Junior running back Darius Taylor, the team’s leading rusher, left in the first quarter after what appeared to be a right leg injury. On the play before A.J. Turner’s 1-yard TD run made it 14-0, Taylor swept 17 yards to the Demons’ 1-yard line before awkwardly landing out of bounds and grabbing the back of his right leg. He was tended to by trainers, and Fleck sprinted across the field to check on him. Taylor was examined in the injury tent and returned to the sideline, but he did not play again, which was expected given the score of the game and his importance to the team.
Fleck gave an optimistic assessment of Taylor’s health. “It doesn’t seem too bad, which is really good,” he said. “So, we got a really good, positive diagnosis on that. We’ll see how the week goes, as he goes through it. But we weren’t going to put him back in the game, that’s for sure.”
Fleck also said defensive tackle Jalen Logan-Redding, who left the game because of a knee injury in the second quarter, might have been able to return had he been needed.
While Nestor, Kingsbury and defensive end Anthony Smith (1½ sacks) were holding the Demons (1-1) to minus-9 total yards in the first half and 42 for the game, the Gophers offense racked up 484 yards, saw seven players score touchdowns and averaged 7.7 yards per play.
Quarterback Drake Lindsey built off his solid start in the opener by completing eight of nine passes for 139 yards and one TD while also rushing for a TD. With 8:28 left in the second quarter, Fleck pulled Lindsey for backup Max Shikenjanski, who went 4-for-5 for 80 yards and a score. Third-stringer Dylan Wittke also played, going 1-for-3 for 7 yards with an end-zone interception.
