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Here are two unique things about Gophers kicker Emmit Carpenter, who hit the game-winning 28-yard field goal with 10 seconds remaining to defeat Rutgers 34-32 at TCF Bank Stadium on Saturday:
The redshirt sophomore is not on scholarship, and his holder is Jacob Herbers, a redshirt freshman first baseman on the Gophers baseball team who is listed as a punter for the football team.
Carpenter has put together one of the best seasons for a kicker in the Big Ten this season. He's 12-for-14 on field goals, 5-for-5 from 40 yards and longer and 25-for-25 on extra points.
He ranks fourth in field-goal percentage in the Big Ten and is tied for 21st nationally. Only two kickers in the country have made more kicks from over 40 yards without a miss than Carpenter.
Saturday was his first game-winning field goal for the Gophers, but he said the coaches didn't make a big deal out of it before sending him onto the field at the end of the game.
"The coaches just kind of let me do my own thing before I go out to make those kicks," Carpenter said. "They told me they were confident in me and they were excited for me to go out there and have the opportunity."
Carpenter said he didn't feel nervous taking the field.
"To be honest, I wasn't," he said. "I was really excited just to have that kind of experience and opportunity, just because those are the moments that we go to work every day to prepare for. I was just really excited for the opportunity, and I was excited that the coaches and my teammates have the faith and trust in me to go out there and make that kick."
A good group
Carpenter talked about the field-goal unit and its preparation before the game-winning kick.
"Jacob Herbers, he has been holding for us the entire year," Carpenter said. "He's doing an incredible job. He's actually a member of the Gophers baseball team as well. He has really good hands and he does a great job getting the ball down. Our long snapper, [redshirt sophomore] Payton Jordahl, has also been doing a great job for us.
"They just came up to me and were saying, 'You got this. Be confident in yourself.' They were just giving me words of encouragement."
Was he anticipating the timeout Rutgers coaches called to try and unnerve him at the end of the game?
"Going out there, I fully expected them to use that timeout," he said. "I feel like that's standard protocol for coaches to ice the kickers like that. I went out there expecting it. It personally doesn't really bother me too much. It just gives you some more time to think about things and clear your head."
Focus after miss
Against Rutgers, Carpenter missed a 34-yard kick in the second quarter, his second miss of the season. After something like that happens, he said, all he wants to do is kick again.
"I wasn't very happy that I missed that kick earlier in the game, but I made sure I had a short memory about it," he said. "I took the experience and learned from it and then just kind of cleaned the slate in my head and got ready to go out because I knew I would be needed later in the game."
What worked better on his second and third successful field-goal attempts?
"I think I was just a little more relaxed on that second kick," he said. "I guess on the first kick there were just a few fundamental things in my technique that I didn't do as well as I should have. That was a mistake on my part.
"But you know, I was excited to go out there and get that second [and third] kick to bounce back after missing that first kick. It was exciting to have … those opportunities."
Coming out of Ashwaubenon High School in Green Bay, Wis., Carpenter said he had some college scholarship offers but decided to become a walk-on for the Gophers.
"I talked to a lot of the MAC schools and some subdivision FCS schools and had a few other walk-on opportunities at the FBS level, but I honestly couldn't be happier that I'm here at the University of Minnesota," he said. "It has been the best 2½ years of my life so far, and I'm looking forward to two years after this."
If there was one constant under former coach Jerry Kill and his staff, it was that once a walk-on started producing on the field, he received a scholarship. Don't be surprised if Carpenter gets rewarded by Tracy Claeys and his staff for all the work he has put in for the Gophers.
No protection
Vikings quarterback Sam Bradford's stat line of 24-for-41 for 224 yards with a touchdown and an interception in Sunday's 21-10 loss in Philadelphia is misleading because he was swarmed by the Eagles' pass rush for the entire game. One unofficial QB stat had Bradford being hit 19 times and hurried 14 times, and he was sacked six times as the Vikings offensive line was atrocious.
Eagles quarterback and former NDSU star Carson Wentz had even worse numbers, finishing 16-for-28 for 138 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions, but he was not sacked and was only hit twice.
That says something about the Vikings offensive line, which has been so ravaged because of injuries that they had to hire Jake Long, a guy off the street who had barely played for two years because of injuries. Long was the left tackle who was destroyed by Eagles defensive end Connor Barwin on a strip sack of Bradford in the first quarter after the Vikings had recovered a fumble at the Philadelphia 17-yard line and had a great chance to score.
Jottings
• Both the Vikings and Eagles looked awful early, combining for five turnovers and six penalties in the first 13 minutes of the game. It had to be one of the ugliest starts in Vikings history. Eagles coach Doug Pederson told the Philadelphia Inquirer that the team was looking to bounce back after tough back-to-back losses to the Lions and Redskins and they did just that. "I just think the guys put it in their minds to play better than last week," Pederson said. "They really took it upon themselves to make the corrections."
• Each quarterback threw an interception and fumbled in the first eight minutes of the game. Then Wentz threw another pick before 10 minutes had elapsed, and still the Eagles won.
• The Vikings had three opportunities in the red zone in which they failed to score. They lost the ball on an interception and a fumble on two first-quarter drives, then lost the ball on downs in the fourth quarter at the Eagles' 6-yard line.
• The Vikings did force four turnovers, and teams seldom lose when that occurs.
Sid Hartman can be heard weekdays on 830-AM at 7:40 and 8:40 a.m. and on Sundays at 9:30 a.m. shartman@startribune.com
