TJ Thomas Jr.

But first, Drake Lindsey threw for a modest 136 yards for the Gophers, one touchdown, but he threw two interceptions, including a pick six that gave Michigan some life.

TJ Thomas was their leading rusher with just 56 yards.

The defense stymied Michigan with three sacks, seven tackles for loss, five pass breakups, and two Bryce Underwood interceptions.

And I think the most impressive stat of the day was the Gophers time of possession.

Just go out, execute, get the job done, and, and you should be fine.

Um, I, the, the thing I will say yesterday that I think- Gives me some hope that they'll sh- that they should be able to, you know, take care of business this coming Saturday is that it, it felt like, at, at least with TJ Thomas, it felt like there's a little bit more of a running game that's starting to kick in.

Now, Darius Taylor, you know, he did score, he did score two touchdowns.

He did score both offensive touchdowns for the Gophers yesterday, but it still kind of feels like, I don't know if he's just still banged up and still dealing with some things, if he's not 100%, or if, you know, I hate to even speculate, but has it just been the, the attrition of injuries over the last couple of years that have just kind of put him in this state where he's just not the same guy he was, you know, a year ago, two years ago, three years ago? Um, so that's still a bit of a, a bit of a struggle with the run game.

But TJ Thomas showed something and, and I think hopefully that's some momentum that he can take into next week, um, and, and, you know, take some pressure off of Drake Lindsey so that he doesn't feel like he has to, you know, throw them to a, to a victory.

'Cause you should be able to move the ball with a balanced offensive attack against this Purdue defense.

All right, it's Dex here.

All that stuff is good for Darius Taylor.

Um, targeted n- nine times.

But let's go to the backfield and let's shout out TJ Thomas.

From Elon.

12 catches, yeah, for 50, for 56 yards.

And, and he dove, and as he was falling he kept the ball.

You don't get that first down, it's a problem.

Um, and I also think that unfortunately, well fortunately TJ Thomas impressed me, unfortunately Darius Taylor does not look like the same player or close.

He's got no first step.

1.9 yards per carry for the gopher running back.

TJ Thomas led the gophers with 78 yards.

You're like, okay, that's not terrible.

45 of them came on one run.

Uh, he did not look very good, and you were struggling running the ball.

TJ Thomas had a couple of good moments, obviously, but, uh, uh, Darius, uh, no.

And you needed, uh, uh, uh, Drake Lindsey to go out and win that game through the air, and he did.

And not only that, like, right at the start, Ross, getting the confidence of the team to believe we can pull off this upset.