2012 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team

2012 Minnesota Golden Gophers football
2012 Minnesota Golden Gophers football
Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas, L 31–34 vs. Texas Tech
Conference	Big Ten Conference
	Legends Division
Record	6–7 (2–6 Big Ten)
Head coach	Jerry Kill (2nd season);
Offensive coordinator	Matt Limegrover (2nd season)
Offensive scheme	Spread
Defensive coordinator	Tracy Claeys (2nd season)
Captain	Game captains
Home stadium	TCF Bank Stadium
	Seasons ← 2011 2013 →

The 2012 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team represented the University of Minnesota in the 2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season. They were led by second-year head coach Jerry Kill and played their home games at TCF Bank Stadium. They were a member of the Legends Division of the Big Ten Conference. They finished the season 6–7, 2–6 in Big Ten play to finish in a tie for fifth place in the Legends Division. They were invited to the Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas where they were defeated by Texas Tech.

2012 Big Ten Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
Legends Division
No. 25 Nebraska xy	7	–	1	10	–	4
No. 24 Michigan	6	–	2	8	–	5
No. 17 Northwestern	5	–	3	10	–	3
Michigan State	3	–	5	7	–	6
Iowa	2	–	6	4	–	8
Minnesota	2	–	6	6	–	7
Leaders Division
No. 3 Ohio State* x	8	–	0	12	–	0
Penn State*	6	–	2	8	–	4
Wisconsin y$	4	–	4	8	–	6
Purdue	3	–	5	6	–	7
Indiana	2	–	6	4	–	8
Illinois	0	–	8	2	–	10
Championship: Wisconsin 70, Nebraska 31
$ – BCS representative as conference champion x – Division champion/co-champions * Ohio State and Penn State ineligible for conference championship game and post-season bowl games due to NCAA sanctions. Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 30	10:00 pm	at UNLV*	Sam Boyd Stadium Whitney, Nevada	CBSSN	W 30–27 ^3OT	16,013
September 8	11:00 am	No. 12 (FCS) New Hampshire*	TCF Bank Stadium Minneapolis	BTN	W 44–7	47,022
September 15	11:00 am	Western Michigan*	TCF Bank Stadium Minneapolis	BTN	W 28–23	44,921
September 22	7:00 pm	Syracuse*	TCF Bank Stadium Minneapolis	BTN	W 17–10	50,805
September 29	11:00 am	at Iowa	Kinnick Stadium Iowa City, Iowa (Floyd of Rosedale)	ESPN2	L 13–31	70,585
October 13	11:00 am	Northwestern	TCF Bank Stadium Minneapolis	ESPN2	L 13–21	49,651
October 20	11:00 am	at Wisconsin	Camp Randall Stadium Madison, Wisconsin (Paul Bunyan's Axe)	ESPNU	L 13–38	80,587
October 27	2:30 pm	Purdue	TCF Bank Stadium Minneapolis	BTN	W 44–28	41,062
November 3	11:00 am	Michigan	TCF Bank Stadium Minneapolis (Little Brown Jug)	BTN	L 13–35	48,801
November 10	2:30 pm	at Illinois	Memorial Stadium Champaign, Illinois	BTN	W 17–3	46,912
November 17	2:30 pm	at No. 16 Nebraska	Memorial Stadium Lincoln, Nebraska	BTN	L 14–38	85,330
November 24	2:30 pm	Michigan State	TCF Bank Stadium Minneapolis	BTN	L 10–26	44,194
December 28	8:00 pm	vs. Texas Tech*	Reliant Stadium Houston (Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas)	ESPN	L 31–34	50,386
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from Coaches' Poll released prior to the game All times are in Central time

Source: Schedule Archived March 26, 2013, at the Wayback Machine

Roster

The preliminary roster is based on the previous season's roster and eligibility, along with incoming recruits. All numbers are from www.gophersports.com.

2012 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
WR	`1`	Brandon Green	Sr
QB	`3`	Dexter Foreman	Fr
QB	`5`	MarQueis Gray	Sr
QB	`7`	Mitch Leidner	Fr
WR	`8`	Cameron Wilson	So
QB	`9`	Philip Nelson	Fr
QB	`11`	Max Shortell	So
WR	`12`	Andre McDonald	Fr
WR	`14`	Isaac Fruechte	So
WR	`15`	Marcus Jones	So
WR	`16`	Jamel Harbison	Fr
WR	`17`	C. J. Cesario	So
WR	`18`	Derrick Engel	Jr
WR	`19`	Matt Kloss	Sr
RB	`20`	Donnell Kirkwood	So
RB	`21`	James Gillum	Jr
RB	`25`	Devon Wright	So
RB	`27`	David Cobb	So
TE	`28`	Moses Alipate	Jr
FB	`30`	Mike Henry	Jr
RB	`31`	Cole Banham	So
RB	`35`	Rodrick Williams	Fr
TE	`39`	Gabe Mezzenga	So
RB	`44`	JoJuan Harper	Fr
TE	`47`	Alex Bisch	So
OL	`52`	Zac Epping	So
G	`53`	Tommy Olson	So
OT	`58`	Ed Olson	Jr
OC	`62`	Zach Mottla	Jr
OL	`63`	Jon Christenson	Fr
OL	`64`	Caleb Bak	So
OL	`65`	Josh Campion	Fr
OL	`66`	Luke McAvoy	Fr
OL	`68`	Issac Hayes	Fr
OL	`70`	Sean Ferguson	So
OL	`71`	Kyle McAvoy	Fr
OL	`73`	Joe Bjorklund	Fr
OL	`74`	Marek Lenkiewicz	So
OL	`75`	Ernie Heifort	Fr
OT	`76`	Jimmy Gjere	So
OL	`77`	Foster Bush	Fr
OT	`78`	Ben Lauer	Fr
OT	`79`	Jonah Pirsig	Fr
WR	`80`	Devin Crawford-Tufts	So
TE	`81`	John Rabe	Sr
TE	`83`	Drew Goodger	So
WR	`84`	Victor Keise	Jr
WR	`86`	Malcolm Moulton	Jr
TE	`87`	Sahr Ngekia	Jr
TE	`88`	Maxx Williams	Fr
WR	`89`	Logan Hutton	So
TE	`91`	Kendall Gregory-McGhee	So

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
LB	`1`	Brendan Beal	Jr
DB	`2`	Troy Stoudermire	Sr
DB	`3`	Martez Shabazz	Jr
LB	`4`	Keanon Cooper	Sr
DB	`6`	Michael Carter	Sr
DB	`7`	Damarius Travis	Fr
LB	`8`	Spencer Reeves	Sr
DB	`11`	Antonio Johnson	Fr
DB	`13`	Derrick Wells	So
DB	`16`	Steven Montgomery	Fr
LB	`17`	Nick Rallis	Fr
LB	`18`	Peter Westerhaus	Fr
DB	`19`	Cedric Dicke	Fr
DB	`21`	Brock Vereen	Jr
DB	`22`	Jeremy Baltazar	Jr
DB	`23`	Grayson Levine	So
LB	`24`	James Manuel	Jr
LB	`26`	Mike Rallis	Sr
DB	`27`	Cedric Thompson	So
DB	`28`	Kenny Watkins	Jr
DB	`29`	Briean Boddy	So
DB	`31`	Eric Murray	Fr
LB	`32`	Lamonte Edwards	So
LB	`34`	Jephte Matilus	Fr
LB	`35`	Dominic Schultz	Fr
DB	`40`	Nathan Tow-Arnett	Sr
DL	`42`	Gavin Bronson	Fr
LB	`43`	Ryan Grant	Sr
DB	`45`	Ben Holcomb	Fr
DL	`46`	Cameron Botticelli	So
LB	`47`	Quinn Bauducco	Fr
LB	`48`	Judd Paffrath	Jr
DE	`49`	Matt Garin	Jr
LB	`50`	Jack Lynn	Fr
DT	`52`	Yoshoub Timms	Fr
DE	`55`	Thieren Cockran	Fr
DL	`56`	Curran Delaney	Sr
LB	`57`	Aaron Hill	Jr
LB	`59`	Joey Balthazor	Jr
DL	`62`	Eric Jacques	Jr
DL	`67`	David Stommes	Jr
DL	`69`	Tyler Hartmann	Fr
DL	`90`	Austin Hahn	Sr
DE	`91`	Alex Keith	Fr
DT	`92`	Roland Johnson	Jr
DE	`93`	Ben Perry	So
DL	`94`	Harold Legania	So
DE	`95`	D.L. Wilhite	Sr
DT	`97`	Scott Ekpe	Fr
DE	`98`	Michael Amaefula	So
DT	`99`	Ra'Shede Hageman	Jr

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class
K	`36`	Chris Hawthorne	Jr
P	`37`	Peter Mortell	Fr
K	`38`	David Schwerman	Sr
K	`39`	Jordan Wettstein	Sr
LS	`40`	Jared Hartman	Fr
P	`41`	Dan Oreske	Jr
LS	`48`	Jake Filkins	Jr
LS	`96`	Dave Ramlet	So

Head coach

Jerry Kill

Coordinators/assistant coaches

Matt Limegrover (offensive coordinator)
Tracy Claeys (defensive coordinator)
Bill Miller (assistant head coach / linebackers)
Brian Anderson (running backs)
Jeff Phelps (defensive line)
Pat Poore (wide receivers)
Rob Reeves (h-backs / tight ends)
Jay Sawvel (defensive backs / special teams)
Jim Zebrowski (quarterbacks)
Ryan Maiuri (graduate assistant)

^[1]

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible

Injured
Redshirt

Roster
Last update: November 19, 2012

Game summaries

Syracuse

Syracuse at Minnesota

	1	2	3	4	Total
Syracuse	3	0	0	7	10
• Minnesota	7	0	7	3	17

Date: Saturday, September 22
Location: TCF Bank Stadium, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Game start: 8:00 p.m. EST
Television network: Big Ten Network

Source: ESPN

Minnesota's best start since 2008

References

[1]

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