Midweek Review: Purdue 31-34 Minnesota

 1. The officials blew this game.

Just roll it.

I mean, this is just irredeemably bad. I have not seen a worse offensive pass interference decision, and I will likely die before seeing a worse offensive pass interference decision. Purdue fans should be livid. Jeff Brohm clearly was.

But hey — the Boilermakers had 52 seconds left and four downs within Minnesota territory. They had their chance to come back from this call and win in spite of it. It's not like the officials missed anything on Josh Aune's game-sealing intercep —

Ooheauuggghh.

Yeah, that's bad. I could point to an earlier phantom defensive pass interference call that saved what became a Purdue touchdown drive, and I can say the officiating was bad both ways (and it was), but there's not anything that will help. At the most important point of the game, Purdue got screwed. Twice. Though Minnesota had two timeouts and could have won anyway, that was no guarantee. Minnesota is beyond lucky to come out of this game the victors.

Midweek Review: Iowa 35-7 Minnesota

There's no sugarcoating, sidestepping, or excusing it: That game sucked.

Iowa dominated Minnesota on the ground and on defense, and the Floyd of Rosedale will stay south for a sixth straight year. The Gophers have one win at the halfway point of the abbreviated regular season, and they likely won't get more than a couple more by the end. No sane observer is questioning the program's direction or retroactively labeling its 2019 breakthrough as a fluke, but it is abundantly clear that in this moment, Minnesota is too inconsistent and too young to contend for a while.

Midweek Review: Minnesota 41-14 Illinois

The Gophers needed to bounce back against Illinois to get their season back on track, and they did so in a big way. While their 41-14 blowout win was against a shorthanded Illini team, and it did not totally alleviate concerns about Minnesota's flaws, it was the kind of Saturday that eased fans' anxieties and keeps Minnesota in the hunt for a high finish in the Big Ten West.

Midweek Review: Minnesota 44-45 Maryland

The Gophers' opener hinted that their defense would be a bigger problem than anticipated. Their second game indicated that it might be bad enough to wreck their season. Against a team that scored just three points in their first game, the Gophers' defense wasted a strong offensive performance by allowing 10.2 yards per play in a 44-45 overtime loss to hapless Maryland. It was a catastrophe that potentially forebodes more catastrophe, and it demands a postmortem.