Minneapolis - Minnesota’s 6-foot-3 wide receiver Ron Johnson was on the cover of the game program in MSU’s 28-19 loss to Minnesota in the Metrodome.
Maybe his smaller teammates Marion Barber III and Tellis Redmon should have been.
Granted, Johnson had four catches for 73 yards and a touchdown, was a preseason All-American and is the school’s all-time leader in receptions with 176.
But in Saturday’s win over MSU, Johnson took the backseat to 5-foot-11 Barber and 6-foot Redmon, who both had late fourth quarter touchdown runs to regain the lead and seal a much-needed conference victory.
Barber had 158 yards on 15 carries and Redmon had 134 yards on 22 carries.
Substituting both running backs made a difference, especially late in the game, Redmon said.
“The mixing up of Marion and I was good because it was the small things that made the difference,” Redmon said. “We were able to keep pounding the ball, and it was easier in the fourth quarter with two running backs because it kept my legs fresh.”
But it wasn’t just those two plays where the running backs made their presence felt. The duo forced Spartan defenders to miss tackles and blow assignments throughout the entire game.
“A lot of their runs were along the corners of the field,” said senior linebacker Josh Thornhill, who had a team high 10 tackles for the Spartans. “We had a hard time breaking out wide on the runs and that forced us to put a lot of pressure on our secondary to make tackles. We as a defense would have a bad play, and it would just carry over to the next play.
“Anytime you have a good running back and your defense misses tackles against him, it’s always a problem,” Thornhill said.
As a team, the Gophers had an unexpected 322 yards rushing - the most against MSU this season.
“We just couldn’t finish plays out there,” junior safety Thomas Wright said. “Their receivers were hitting their blocks hard, and it didn’t help that we didn’t have any takeaways - that’s part of the game.”
The last time an opponent rushed for more than 300 yards against MSU was when Northwestern tallied 346 yards on the ground and thumped the Spartans at home 37-17 on Sept. 30, 2000.
“I hate it when people run over us,” said senior defensive tackle Josh Shaw, who had five tackles, including one for loss. “It’s embarrassing, especially when a team is killing you in just one particular area.”
Gopher quarterback Asad Abdul-Khaliq also showed off his wheels, chipping in with 42 yards rushing, 37 of them in the fourth quarter.
Abdul-Khaliq’s 11-yard sneak on third down and ten with about 11 minutes left and a 20-yard run two plays later, helped set up the Redmon touchdown to that took the lead, 21-17.
And three Abdul-Khaliq attempts on the next series, runs of 8, 1 and 3 yards, set up Minnesota’s last score - a 39-yard Barber touchdown with three and a half minutes left.
“He surprised us with his speed as well,” Shaw said. “The decisions he made on the field late in the game really got their offense going.”
With the Big Ten’s best running team in Wisconsin next on the schedule, MSU will have to find a way to correct its breakdowns in execution.
A solid defensive performance against the Badgers is exactly what MSU needs, Thornhill said.
“This next game will be a great challenge,” Thornhill said. “If we step to that challenge, hopefully we can get our confidence back. That’s definitely something we need right now.”
