Football

Tony Patterson was not about to say anything, but the frustration was palpable. Minnesota football coach Glen Mason could sense it brewing in his fifth-year wide receiver without ever hearing a word. So Mason approached Patterson before practice last week with a few words of encouragement.

Heading into the final month of the regular season, Minnesota's football team finds itself in an uncomfortably familiar position. Saturday's loss to Michigan State leaves the Gophers with a 6-2 overall record and smack-dab in the middle of the Big Ten standings at 2-2.

Minnesota football players had to wait seven days for a chance to get back on the field and avenge their fourth-quarter collapse against Michigan.

Even when his future appeared as though it couldn't get any bleaker, Jeff Smoker maintained a quiet confidence in himself. Surrounded by a Michigan State football program caught up in negative distractions and plagued by substance abuse problems that threatened his own career, the Spartans' quarterback took comfort in a single, simple thought.

In the moments following the Gophers' 38-35 loss to Michigan last Friday night, an emotional Asad Abdul-Khaliq predicted the tears probably would not stop until Tuesday. After three days to reflect and collect themselves, Tuesday arrived without a tear in sight. Instead, Minnesota football players appeared infused with newfound enthusiasm that their team still possesses the talent and moxy to achieve all its preseason goals, beginning with a win Saturday against 15th-ranked Michigan State.

It was an innocent mistake. Early in the second quarter of Minnesota's Big Ten bout against Michigan on Friday night, the sound technicians at the Metrodome accidentally followed a Gophers first down by playing the Vikings' trademark blowhorn over the stadium's public address system.

When Minnesota senior tailback Thomas Tapeh dove into the end zone with less than a minute to go in the third quarter Friday night, Michigan coach Lloyd Carr knew his stagnant offense needed a change of pace - literally. The 25th-ranked Gophers (6-1, 2-1 Big Ten) had their biggest lead of the game at 28-7. The 17th-ranked Wolverines (5-2, 2-1) had less than 16 minutes to erase it.