Grades | Minnesota Golden Gophers 31, Texas Tech Red Raiders 34

This was the most Doege game ever right? There were times that he looked incredibly good, especially in the first half, and then in the second half I wasn't sure if he was going to be able to lead a scoring drive to get ahead. So Doege. Only 6 yards per completion, only 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions, but son of a gun, he came away with the win. I really do believe that Doege cares about the win more than anything else. And I hope like heck that Doege can play at the next level, but you and I saw why he won't. His arm just isn't all that strong, not strong enough for the NFL right now. Maybe some day if he works at it, but he's got to get stronger. Michael Brewer looked great in his one pass, a touchdown of course.

For the first time all year, this is how RB Eric Stephens is supposed to look. He's supposed to be incredibly quick and tough to tackle, and good enough to run between the tackles. I thought he was fantastic and it showed in the statistics as he rushed only 5 times for 66 yards, but he was really electric. RB Kenny Williams was very solid as well and he's going to be incredibly solid next year. I can't really complain at all about the running backs in general and though they were very solid as they finished with 122 yards on 16 carries and 4 catches for 41 yards. Would have been fine with some more runs, but that's being picky.

Since I have to give a grade for the entire unit here, I have to give a solid "B+" but truthfully, this grade was pulled down by TE Jace Amaro, who didn't catch two passes that he probably should have had (I think) and he punched an opposing player. Really. He'll be suspended for the first half of the first game next year, but Amaro needs to grow up a lot during the spring and summer. Too much talking, not enough doing here. Other than Amaro, I thought that the only other guy that I thought should have had a pass was IR Tyson Williams missing a catch over his shoulder. Williams actually had a very solid game otherwise. Other than that, I loved their play. It was actually pretty fitting that the Brewer touchdown pass was to WR Derreck Edwards who is either going to put it all together next year and be a beast or he's going to be middling. WR Eric Ward and WR Darrin Moore were really fantastic, they combined for 18 catches for 163 yards. Moore almost had a touchdown, but the slant for Ward was a thing of beauty. And since I don't have a special teams category, how about the electric IR Jakeem Grant. He so fast.

The good was that the line only gave up 1 sack for 5 yards, protected Doege very well, opened some holes along the line that I thought were really impressive. Especially early. Looked like a different offense at the line in particular. But the bad was the penalties and the unsportsmanlike play from the line. Texas Tech is incredibly close, down to the Minnesota 1 yard line in the middle of the second quarter and Waddle gets an unsportsmanlike penalty putting Texas Tech back out to the 16 and now Texas Tech has to figure out a way to score on 3rd and 16. Also in that drive, Texas Tech was able to overcome a Beau Carpenter false start. So just as much as Amaro cost this team a touchdown with a bad penalty, so did Waddle. The reason why this game was as close as it was, was because of the penalties. Those penalties have plagued this team all year, so I expected that they would happen, but it's never good to think that your team is going to make lots of dumb penalties and putting your team in a whole through the whole game. And this isn't just to highlight the line, the whole team had bad penalties, from the Hyder, to Edwards, to Amaro, to Waddle. This really has to stop.

The defensive line was down a man with DT Leon Mackey's suspension, but maybe that wasn't such a bad thing. I thought that the defense gave up some huge chunks of yards, but overall, the defense only allowed 4.1 yards a rush, had some very important sacks forcing some bad plays and overall adjusted. The first three or so drives, I thought that the defensive line wasn't going to adjust for the game, but they did turn it around, only allowed two second half scores, which was better than three in the first half. The defensive line isn't perfect by any means. I think the line did really hold Minnesota late as their last four drives. DE Dartwan Bush was really fantastic for the better part of the game. I can't remember when a DE had 11 tackles during a game. Just terrific. DT Dennell Wesley, Delvon Simmons and Kerry Hyder were all pretty good as those three players combined for 17 tackles and 3 sacks.

I didn't think their play was all that bad. I think I have lowered my standards to the point that when I type things like this that I'm giving the linebackers for not being, "all that bad". This group will need to make the greatest improvement next year, more than any other group of players. They're just not making enough plays. I really can't think of a play that they made in the second half of the year. Not an interception. Not a big hit that resulted in a turnover. Not really a big hit at all. That's really problematic.

A lot like the Kansas game, the secondary really didn't give up a ton of yards, but Minnesota was really awful throwing the ball for the better part of the year. And then they gave up a 42 yard pass on D.J. Johnson that resulted in a touchdown on the next play. Minnesota only completed 8 passes, but the Golden Gophers still had 146 passing yards, for 18+ yards a completion. That's a lot of big plays given up and this team really can't afford to give up big plays. Johnson was as active as I can remember, 14 tackles, and it's amazing what happens when a player gets a turnover. S Cody Davis got trucked and that was on the ESPN highlights, but that Minnesota RB was 225 and Davis might top 200. I'd also add that NB Tre Porter had some bad plays, but he was also the guy that tipped the ball to allow Johnson to intercept the ball. I'd be fine with Porter at one of the safety spots next year.

Considering all of the things that interim head coach has going on, including the thought that he's moving to California very soon, I thought he did a fantastic job. I thought Cumbie did a good job of calling plays. It wasn't explosive, but this team should have had 14 additional points on the board had it not been for some really dumb penalties (and one less field goal) and he can't control that from the sideline. Kaufman put out a defense that was just good enough to get the win.