Fans will attend tomorrow’s Gophers home opener against New Mexico State hoping to watch both MarQueis Gray and Max Shortell. It’s not likely they will be disappointed.
Despite Shortell’s impressive fourth quarter debut last week at USC, Minnesota coach Jerry Kill has made it clear Gray is still the No. 1 quarterback. The New Mexico State game, though, figures to be so one-sided that Shortell, a freshman, will at least be given mop-up duties in the third or fourth quarter.
The Aggies are a prime candidate to be the worst team on the Minnesota schedule this season. New Mexico State hasn’t played in a bowl game since 1960 and that’s not likely to change in 2011. The Aggies, 5-20 the last two seasons, lost their opening game last Saturday to Ohio in Las Cruces, 44-24, gaining 362 yards passing but only six running. Pre-season media and coaches polls predicted the Aggies will finish last in the Western Athletic Conference.
The Aggies are 0-6 historically in games against Big Ten teams. They have been out- scored 336 to 41.
The New Mexico State schedule matches the Aggies against 13 schools this season. The Aggies don’t have a winning record against any of them, including Fresno State (0-17) and Utah State (7-27).
As for Gray and Shortell, Kill likes to be aggressive with the use of his quarterbacks. When he coached at Northern Illinois, he was willing to play more than one QB in a game. That’s definitely a possibility tomorrow.
Shortell gave the coach a shot of confidence when he rallied the Gophers to a near win in the fourth quarter. Gray, a junior, had to leave the USC game because of cramping that Kill said might have been caused by both dehydration and anxiety. Both Gray and Shortell were seeing the most extensive playing time at quarterback of their college careers.