Big Ten power rankings entering Week 2: How far does Penn State rise?

Minnesota is trying to make their historic 11-2 2019 season the norm and not the outliner, but it doesn’t look like 2021 will be the year to do that.

The Gophers fell to Ohio State 45-31 on Thursday night at home. It was a valiant effort that saw the Buckeyes take shot after shot from P.J. Fleck’s team. The only problem was that Ohio State punched back harder.

Minnesota allowed scoring plays of 71 yards, 70 yards, 61 yards, 56 yards and 38 yards. Their secondary was burned all day by the superior Ohio State wide receiver group. Now, Ohio State has one of the best offenses in the country, but it was how easy those scoring drives were that is concerning for the Gophers.

Offensively, Minnesota performed well, but the heart beat of that offense is now gone. Star running back Mohamed Ibrahim was having a monster game, 163 yards and two scores, but he suffered a leg injury in the second half and will now miss the entire season.

Now, veteran quarterback Tanner Morgan is still there, and he’ll get his best wide out, Chris Autman-Bell, back in the coming weeks. So, they should still be able to put up some points, but it will be tough sledding without Ibrahim.

If Minnesota gets the defense straightened out, they should at least be competitive in the West, even without their leading rusher.