MINNEAPOLIS — — Michael Brown-Stephens was taking off his shoulder pads in the rambunctious Minnesota locker room last weekend, excited to join the celebration of a statement victory in the state of Michigan, when he noticed a phone being passed with fellow wide receiver Chris Autman-Bell caught up on FaceTime.
“Not offensive to Crab,” Brown-Stephens said, using his injured teammate’s nickname. “I completely forgot about him.”
The Gophers tried that on the field too.
After Autman-Bell was injured in the 49-7 win over Colorado on September 17 and had season-end surgery on his right lower leg, Minnesota suddenly missed its best pass-catcher and a sixth-year leader of a struggling group. over the past two seasons with consistency and health.
What followed in the Big Ten opener in Lansing gave the Gophers quite a boost in their confidence – if they needed one at all.
Tanner Morgan completed passes to 10 different players, with six catches for 73 yards by Brown-Stephens leading the production. Dylan Wright had three receptions for 54 yards and Daniel Jackson had two touchdown catches.
“You hate to see things like that happen, but a lot was asked of me to get up and take the guys,” Brown-Stephens said. “I feel like just going into the week, prepping for the game and preparing for everything, everyone just had this feeling of, ‘We have to get better. We have to go out there and make it up.'”
Morgan went 23 for 26 for 268 yards in the 34-7 win over the Spartans that kept the Gophers (4-0, 1-0) undefeated at the top of the West Division and pushed them to the Associated Press ranking at number 21 for the first time time in almost two years.
The passing performance served as even more proof, with offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca back in sync with Morgan and head coach PJ Fleck after two seasons elsewhere, that the Gophers can move the ball just fine without relying solely on star Mohamed Ibrahim and their conference leader running game.
“We have guys we trust who can go out and make plays, and they show us on a consistent level,” Morgan said. “They’re just going to keep going out and getting better.”
Even taking into account the level of the non-conference league, the Gophers could hardly play better at this point of the season. They have surpassed their opponents by 183-24 and as a team are near the top of the FBS in several statistical categories. Then there’s Ibrahim, who is second in the country with 567 rushing yards in a remarkable return from a ruptured left Achilles tendon.
The Purdue defense will have their hands full on Saturday afternoon in Minnesota.
“You have to figure out a way to make them uncomfortable, find a way to create pressure,” Boilermakers coach Jeff Brohm said. “You have to find a way to put them in more transient situations than they’d like. Because if you don’t, they’re in control of the game. They’ve been very, very effective at that.”
The Gophers lead the FBS in possession averaging 40:33 per game.
“They make you bleed,” Brohm said. “They make you bleed, and if you don’t find a way to band it up or do something to hit back, it could be a long death.”
MARRIED MEN
Morgan is in his sixth year, one of Fleck’s original recruits and a player so mature that he got married in the summer. Also off the market after a July wedding, Purdue quarterback Aidan O’Connell is a sixth-year player who has placed himself at the top of the program’s all-time list on rare air with the likes of eventual NFL passers Drew Brees, Kyle Orton and Jim Everett.
However, O’Connell’s status is unclear for Saturday. He was held out of last weekend’s 28-26 win over Florida Atlantic with an unspecified first-quarter injury on Sept. 17 in a 32-29 loss at Syracuse. O’Connell completed that game, but Austin Burton then took his place. Brohm said Michael Alaimo would probably get some shots too if O’Connell is still on the sidelines.
“Both guys have been working hard over the past week and we have to try to make the most of them,” said Brohm.
STILL PERFECT
Minnesota is one of 21 remaining undefeated teams in the FBS, one of four in the Big Ten, and the only one in the West Division of the conference. Georgia and Washington are the only others in the country still trailing this season.
ADD UP
Brohm defeated Fleck when they were both Big Ten rookies, a 31-17 win by the Boilermakers at home in 2017. However, the Gophers have won their last four matchups and eight of the last nine games in the series overall.
TRUE COLORS
This is Minnesota’s homecoming and fans have been encouraged — depending on their seating area — to wear maroon or gold clothing in the hopes of creating a two-tone hue around the stadium bowl. The university has called this the “Stripe Out” game.
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