By The Numbers: Gophers win 28-21 in season opener vs. South Dakota State!

A win is a win? Although not pretty, the Minnesota Golden Gophers escaped with a 28-21 win vs. South Dakota State on Thursday night, improving to 1-0 on the season. The Jackrabbits came out strong in the third quarter and tested Fleck and Co. In the end, the Gophers made enough plays on both sides of the ball to escape with a victory in front of the announced crowd of 49,112. Next week will be another tough test for Minnesota as the team travels to Fresno State for a late Saturday night game. Gophers fans will have to brew an afternoon pot of coffee to stay awake for the game which is sure to go into the wee hours of Sunday morning.

5: Catches for Rashod Bateman in the season opener, including a one-handed catch that will make the highlight reel for the 2019 season. Bateman totaled 132 yards on the night in the win and was playing for his uncle who passed away a couple weeks ago.

176: Passing yards for quarterback Tanner Morgan. Morgan was 13-for-18 in the win throwing his lone touchdown to Bateman. Morgan also threw one interception on the night but bounced back after the mistake to help manage the Gophers to victory. Morgan also caught a two-point conversion on a pass from wide receiver Tyler Johnson in the fourth quarter.

3000: On top of coming back for his sixth season, Rodney Smith also surpassed 3000 rushing yards for his career. Smith is the seventh Gophers player to surpass 3000 yards. Tyler Johnson also hit a milestone in the win, becoming the seventh Gophers player to eclipse 2000 receiving yards in a career.

15: Points off turnovers for the Gophers tonight, including a huge pick-six by Chris Williamson early in the third quarter. The interception changed the momentum of the game and can be deemed as the play of the game, alongside Bateman’s touchdown catch.

5.1: Yards per rush given up by the Gophers defense, one stat the team will want to improve alongside others. The Jackrabbits ran for 174 yards on 34 carries, scoring twice on the ground.

60: Both teams ran exactly 60 offensive plays in the game. SDSU totaled 368 yards (6.1 per play) while the Gophers averaged 5.1 per play for a total of 308 yards. SDSU had four penalties for 32 yards including a couple of big plays called back at crucial times in the game.

1: Sack by the Gophers defense tonight. The sack secured the victory for Minnesota as Esezi Otomewo and Tai’ton Devers combined for the lone sack and loss of seven yards on fourth down.

12: Total tackles for Jordan Howden to lead the Gophers defense. The Sophomore DB from Las Vegas had nine solo tackles including two breakups as well. The other breakups on the Gophers defense came from Coney Durr (2), and one each from Sam Renner and Antoine Winfield Jr.

9:30: The Central Time start for next Saturday’s game vs. Fresno State. The game will be available on CBS Sports Network and can be heard on KFAN (100.3 FM). Fresno State will be seeking revenge after Minnesota won 21-14 in last year’s matchup.

60 plays is way too few when you have advantage of the athletes. That is a scheme issue and 100% on the coaches imo

So many good things but even more disappointing things in this game. I think Winston D. has NO concept of containment. He constantly took himself out of the play. I didn't like Fleck punting from way inside the 50. I don't like his wasting timeouts for no discernable reason. I was disappointed in kickoffs and punts. Special teams play was weak. No.70 still struggles too much, seems overpowered at times. Paulson whiffed on a key block. Tyler dropped 2 passes. The fans were great. Bateman is insanely good. We need to really improve before next week.