The speed was different. The talent level at skill positions was different. The ability to score in a blink was different.
One team is built like a race car, the other one operates like a bulldozer.
The bulldozer inflicted some damage, but the sports car is hard to contain at full throttle.
That was the cold, hard truth about the Gophers’ season-opening 45-31 loss to No. 4 Ohio State on Thursday at Huntington Bank Stadium.
“They’re just really good,” Gophers coach P.J. Fleck said. “But I think we have a good football team, too, and I think everybody saw that tonight.”
The Gophers can take away many positives from their performance, but the Buckeyes proved why they reside in a different weight class with their cast of fleet-footed athletes.
Ohio State posted touchdown plays of 71, 56, 70 and 61 yards. The Gophers kept clawing back after every lightning bolt, but winning a track meet is not their formula for success. Certainly not against a team as explosive offensively as what they encountered on Thursday night.
Luckily for the Gophers, no other team on their schedule can match Ohio State’s talent level. The performance exposed issues on both sides that need to be addressed, but the Gophers also found some things to carry forward —with one significant caveat: The health of workhorse running back Mohamed Ibrahim, who left the game in the second half with a leg injury.
The severity of his injury looms over everything now. Ibrahim went down as he strained for extra yards, as he always does. The offense isn’t the same without their bulldog tailback, so his status becomes a real concern.
