The 2008 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team was the second under head coach Tim Brewster. They began play on August 30, 2008 at home against Northern Illinois from the Mid-American Conference, and finished the regular season against Iowa, on November 22. It was the Golden Gophers' final season in the Metrodome, as they moved into TCF Bank Stadium in 2009. The Gophers accepted a bid to the Insight Bowl and played Kansas on December 31 at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona.
Preseason
On February 21, 2008, it was announced that Ted Roof, the previous head coach of Duke, would replace Everett Withers as the Gophers new defensive coordinator. Withers had previously announced that he was taking the defensive coordinator job at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Schedule
Roster
Game summaries
Northern Illinois
The Golden Gophers opened the 2008 season hosting a Saturday night game against Northern Illinois. After receiving the opening kickoff, Minnesota compiled a 16-play, 90-yard drive that chewed 8:50 off the clock and ended with an 8-yard TD pass from Adam Weber to Eric Decker. Northern Illinois responded early in the 2nd quarter with a 2-yard TD run from Justin Anderson, and a pair of field goals knotted the halftime score at 10–10. Two big plays by the Golden Gophers set the tone through the 3rd quarter – a 53-yard TD catch by Jack Simmons and 61-yard TD run by Duane Bennett that staked Minnesota to a 24–13 lead. The Huskies answered with two long TD bombs of 91 and 52 yards from Chandler Harnish to Nathan Palmer. As Minnesota began their final drive of the game on their own 26-yard line with 5:25 on the clock, they trailed NIU 27–24. Weber led a methodical drive down the field, completing all 5 of his pass attempts until the Gopher offense stalled in the red zone, bringing up 4th and 1 from the NIU 3. Rather than electing to kick the field goal and send the game into overtime, coach Brewster put the offense back out on the field, and they rewarded his aggressiveness. Bennett converted the 1st down on a short run, and the Gophers immediately ran the same play for a 1-yd TD. After putting the ensuing kickoff out of bounds and giving the Huskies the ball on their own 40, the Minnesota defense batted away a Hail Mary pass into the endzone as time expired to preserve the 31–27 victory.
Bowling Green
Bowling Green hosted a Big Ten opponent for the first time ever as Minnesota traveled to Doyt L. Perry Stadium for a Saturday night game. Bowling Green was confident after coming off a 27–17 upset at No. 25 Pittsburgh the previous week. Despite being road underdogs, Minnesota showed no sign of nerves as they once again scored a TD on their first drive and never relinquished the lead, cruising to an easy 42–17 victory over the home Falcons. The story of this game was turnovers. After a relatively uneventful first half that ended with a Gophers lead of 14–10, Bowling Green's Roger Williams fumbled the opening kickoff of the second half. Starting the drive at the BGSU 23, Minnesota promptly marched in for the score. After a Falcon touchdown made it 21–17, BGSU turned the ball over on each of their next three possessions, each turnover ultimately resulting in a touchdown for the Golden Gophers. The 28 points off turnovers proved to be the difference, as Minnesota won consecutive games for the first time since November 2006. This was also the first road victory for the Gophers under coach Tim Brewster.
Montana State
Montana State traveled to Minneapolis to take on the Gophers for each team's 3rd game of the season. Despite being heavily favored over an FCS opponent, Minnesota played in a lackluster fashion from the get-go, and actually trailed 6–0 at the end of the first quarter. The Golden Gophers' offense woke up in the 2nd quarter, and put 14 points on the board on consecutive drives. Just when it appeared that Minnesota may have begun to put the game out of reach, Montana State's Demetrius Crawford returned a kickoff 100 yards for a TD. Minnesota was able to answer with another touchdown to make the halftime score 21–13 in their favor.