Gophers football: Season opener clinched in three OTs

The Gophers' Donnell Kirkwood rushes against the UNLV defense. (Associated Press: David Becker)

LAS VEGAS -- Fans showed up. The Gophers didn't for most of their season opener against Nevada-Las Vegas.

But at least they finished it -- after a long, long, long night -- beating the Runnin' Rebels 30-27 in triple overtime on Thursday, Aug. 30.

This was supposed to be the start of MarQueis Gray's "breakout year," as Minnesota coach Jerry Kill put it. But the senior quarterback struggled against arguably the worst team in the Mountain West Conference a year ago.

But Gray's two touchdown passes to John Rabe after regulation helped to erase his mistakes. And kicker Jordan Wettstein sealed Kill's first road victory at Minnesota with a 32-yard field goal in the third OT in front of 16,013 fans at Sam Boyd Stadium.

"Every

UNLV quarterback Nick Sherry is taken down by Minnesota's Ra'Shede Hageman for a loss of yardage. (Associated Press: David Becker)

time we got that rhythm going we would get a penalty, or I would get to anxious with the ball," Gray said. "That's something I'm going to have to pick up, week in and week out, starting this week when we get into New Hampshire preparation."

Gray completed 17 of 30 passes for 269 yards and two touchdowns with one interception. He also ran 17 times for 68 yards. Wettstein, who beat out Chris Hawthorne for the starting spot in the last few days of fall camp, went 3 for 4 on field goals, including two in the fourth quarter.

"Coach Kill puts us in the situation probably every week," Wettstein said, "so from the snap, the hold, to the kick, to the guys on the (offensive line), it was second nature, I think."

The Gophers' last triple-overtime

game was a 41-35 victory over Miami (Ohio) in 2007. That was their only victory in that 1-11 first season for Tim Brewster.

In Minnesota's first overtime game since 2009, Gray answered an initial UNLV touchdown by hitting Rabe, his senior tight end, for two consecutive scores, from 10 and 25 yards, to take a seven-point lead in the second overtime.

Minnesota's defense blew two opportunities to clinch the victory in the second overtime. The first was on a late hit out of bounds that extended the Rebels' drive. The second was when the secondary left Devante Davis wide open in the corner of the end zone.

The secondary rebounded in the third overtime when Derrick Wells, who had two interceptions in the game, picked off a pass from Nick Sherry to set up the winning field goal.

Kill said the Gophers prepared to defend the pistol and spread offense against UNLV, but the Rebels ran more plays from under center to throw them off.

"You just didn't know," Kill said. "We had to make some adjustments on the fly."

Senior cornerback Troy Stoudermire's fumble on a punt return and subsequent pass interference penalty led to UNLV taking a 10-7 lead on a 1-yard touchdown run by Tim Cornett with 1:52 left in the third quarter. The Gophers, who had 11 penalties for 86 yards, also were called for a roughing the passer penalty on third down.

Gray began the second half badly missing several deep throws, most notably with freshman Andre McDonald wide open on the right sideline after his defender fell. But just like he did in the first half, Gray responded strong in the ensuing quarter. His 40-yard completion to A.J. Barker put Minnesota in position to tie the game 10-10 on a 32-yard field goal from Wettstein.

Wettstein nailed his third field goal of the game from 21 yards with 5:40 remaining in the fourth quarter. But Minnesota's defense again hurt itself with penalties. Wells was called for a 15-yard horse-collar foul following a 25-yard run by the Rebels, who were able to tie the score again, 13-13, with 2:46 left.

As poorly as he played at times, Gray had a chance to be the hero in regulation on third-and-8 with 49 seconds left. But his throw sailed over Isaac Fruechte, who beat his defender for what could have been a game-winning touchdown.

Luckily, Gray later redeemed himself.

Gray's first big play of the 2012 season was an 18-yard run on the opening drive. Minnesota moved the ball at first about as efficiently as it did last season in a season-ending 27-7 victory over Illinois. There were four plays of 10 yards or longer, including Gray's first completion on a 13-yard pass to freshman K.J. Maye.

But two plays later, Gray badly overthrew Rabe in the end zone. A possession that started with so much promise suddenly ended with an interception on third-and-7 at the UNLV 18-yard line.

The turnover wasn't Gray's fault entirely. It was tipped and snatched out of the air by Rebels linebacker Tim Hasson, who might have scored on the return if Gray hadn't forced him out of bounds. The first-quarter stats for Minnesota's top offensive weapon was 3 for 7 passing for 28 yards. His ineffectiveness contributed to UNLV taking a 3-0 lead.

In the second quarter, Gray completed 5 of 7 passes for 88 yards, including a 39-yard pass to Barker. That set up a 16-yard touchdown run by James Gillum.

There was a reason Kill was frustrated about opening the season on the road for the fourth straight year. He had been 0-6 on the road during a 3-9 season in 2011 that included a 19-17 loss at Southern California.

Bright spots for Minnesota were sacks by Ra'Shede Hageman and D.L. Wilhite and an interception by Brock Vereen that stopped three potential scoring drives for UNLV in the first half. Wells and Stoudermire finished the game with a team-high eight tackles each.

Source: http://www.twincities.com/ci_21440560/sluggish-gophers-lead-unlv-7-3-at-halftime?source=rss_viewed

law abiding citizen golden globes 2012 miss america lana del rey saturday night live focus on the family packers vs giants giants score