Brosmer shines as Gophers dominate Rhode Island 48-0
MINNEAPOLIS — Max Brosmer passed for 271 yards and two touchdowns in just three quarters on Saturday as Minnesota routed FCS opponent Rhode Island 48-0.
Brosmer, a graduate transfer who led the FCS in passing yards per game last year at New Hampshire, completed 24 of 30 passes and helped the Golden Gophers (1-1) dominate the time of possession by a 2-to-1 margin.
"It's been a fun process so far and I can't wait to see where it's going to go with this team," said Brosmer, who has been on campus practicing with the team since January.
Leaning so much on the passing attack might seem like an outlier for the Gophers, who have traditionally featured a run-heavy offense under head coach P.J. Fleck. But this could be a sign of things to come.
"We want to get to a point where we can throw it to run it. And that's what you saw," Fleck said. "You can only do that if you're consistent, you're accurate, you're efficient. Plus there's three drops in there. They were easy drops. So that's 27 of 30. That's throwing it to run it. We have to be more of that and create the balance this team needs."
Darius Taylor, Minnesota's leading rusher last year who sat out the season opener with an injury, rushed for 64 yards and a touchdown and caught four passes for 48 yards.
Minnesota's defense held the Rams to 135 total yards and forced four turnovers. Sophomore quarterback Devin Farrell passed for just 76 yards for Rhode Island (1-1), which defeated Holy Cross 20-17 in its opener but hasn't forced a turnover in two games.
"Takeaways is a huge piece of the game and we were unable to do it. But I was really proud of the defense for just keeping us in the game for as long as they could," said Rhode Island coach Jim Fleming, whose team trailed just 3-0 after a quarter.
The Gophers took control of the game when Brosmer led them on two long scoring drives that chewed up nearly 15 minutes and kept the Rams offense off the field for most of the second quarter.
Minnesota went up-tempo starting the second quarter and Brosmer hit his stride, completing five of six passes — with one drop — to get the Gophers inside the Rhode Island 5-yard line. From there, the ground game took over, with Taylor bulling his way into the end zone from a yard out to put Minnesota on top 10-0 with 11:05 to play in the first half.
Farrell returned after sitting out one drive and moved the ball to midfield, but a deep shot intended for Shawn Harris was intercepted by Aidan Gousby at the Minnesota 15.
Brosmer then orchestrated a 14-play, 85-yard march that lasted nearly eight minutes, ending on a Marcus Major 2-yard touchdown run.
The second half started in the same fashion, with Minnesota taking the opening kickoff and driving 73 yards in 12 plays. Brosmer capped it with his first touchdown pass with the Gophers, a 6-yard strike to Cristian Driver that gave them a 24-0 lead.
That cushion expanded to 31-0 on Brosmer's final pass of the day, a 29-yard touchdown pass on a fade route to Le'Meke Brockington.
The Gophers defense even got on the board when safety Jack Henderson returned an interception 25 yards for a touchdown early in the fourth.
"I think as a team today we were able to play fast and play how we wanted to," Henderson said.
New Hampshire: Not much positive to take away from this one, though a return to FCS competition will be welcome.
Minnesota: Brosmer looked like a big-time quarterback, though it was against an FCS opponent. Will he be able to do the same when the schedule steps up in class?
New Hampshire: Hosts Campbell on Saturday night in the CAA opener for both teams.
Minnesota: Hosts Nevada on Saturday afternoon. It's the Gophers' nonconference finale before a home game with Iowa kicks off the Big Ten slate a week later.
