Minnesota football escapes another near-upset vs. Fresno State

Minnesota football and head coach P.J. Fleck continue to dodge bullets here in the early going of the season with Fresno State win.

A week after surviving against Football Championship Subdivision national title contender South Dakota State, the Golden Gophers got out of California 2-0 on the year with a 38-35 double-overtime victory at Fresno State.

Two weeks, two victories by a combined 10 points for Fleck and his “Row the Boat” program.

While it is hard to argue with the end results of either victory, the fact that Minnesota was talked about in the preseason by some pundits as a possible contender to reach the Big Ten championship game shows that they are still quite a few really good players away from that.

Tanner Morgan is growing into a solid quarterback, and he has some decent weapons around him including Mohamed Ibrahim, Rodney Smith and Rashod Bateman, but they need more out of returning all-conference wide receiver Tyler Johnson. Without enough playmakers, these close wins are going to turn into quick defeats once the meat of the Big Ten schedule hits.

The Golden Gophers also needed a perfectly-timed interception by Austin Winfield on the first play of the second overtime by the Bulldogs just to preserve the win. That’s because Minnesota moved the ball just six yards on three plays in its session of OT, resulting in a field goal.

Thankfully for Fleck, his team has another week and a bye to prepare for the conference grind. They should be able to get to 3-0 next week with Georgia Southern visiting, followed by an extra week to prep for a road trip to Purdue.

The schedule is pretty favorable until the back end, as they host Illinois and Nebraska before heading off to Maryland with four games left. Three of those four, though, are against teams currently ranked in the Top-25 in Penn State, Iowa and Wisconsin, with a trip to Northwestern sandwiched in-between.