Minneapolis, Minn. — With their heads down and expressions of frustration clearly evident, the Spartans slowly trotted off the Metrodome field Saturday following a one-sided, 41-18 loss to Minnesota.
The Spartans have lost five of their last six games.
"They kicked our tail," MSU head coach John L. Smith said. "Basically they outphysicaled us and they're a better football team."
The emotion that Smith had called his team out for lacking in previous losses was squashed on the game's opening drive when Minnesota (7-3 overall, 4-3 Big Ten) went 77 yards in seven plays to take an early 7-0 lead.
After having a field goal attempt blocked in the first quarter, freshman kicker Matt Haughey redeemed himself with a 31-yard field goal in the opening minutes of the second quarter, cutting the deficit to four.
But two more second-quarter touchdowns from the Golden Gophers combined with continued struggles from the Spartans' offense gave Minnesota a 21-3 edge going into the break.
"It's not what defenses are doing to stop us, it's what we're doing to stop ourselves," junior quarterback Drew Stanton said. "We're not making plays, we're not doing things and it's everybody, it's not just one or two people. It's something we need to get fixed."
Stanton finished the game 29-of-46 for 312 yards and two touchdowns.
Despite losing senior receiver Kyle Brown to the sidelines once again because of a nagging ankle injury, the Spartans (5-5, 2-5) did find their offensive rhythm in the second half. Unfortunately, it wasn't until the fourth quarter that they found the end zone — their first offensive touchdown since the first quarter of last week's game against Purdue.
Although the Spartans put up 457 total yards of offense — seven more than Minnesota — 18 points were all they were able to muster on the scoreboard.
"People are pissed, people are trying to figure out what's going on," senior center Chris Morris said of the offense's struggles. "We've got to come out and perform and we're not doing that. We've got to take it on our shoulders."
Despite the absence of Gophers' star running back Laurence Maroney, Minnesota's offense was still able to have its way with the MSU defense.
Backup running back Gary Russell rushed for 85 yards and two touchdowns and third-string back Amir Pinnix ran for a career-high 206 yards. Pinnix also added a touchdown.
"That offensive front was good, the best we played against, as we've seen without a doubt," Smith said. "They know exactly what they're going to do with that offense."
Unlike the past two meetings, the Spartans were unable to take an early lead to minimize Minnesota's potent running attack.
"We tried to look at a scheme that we put together for them a year ago," Smith said. "You're going to load up to take something away but you're always going to leave something open to a degree and it's a matter of can they find it. This year they did."
The Spartans' loss snapped a two-game winning streak over the Gophers. Minnesota's 41 points were the most ever given up by MSU to the Gophers.
"They were making more plays than us," senior safety Eric Smith said. "They were just playing a little bit harder than us."
With the loss, the Spartans have one more week to become bowl eligible, but Stanton said the goal remains to send out the senior class as winners.
"We're not going to go in there, lay down, and roll over for these guys," Stanton said. "We owe a lot to those guys that have been here and have given everything that they have and I want to do everything I possibly can to send those guys out as winners."
