Special teams Coaching

An uneasy performance was saved from the one-leaf world by the strip sack and fat-guy touchdown by Zach Harrison and Haskell Garrett. Minnesota hung around even after star running back Mohamed Ibrahim was injured. It was a game of “Who’s that?” as it seemed every defender on the roster played, except for the two starting cornerbacks, and FOX commentators were confused by the, well, confusion. Lejond Cavazos was beat for one TD, and Denzel Burke, a play after getting away with pass interference in the end zone, was called for PI in the end zone to set up a Gophers TD.

Well, now we know who won the kicking competition. Noah Ruggles, a transfer from North Carolina, handled kickoff and field goal duties. He kicked a 35-yard field goal and was perfect on PATS. He also had a perfect corner kickoff — the kind Urban Meyer would get giddy about — but coverage was not there, and the Minnesota returner slithered to the 19.

Day deserves credit for sticking with his game plan, calming Stroud and providing his quarterback with easy throws coming out of halftime. But the defense was unsettling and had the feel of a scrimmage in which everyone was promised playing time.

Fun quotient

Openers are fun, especially when a team has so many new faces you’ve been waiting to see. Stroud was nervous. Williams was excellent. Henderson was electric. The defense was, well, it had a lot of new faces. And, most importantly, there were real live fans in there making noise. That made it all worthwhile.

Opponent

The Gophers played hard, and they played smart. Their best player got hurt, and they kept going, er, rowing. And P.J. Fleck’s decision to go for it on fourth-and-1 from his own 29 showed guts and raised the aforementioned fun quotient.

Officiating

The officials, and TV expert Mike Pereira, thought Teradja Mitchell was guilty of targeting. Replay showed otherwise. Ohio State’s Lathan Ransom used his head to nearly decapitate a Minnesota receiver, and after review, targeting wasn’t even mentioned. A fumble recovery, which nobody was expecting was. The Ohio State defensive backs got away with a lot of too-early grabbing of Gopher receivers. It all made you happy there wasn’t close-call drama at the end.