2011 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team The 2011 Minnesota Golden Gophers football team represented the University of Minnesota for the 2011 college football season . The Golden Gophers are members of the Big Ten Conference and played their home games at TCF Bank Stadium . They were led by head coach Jerry Kill for his first season as head coach at Minnesota . They finished with 3 – 9 overall record , 2 – 6 in Big 10 Legends play . Game Notes . @ USC . Matt Barkley threw three touchdowns to Robert Woods as the Trojans won their 14th straight season opener . Barkley went 34 - of - 45 with 304 yards while Woods caught 17 passes , a USC single - game record , for 177 yards in the win . D . J . Morgan added 18 carries for 70 yards in the win for USC . Duane Bennett ran for a touchdown while Max Shortell threw for a touchdown but was intercepted on the final drive for the Golden Gophers , who failed to win in the debut of new head coach Jerry Kill . Bennett finished with 53 yards on 15 carries while MarQueis Gray went 7 - of - 12 with 94 yards and added 48 yards on 16 carries for Minnesota , which went just 3 – 9 last season . The Gophers never led in the game , but made it a one - score possession with 8 : 03 to play when Shortell hit Brandon Green on a short pass to the left and the receiver curled around his defender and into the end zone from 12 yards out to make it 19 – 17 . Minnesota got the ball back at its own nine - yard line with just over two minutes to play . However , the drive only made it to the Minnesota 28 and on 3rd - and - 1 Shortell was picked off by Torin Harris and the Trojans killed off the rest of the clock . vs . New Mexico State . Aside from losing the game 28 – 21 , this game represented a scare for Minnesota outside of the game itself as head coach Jerry Kill had a seizure with 20 seconds left in the game and was taken away by ambulance . Kill was stabilized , and Minnesota ' s team physician said the coach ' s condition was not life - threatening . Kill has had similar episodes three times before in his career , but never missed a game , and his assistants said they weren ' t worried . Regarding the game , the Aggies set the tone from the start with a six - play , 60 - yard drive . Manley hit Rogers for a 26 - yard score , with cornerback Brock Vereen and safety Shady Salamon failing to reach Rogers in time . Manley had help from Robert Clay , who rushed 20 times for 97 yards and a touchdown . Taveon Rogers had 88 yards receiving and two scores . MarQueis Gray had another uneven performance at quarterback for the Gophers , who hadn ' t lost their first two games to start a season since 1992 . Da ' Jon McKnight made a handful of acrobatic catches , finishing with 146 yards and one touchdown , and tight end Colin McGarry dived to haul in a 10 - yard score in the corner of the end zone and pull the Gophers within 21 – 14 right before the half . Gray , who was relieved in the third quarter by freshman Max Shortell because he had cramps on a hot day , finished with 110 yards rushing on 17 attempts . He went 16 for 32 through the air for 211 yards , two touchdowns and two interceptions . Gray threaded a perfect pass to McKnight on a quick post route for a 4 - yard touchdown with 11 : 47 left , pulling the Gophers within 28 – 21 . He nearly tied the game later on a rollout with a head - first dive at the pylon with 7 : 51 left , and the initial ruling on the field was a touchdown . But a replay review determined his foot was out of bounds . On fourth and 1 , Edwards was stopped and NMSU took over . Clay and Victor Johnson ground down the clock for the Aggies , and the Gophers didn ' t get the ball back until 2 : 09 remained , starting at their own 11 - yard line with no timeouts . This proved to be too much for the Gophers to overcome . Iowa .