2008 Preview: Minnesota

2007 Record: 1-11 (0-8)

Last year, something terrible happened in Minnesota. The team had been steadily declining from a series of average-at-best seasons (5 straight Bowl Games) and ended up with an abysmal 1-11 record. It feels weird typing that, as it's almost impossible to imagine a Big11Ten team being that bad, other than Indiana.

How often do you hear about a Big11Ten team looking to avenge a previous season loss against Bowling Green or Florida Atlantic? Not often we'd bet, but Minnesota will be looking to get some payback against both teams this season.

That's Bowling Green, celebrating on your turf. Bowling Green.

Not much positive can be said about last years team, except that a lot of young players got some quality minutes later in the season. That will benefit the team in the future, even if those minutes came in losses. It's worth mentioning, however, that 2 of those late season losses (and 6 of the 11 losses) came by a touchdown or less, perhaps a sign of improvement by the young Golden Gophers.

On a more positive note, the Gophers return what could be an outstanding quarterback in Adam Weber. Weber accounted for 29 touchdowns last season. He threw for 24 (2895 yards) and ran for another 5 (617 rushing yards). With another year of experience under his belt, and hopefully a solid running game to help him out, there's no reason Weber can't be able to duplicate those touchdown numbers and reduce his interception total from 19.

Also returning is standout wide-receiver Eric Decker. He caught 67 passes for 909 yards and 9 touchdowns. The Weber to Decker combo should create a solid backbone for the offense, but the running game will be a big wild card. Sophomore Duane Bennet is the starter for the first time this season after rushing for 442 yards last season. If all three of these young guys can grow in this system together, the Minnesota offense may one day develop some serious punch, if not this year.

Defensively, the Gophers really have nowhere to go but up. Minnesota allowed an average of 519 yards per game (the worst in the division formerly known as D-1A).

Two members of the Gophers' 2007 defensive squad.

The defense returns three solid defensive ends in Lee Campbell, Willie VanDeSteeg and Derrick Onwuachi. The rest of the defense is all question marks. All three lineback spots are open and and a secondary that was ripped apart last season allowing 289 ypg passing is likely to be filled with a few junior college standouts. Will those junior college guys be able to step right in and keep up? Will whatever guys who end up filling the linebacker spots be able to help the d-line prevent 229 ypg rushing? Will the team get more than 11 sacks? Will there still be more purple than maroon and gold at HHH-Dome?

Like we said, a lot of questions.

For as much positive potential the offense has, the defense seems to have as much negative potential. It would be a great story to see that terrible defense return with a couple junior college guys and turn into a competitor, but it's still a long shot for Minnesota to turn into anything resembling a contendor quite yet. Hopefully for the Gopher faithful, the 2009 team will put something special together for that new stadium they're building -- but 2008 looks like another year full of L's.


Our Prediction for 2008: 3-9 (0-8)