THE ESSENTIALS
Date: Sept. 28, 2019
Time: 2:30 p.m. CT
Site: West Lafayette, Ind.
Stadium: Ross-Ade Stadium
Surface: Bermuda grass
Capacity: 57,282
Series: Minnesota 38-33-3
Streak: Minnesota W1
Last: Minnesota won 41-10 on 11/10/18 at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis
BROOKS WILL PLAY
Gopher senior running back Shannon Brooks will play for the first time since last October. He is coming off of his third major injury during his career at Minnesota. He has rushed for more than 1800 career yards and has scored 20 touchdowns. He has been cleared and will play on Sunday. He sat down with MNN Sports Director Mike Grimm and talked about his journey back:
FIVE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
1. Minnesota takes to the road for the second time this season when it faces Purdue on Saturday. The game is also Minnesota’s first Big Ten tilt of the season, meaning that the Maroon and Gold’s nation-leading 18 straight nonconference game win streak is not on the line. Minnesota leads the all-time series with Purdue 38-33-3 and won the last meeting 41-10 last year in Minneapolis. The Gophers have won five of their last six meetings with the Boilermakers, with the lone setback coming in 2017 after a severe weather delay interrupted the game.
2. Dating back to last season, Minnesota is 7-2 in its last nine games and has won five consecutive games (at Wisconsin, vs. Georgia Tech, South Dakota State, at Fresno State and Georgia Southern). The wins against Wisconsin and Fresno State came on the road, while the victory against Georgia Tech was in Detroit in the Quick Lane Bowl. This is the first time since 2003 that Minnesota has won three straight games away from home. That year, the Gophers won four straight road games at Ohio, Penn State, Northwestern and Illinois en route to a 10-3 season. If the Gophers are able to prevail on Saturday at Purdue, it would be the first time since 2009 (won at Syracuse and at Northwestern) that Minnesota would win its first two road games to start the season.
3. Despite trailing for 21:49 in the fourth quarter this season, the Gophers are 3-0 with three fourth quarter comebacks. Minnesota won those games by seven (South Dakota State), three (at Fresno State) and three (Georgia Southern) points. This is also just the third time since 1990 that the Gophers have won three straight one possession games in a row (also did in 2015 and 1993). The only time that the Gophers won more one possession games total in a season since 1990 was four in 2016.
4. Tanner Morgan is 7-2 as Minnesota’s starting quarterback. The Gophers have won the time of possession battle in all nine games and have scored 296 points in those nine games for an average of 32.88 points per game. The last season that Minnesota averaged at least 32.88 points per game was 2005 when it averaged 35.8 points per game in 12 games. Minnesota didn’t total 296 points (total points under Morgan in last nine games) in 2009 (13 games), 2010 (12 games), 2011 (12 games), 2012 (13 games), 2015 (13 games) or 2017 (12 games).
5. Rashod Bateman has played in 16 games and has 66 catches for 993 receiving yards. The fastest Gopher to reach 1,000 career yards was Ryan Thelwell (15 games). He played in seven games in 1994 and had 406 yards and then crossed 1,000 yards eight games into the 1995 season. Bateman is set to become the 26th Gopher – and second fastest – to record 1,000 career receiving yards (notables: Ernie Wheelwright, 20 games; Eric Decker, 21; Tyler Johnson, 26).
(info and photo courtesy of Gopher Sports)