Leidner's Gophers Goof Us Again!

For a fleeting moment I actually thought Mitch Leidner may exercise his demons of losing big games and bring Paul Bunyan's Axe to Minnesota from our fiercely friendly rivals from Wisconsin. Mitch will go down as perhaps the most exasperating Gophers QB of the last couple decades. At his best he's very efficient at running the play action, read offense and defenses have a hard time choosing which option to take away. At his worst he's like a glitchy interception video game with unlimited quarters. His knack for throwing interceptions during important points in big games will be the lasting thorn in his side of a moderately successful career.

For the 1st 2 1/2 quarters we had the efficient Mitch and the Gophers defense was holding strong. Than, in an instant, the glitch hit and the interceptions doomed an encouraging effort. The Gophers were holding a 17-7, 10 point lead and Wisconsin put together a drive that ended in a field goal to cut the margin to 7. Mitch and the Gophers were answering back, driving down to the Wisconsin red zone well with in field goal range. Than Mitch lobbed a fade route to what was described as a disguised safety coverage for an interception in the end zone. Momentum shift and to make a long story short, glitchy Mitch followed up with 3 more interceptions and the Gophers offense was doomed to 0, 2nd half points. The Badgers put up 24 unanswered points and a 31-17 victory, retained the Axe, and Minnesota was left with another could have been.

Minnesotan's are loyal fans and will forgive Mitch Leidner. Will the future bring success? We like to think so, but goofers are gonna goof.