Reading the recap of the game they gave Player of the Game to Rodney Smith. Yes, he ran hard last night and arguably got better as the game progressed. I believe if you re-watch the film you will see a lot of carries where he misread the hole and could have had a much better game. That being said, I'm not ripping Rodney for his performance rather I disagree with him being named Player of the Game. Instead, I would bestow that honor to Ryan Santoso. He had an incredible performance last night. I would argue that when the Gophers were struggling on offense he saved them because he pinned the Beavers deep in their territory. When we couldn't get the ball off of our own 5 yard line he punted the ball 47 yards and then had a negative 7 yard return due to his hang time. His performance helped the Gophers save themselves from stupid penalties, bad snaps and other mental mishaps. Rodney ran the ball 27 times but each punt by Santoso proved to be pivotal for the momentum of the game. Ryan Santoso, I would argue, was the Player of the Game.
