What did the Gophers learn from New Mexico State’s opener?

The Minnesota Golden Gophers will open the season towards New Mexico State on Thursday night time, however whereas the Aggies have been one of many worst applications in faculty soccer in recent times, they arrive into the opener as a relative unknown.

The excellent news for the Gophers is that the Aggies opened their season towards Nevada on Saturday night time – dropping 23-12 – so was there something that they might be taught heading into the opener?

Gavin Frakes will in all probability be the beginning quarterback

Jerry Kill’s first project at New Mexico State was to discover a beginning quarterback. Diego Pavia obtained the beginning towards Nevada, however turned the ball over 4 occasions (three interceptions, one fumble) within the first half earlier than being changed by Gavin Frakes.

Frakes entered the sport down 17-2 and regarded extra snug within the offense. He went 9-for-13 for 143 yards and threw a goal-line fade to Kordell David into the again nook of the top zone for his first profession landing.

Kill was non-committal after the sport over who would get the beginning towards Minnesota however Saturday’s efficiency signifies that Frakes needs to be the frontrunner.

The Aggies wish to run the ball

The working recreation was one of many staples of Kill’s offense throughout his time at Minnesota and that philosophy hasn’t modified along with his transfer to New Mexico State.

The Gophers ranked within the high 5 amongst Huge Ten groups in dashing makes an attempt per recreation throughout Kill’s four-plus seasons at Minnesota, and in his lone season because the offensive coordinator at Rutgers in 2017, Kill’s offense ran the ball (36.4 makes an attempt per recreation) greater than they threw it (22.9 makes an attempt per recreation).

Kill tried to ascertain the run recreation towards the Wolfpack, however the Aggies averaged simply 3.4 yards per carry. The Aggies had been additionally pressured to take to the air as soon as they fell behind, main Kill to lament about his crew’s capacity to run the ball after the sport.

The Aggies’ protection is more durable than you suppose

New Mexico State allowed 23 factors of their opener, however their protection did sufficient to maintain the Aggies within the recreation.

Nevada ran for 179 yards on Saturday night time however wanted 45 makes an attempt to succeed in that quantity – a median of 4 yards per carry. The Wolfpack additionally collected 78 of these yards on their two closing drives of the sport, which means the Aggies largely did their job on the bottom.

This could possibly be a giant consider Thursday’s recreation. The Gophers ranked eighth in dashing makes an attempt final season and though they need to have extra stability beneath offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca, Mohamed Ibrahim and Trey Potts could have their fingers full.

The Aggies will flip the ball over

Kill’s crew did some issues proper towards the Wolfpack, however one of many issues they did not do was shield the soccer.

We already mentioned Pavia’s 4 turnovers within the first half however Frakes additionally tossed an interception, giving the Wolfpack 5 takeaways on the night time.

That quantity is indicative of the rising pains on the roster but it surely additionally allowed Nevada to work on a brief discipline on an evening the place the Aggies held them to 257 yards of complete offense.

“You might be by no means going to win within the recreation of soccer turning the ball over 5 occasions,” Kill advised reporters after the sport. “I advised the youngsters I’ll by no means get on them for enjoying exhausting, however the successful formulation is you may’t flip the ball over 5 occasions.”