UW's next opponent: Minnesota scouting report

Wisconsin finishes the regular season against Minnesota at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. Here's the scouting report on the Gophers:

Offense 

If the Gophers can’t run the ball they can’t move the ball. Period.

Inconsistent play on the line – the result of injuries and inexperience – has affected the running game. 

Tailback Rodney Smith, who rushed for 16 touchdowns and averaged 4.8 yards per carry last season, has three touchdowns and is at 4.2 yards per carry this season. Injuries have limited Shannon Brooks, who rushed for 650 yards last season, to six games and 369 yards this season.

Senior Kobe McCray, 6-foot-1 and 240 pounds, has filled in for Brooks. He averages 5.8 yards per carry, has lost a combined 4 yards on 82 attempts this season and has eight touchdowns.

Redshirt senior quarterback Conor Rhoda started the first six games and proved to be a competent passer with a 54.1% completion rate and an average of 119.9 yards per game. 

He wasn’t a threat to run, though, and the staff turned to redshirt sophomore Demry Croft.

Croft has run for 320 yards and four touchdowns but he has completed just 42.1% of his passes for 79.2 yards per game. He completed 2 of 11 attempts, with three interceptions, last week in a 39-0 loss at Northwestern. He was also sacked five times. 

MINNESOTA AT A GLANCE: Results | Roster | Stats

Defense 

Minnesota’s defense is solid but far from suffocating. 

The Gophers are 62nd nationally against the run, allowing 161.7 yards per game. That isn’t bad but it isn’t good enough to keep teams from controlling the ball and the clock. 

Consider that Michigan rushed 37 times for 371 yards in a 33-10 victory over the Gophers. Can the Gophers control UW tailback Jonathan Taylor? 

Although the Gophers are No. 14 nationally against the pass (175.0 ypg), opposing quarterbacks have completed 62.1% of their attempts and have thrown only eight interceptions.

Minnesota has failed to force a turnover in each of the last three league games and the defense allowed four touchdowns on five turnovers in the loss to Northwestern.

The unit does boast several talented players, however.

Defensive end Carter Coughlin leads the team in sacks (6½) and tackles for loss (11½). Linebacker Thomas Barber leads the team in tackles (108), including 10½ for loss. Senior defensive tackle Steven Richardson, who has started 43 games and played in 47, is tough to root out on the interior. Sophomore Jacob Huff is the only member of the secondary to play in all nine games this season. He has a team-high three interceptions, one of which he returned 67 yards for a touchdown, and 59 tackles.

Special teams 

Emmit Carpenter, the best kicker in the Big Ten last season when he made 22 of 24 field-goal attempts, is 14 of 18 this season. He was 10 of 10 from 40 yards or longer last season but is just 5 of 7 from that range this season.

Punter Ryan Santoso remains a weapon. His overall average of 41.9 yards in the No. 4 mark in program history. He is averaging 43.3 yards per punt this season, with 16 punts of 50 yards or longer. Forty-one of his 58 punts have been returned, so UW’s Nick Nelson could be a factor. 

UW would be wise on kickoffs to keep the ball away from Smith. He returned a kickoff 100 yards against Nebraska and averages 24.7 yards per return.