Gophers overcome a 14-point hole to beat Rutgers 31-28

Minnesota battled back from an early 14-point deficit to beat Rutgers 31-28. After weathering the early passing onslaught, the Minnesota defense started applying pressure and the offense dusted off the passing playbook to throw for 324 yards and three touchdowns to secured the win.

Athan Kaliakmanis and the Rutgers offense started out red-hot. The former Gopher quarterback connected on his first nine passes for a quick 115 yards. He finally threw a few incompletions in the second quarter but quickly connected again, this time for his second touchdown of the game. And Rutgers was feeling good, up 14-0 on the road.

The Gopher offense responded quickly at this point. Trailing by two touchdowns, Greg Harbaugh Jr dialed up a deep shot on first down. Jalen Smith got two-steps on his defender and Lindsey hit him in stride for a 78-yard completion, setting up the offense at the three yard line. Two plays later, Fami Ojeboi ran it in,making the score 14-7.

Then we started to see the old Kaliakmanis. The one who puts too much trust in his arm and throws balls that may or may not end up in the hands of his receiver. There four balls in the first half that “could” have been intercepted.

• John Nestor with great coverage in the end zone, gets two hands on the ball but doesn’t come down with it.
• Adrian Gousby dives for a ball that’s nowhere near a Rutgers receiver, but doesn’t come up with it.
• Kerry Brown does get an interception, returning it to the eight yard line, setting up a Gopher touchdown.
• Emmanual Karmo has both hands on a ball in the corner of the endzone that he was’nt able to bring down.

There were second half opportunities as well. But it was the Kerry Brown interception, three plays after the Gophers had scored that put the offense back inside the 10-yard line. On first down, Lindsey found Le’Meke Brockington in the end zone to tie the game. It took just 2:52 for the Gophers to recover from the early hole and rejuvenate the Huntington Bank Stadium crowd.

The next few possessions were not particularly noteworthy until the final two minutes of the half. At the two-minute timeout, Minnesota had the ball at the Rutgers 37-yard line with a 3rd and one. The assumption was that Minnesota would fall forward for a first down, gain what they could as they drained the clock and go into halftime with a late touchdown or field goal.

They failed to get it on 3rd down, but decided to go for it on 4th and less than one. Which they also failed to get, giving the ball back to Rutgers at their own 37, with 1:06 before the end of the half. An 8-yard pass on first down, followed by a 17-yard run on third down, and then a 13-yard completion had them threatening and the Gopher defense on their heels. Two plays later, Antwan Raymond ran for 23 yards down to the Gopher two-yard line and on the next play Rutgers took a 21-14 lead.

A massive missed opportunity for Minnesota, turning a likely 3-point lead (or more) into a 7-point deficit. A fantastic return by Koi Perich, put the Gophers into Rutgers territory, but Brady Denaburg missed the 50-yard attempt and it was 21-14 at the half.

And then Minnesota unleashed the arm of Drake Lindsey in the second half.

On their first drive, Lindsey threw for 76 yards completing 9/11 passes and finished it with an 9-yard touchdown pass to Jalen Smith. This tied the game at 21 apiece.

The defense forced a quick punt, giving it back to the offense and air attack continued. Lindsey was 6/9 passing, Ojeboi threw in a 16-yard rush and the drive stalled, resulting in a Denaburg field goal and the team’s first lead.

In the third quarter alone, Lindsey was 15/19 for 120 yards. The offensive line was giving him time, the receivers were usually wide open and Lindsey was hitting the right guy, in the right place. The offense ran the ball 7 times that quarter and held the ball for over 12 minutes in that quarter.

Rutgers came back to life in the 4th quarter putting the Gopher defense off-balance with the wide-zone runs and Kaliakmanis making some key completions. The key play of the half for the Scarlet Knights came when Raymond broke off a 20-yard run to the Gopher 2-yard line on a 3rd and 15 play. Raymond then ran it for a touchdown, giving the lead back to Rutgers 28-24.

Now the Gopher offense took the ball back, needing a touchdown in the 4th quarter and on first down Lindsey is sacked, putting the offense immediately behind the chains. It was a quick three-and-out, giving the ball back to Rutgers, putting the pressure back on the Gopher defense.

This time they forced a punt and Lindsey now had the ball with 6:24 left.

This time, the redshirt freshman, was poised and was throwing darts. On first down, he hit Javon Tracy for a 27-yard gain, on the next play he hit tight end, Drew Biber for 21 and the offense was quickly to the Rutgers 24. Five plays later, Tracy caught the ball in the flat, made a move to the end zone, stretched for the goal line and scored the go-ahead touchdown.

Greg Schiano, Kirk Ciarrocca and Kaliakmanis had thier offense moving ball in the final minutes. But Kaliakmanis fumbled a snap with 37 seconds left for a 15-yard loss, pushing them back to the 41. They ran a quick hitting pass play, setting up a 56-yard field goal attempt that was wide right.

Lindsey is going to garner most of the headlines for today’s game, and he was great; especially in the second half. But it should not be ignored that the Gopher receivers were also great today. They were getting separation, making the throws easy for Lindsey. Seven different players had three receptions or more. Lindsey spread the ball around, and he really was great.

What about the defense? Sometimes it was great, sometimes it was gashed. Danny Collins hs some work do, especially with getting the defense to tackle. But the team ended up with seven sacks and 11 TFLs. Kerry Brown had an outstanding game with a critical interception and a nice pass breakup.

A team win today but there is reason to be very excited about the young, Gopher quarterback.

Up next is a trip to Ohio State next Saturday night.