Minnesota 13, Northwestern 28

Minnesota falls to Northwestern 28-13, the Gophers fall to 2-9 on the season.  Poor special teams play early in the game led to 3 quick short field TD's for Northwestern.  Outside of that, the Gophers didn't play too bad.  I liked the fact that they seem to be able to make some in-game adjustments to slow Northwestern down.  I can't really say that I'm happy with the way the season has unfolded but I guess there's only one way to go from here.  

Observations:
-MarQueis Gray has improved a lot this year at QB, there's still lots of room for improvement though.
-Minnesota may not be winning, but they are still playing hard.  
-Duane Bennett had one of his better game as a Gopher (127 yards rushing).  He's now over 2000 yards rushing on his Minnesota career. 
-D.L. Wilhite had a nice game at DE.
-Special teams must improve by next season. 
-When Northwestern was able to stay in their up-tempo offense it really killed the Gophers.
-Minnesota is LAST in the nation in takeaways (they had 2 today though). 
-Eric Lair has really been under utilized this year.  
-Pat Fitzgerald has done a nice job at Northwestern.
-Minnesota closes out their 2011 season next week @ home against Illinois.