Reasons for optimism despite Gophers' ugly season-opening loss

A poor showing in Thursday's opener wasn't without its positive takeaways.

Minnesota defensive back Justin Walley (5) intercepts a pass intended for North Carolina tight end Bryson Nesbit (18) during the first half at Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Aug. 29, 2024. / Matt Krohn-USA TODAY Sports

It wasn’t a positive start to the season for the Gophers football team. 

The Gophers were plagued by offensive struggles and ill-timed mistakes in their 19-17 season-opening loss to North Carolina Thursday night at Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. 

While the result and much of what took place on the field Thursday night weren’t positive, that doesn’t mean there weren’t some positive takeaways for the Gophers. For example, it was a solid debut from first-year coordinator Corey Hetherman’s defense, Marcus Major held his own filling in for Darius Taylor in the backfield and despite some struggles, Max Brosmer also showed flashes at quarterback. 

Starting with the new-look defense under Hetherman, the unit held North Carolina to just 252 total yards of offense, got home for a pair of sacks and defensive back Justin Walley recorded a game-changing interception. The secondary was solid, the defensive line made some noise and the Tar Heels weren’t able to do much damage against the Gophers defense throughout the night. 

“I would say that there’s also a lot of good on that film as well,” linebacker Cody Lindenberg said. “I hope everyone is able to see that as well. But yeah, there was a lot of times where maybe someone’s not in their gap, there’s a penalty here, penalty there and those are the things that once we clean up, I think we played a very clean game outside of that. So it’s those little details that once we clean up, we will continue to be an elite defense.”

North Carolina only found the end zone once against the Gophers defense — when quarterback Max Johnson ran for a 3-yard touchdown in the second quarter. That touchdown drive was only made possible by the Gophers shooting themselves in the foot as a defensive holding penalty on Aidan Gousby negated Jai’Onte McMillan’s strip sack that Lindenberg recovered earlier on in the possession. Instead the drive was kept alive, and Johnson eventually scampered in for the score.

But for the rest of the night, the Gophers held the Tar Heels to field goals. North Carolina did move the ball enough for Noah Burnette to kick in four off his right foot, including a go-ahead, 45-yard boot that was the eventual game-winner with 1 minute, 44 seconds to play, but the defense kept the U in the game despite the offense becoming completely stagnant after the halftime break.

And with their defense keeping them in the game, the offense did come alive on its last breath, marching 46 yards right down the field to set up a look at a potential game-winning, 47-yard field-goal attempt. Dragan Kesich just missed it wide right. Unfortunately for the Gophers, the miss takes away from a drive in which Brosmer appeared to find his footing under center when it mattered most.

Brosmer threw a pass down the left sideline to Daniel Jackson that fell incomplete but drew a 15-yard pass interference penalty. He then hit Elijah Spencer for a 20-yard gain before finding Jackson for another 8 yards. He also connected with Jameson Geers on a 9-yard completion during the drive.

“I’m really proud of our team’s resolve and their fight and what they were able to do to come back the way they did, and especially when I think everybody thought we were kind of down and out and couldn’t get anything going and then, bang, we got things going,” Gophers coach P.J. Fleck said.

Overall, Brosmer completed 13-of-21 passes for 166 yards. Fleck said that he thought it took a while for Brosmer to settle in, but that he showed flashes of what they’ve seen in practice. 

“We would love to be more efficient in the pass game,” Brosmer said. “I thought that from both sides, I have to do a way better job of putting them, putting the ball where it needs to be for the guys. I thought the guys did a really good job getting open (Thursday).” 

Despite a shaky debut, Brosmer's ability to step up and lead the Gophers down the field on the final drive provides reason to believe he'll continue to improve as the season goes on. It also exemplifies his leadership abilities that Fleck and the Gophers coaching staff have raved about this offseason.

And Brosmer's life will also get easier when the U returns its top playmaker in Taylor. And in Taylor's absence, Major showed he can provide a significant boost to the backfield, too.

There’s certainly no way to sugarcoat that it was a poor offensive showing from the Gophers Thursday night. They mustered just 244 yards of total offense. They made too many mistakes on both sides of the ball. But they also put enough good things on tape that would indicate they can turn things around in Week 2 and beyond. That’s where their focus turns now. 

“We know what type of team we are, and that was the whole message. And we know we kind of beat ourselves for the most part,” Walley said. “And we just got to tell everybody — keep everybody head up. That was just one game and the goal is to go 1-0 next week.”