to the interception, the senior quarterback drove the team 79 yards.

Croft would have similar struggles in the first half with his timing and his deep ball. However, he did manage to make a pair of great throws on a drive that was ultimately ended by a Shannon Brooks touchdown run. Rhoda would see much of the snaps in the second half for the Gophers. Much of the inconsistency could be on that both quarterbacks weren’t rolling every other series, but a few here and a few here, causing slumps in momentum.

The real surprise was the team’s running game. The two-headed rushing duo of Brooks and Rodney Smith were effective enough to get the job done, according to Fleck in his presser. Both backs received nearly the same amount of carries as Smith’s 23 carries barely edged Brooks’ 18. However, both were also lackluster in terms of breaking the big one. Brooks had the longest carry of the day for the game with a 16-yard jaunt late in the second half.

“We started to take two steps forward we take a half step back,” commented Fleck. “We weren’t good enough tonight to bounce back from that and that’s the difference between weak football teams, excellent football teams, and great good average and bad.”

The lone consistent bright spot for the Gophers was the defense. Despite allowing 118 yards through the air, to include a touchdown that briefly tied the game, the defense started to get after sophomore quarterback Tyree Jackson.

Early in the contest, the Gophers were unable to consistently get home when they called a four-man pressure. In fact, through much of the first half, there were few snaps that Jackson appeared nervous in the pocket.

In the second half, Defensive Coordinator Robb Smith appeared to make and adjustment, calling more four-man pressures with line games up front, hoping to find a weakness in a strong interior offensive line for the Bulls. While the Gophers defensive line failed to register a sack, they managed to force a crucial turnover.

On this long third down attempt, the Gophers attacked with their base defense. The only wrinkle was that outside linebacker Kamal Martin was lined up as a defensive end. Right next to him was fellow outside linebacker Thomas Barber, who walked up on the line of scrimmage.

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However, rather than dropping Barber into coverage, the Gophers dropped defensive end Carter Coughlin in the flat. Defensive tackle Steven Richardson Jr., who was noted in my Scouting Focus of having an explosive first step, exploded into the inside shoulder of the guard. With the Bulls’ protection being a man/zone concept, the center turned to try and help cut off Richardson leaving a wide open A gap for Barber to loop into and deliver a blow to Jackson.

The Gophers rush defense allowed just 51 yards on 22 carries while allowing a total of 262 yards of offense. More importantly, 5-for-17 on third down conversions gave the Minnesota offense 83 snaps on offense for the game.

One game note on Buffalo was the standout performance from junior linebacker Khalil Hodge, who was also featured in my Scouting Focus. He finished the game with a game-high 20 tackles and showed a vast improvement to his physical appearance than his 2016 season.

Next week the Gophers will travel to Pac-12 country to face Oregon State.

Josh Zimmer is the Lead NFL Draft and Gophers football analyst for NGSC Sports

Follow Josh on Twitter: @JZimmerNFL