Sep 5, 2008 1:28 pm US/Central
Minnesota, Bowling Green Riding High After Wins
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (AP) ―
Tim Brewster isn't about to apologize for Minnesota's nail-biting victory over Northern Illinois in the season opener.
That's because it has been a long time since the Gophers felt good about themselves.
"I know that some people aren't happy about how close the game was, but our football team is very excited about the victory," Brewster said. "I'm very excited about the victory."
Minnesota will have a shot at doubling its win total from a year ago when it plays at Bowling Green Saturday night.
The Falcons, who also spent the offseason getting kicked around after they lost 63-7 to Tulsa in the GMAC Bowl, are riding high, too, knocking off No. 25 Pitt in their opener.
Bowling Green's biggest challenge this week may be focusing on Minnesota after getting its first win over a Top 25 team since 2003.
"We need to kind of forget what happened this past weekend and move on to the new task at hand," said Falcons wide receiver Anthony Turner. "But it'll be hard. It'll definitely be hard."
Bowling Green's defense shut down Pitt, holding the Panthers to 46 yards rushing in the final three quarters of the 27-17 victory.
"They're going to have a lot of energy," said Minnesota quarterback Adam Weber. "It will be a good test for us as a team to show exactly where we are. We have an opportunity to keep this thing we created last week going."
Weber threw for 298 yards and two touchdowns against Northern Illinois and calmly led the Gophers on their game-winning drive that ended with 22 seconds left when Duane Bennett scored on a 1-yard run for the 31-27 win.
Minnesota will be the first Big Ten team to visit Bowling Green. The Falcons have 10 victories over teams from BCS conferences in the last eight years, including Missouri, Northwestern, Kansas and Purdue. A year ago, the Falcons won at Minnesota 32-31 in overtime.
"I think it's a revenge year for us and we really want to go out and get a win," said Minnesota linebacker Steve Davis. "Last year we lost a lot of close ones. We now have more confidence and expectations going into the second game."
The Gophers lost six games by seven points or less last season, finishing 1-11.
Davis said there's a different feeling around the team now. "A win is a win and now we get ready going into the next game with more confidence," he said.
His coach agreed.
"It's something that we can really build off of," Brewster said. "It doesn't matter who the opponent is, if you win in the fourth quarter it's a positive thing."
Bennett, who had 98 yards rushing on 18 carries, will get plenty of chances, but so will freshmen Shady Salamon and DeLeon Eskridge, Brewster said.
"Duane is a workhorse kind of back," Brewster said. "I'm not concerned about the number of carries that he gets. What I want to do on Saturday night is to get some of our other young kids involved."
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