Golden opportunity

To this point, Minnesota coach Glen Mason has succeeded where IU coach Cam Cameron has failed. Both hired in 1997, Mason has revitalized the once-dormant Gopher program to respectability and has taken his team to a bowl game. Cameron has yet to do either of the two.\nThis season, once again, Mason has the Golden Gophers on the move with a three-game winning streak and in a four-way tie for first place in the Big Ten. Meanwhile, the Hoosiers have hit a wall the last two weeks and have slipped to 2-4 and 1-2 in the conference.\nMason has done an excellent job restoring his team's confidence after Minnesota (5-2, 3-1) stumbled to a 2-2 start out of the gates. He said the team was playing well, but the past few weeks they have been making the plays.\n"It's amazing what's happened over the course of a couple of weeks," Mason said. "You go from 2-2 to 5-2, and like I always say, perception is more important than fact. Everything changes."\nA big part of the Gophers' recent success has been the play of junior quarterback Travis Cole. The season began with Cole mired in a quarterback competition with the highly regarded freshman Asad Abdul-Khaliq. \nAbdul-Khaliq has put up solid numbers, throwing for 602 yards and seven touchdowns in five games. Still, the inability of Abdul-Khaliq to make good decisions in critical moments led Mason to turn to Cole.\nSo far, Cole has thrown for 773 yards and five touchdowns. As a team, the Gophers offense is scoring 31 points per game. Cole said he has gained confidence with each game and is ready to be a team leader.\n"The more comfortable I get in there, the better," Cole said. "I don\'t think I\'ve earned the right to be a leader on this team, but then again, you\'re the head guy on offense. I try to lead by example as much as possible."\nCole has a major weapon to throw to in 6-foot-3 receiver Ron Johnson. The junior has tallied 36 receptions for 622 yards and seven touchdowns. On the ground, behind a good offensive line, sophomore running back Tellis Redmon is averaging over 92 yards per game to go along with five touchdowns. \nCameron has been impressed with the Gophers offense and the way Cole has played.\n"Cole has a good understanding of what they are trying to do when they have a no-back, one-back set," Cameron said. "When they come in with two backs, they do a good job of keeping you out of balance."\nThe other part of the improvement by the Gophers has been the sharp play of their secondary. Senior strong safety Clorenzo Griffin leads Minnesota with 51 tackles to go along with an interception. Junior cornerback Willie Middlebrooks has 31 tackles and an interception.\n"I think they have the best corner in the league in (Middlebrooks)," Cameron said. "Maybe he's not the most talented, but he plays the best. He is a big guy who just locks up on you man-to-man. He's run with every guy in the league for the last few years."\nIf there was any doubt about the Gophers\' mental toughness, it was laid to rest with their win at then-No.5 Ohio State. There was the incessant talk of Mason, who has played and coached for the Buckeyes, using the game as an audition for a future job.\n"A lot's being said because I played and I coached there," Mason said. "I spent a lot of time there. I had some emotions when I was on the bus. But once I got there and got in the locker room with my players, it\'s coaching football."\nIn the end, with the Gophers clicking, the Hoosiers will need to play much better than the way they have in the past two weeks. If Cameron is to get his team to play as well as or better than Mason\'s, he will have to prepare them mentally, after the loss at Michigan last Saturday. \n"That\'s one thing we\'ve addressed," Cameron said. "We obviously have to get over that hurdle, mentally. We\'ve been talking about mental toughness and the way winners think."\nOne thing that Cameron said he has working in his favor is that the Hoosiers are getting sick of losing. They want to start winning, just like the Gophers are.\n"They are embarrassed,\" Cameron said of his players. "I think they are upset. I think they are disappointed, which you want them to be"