Gopher Defense No-Shows at Wrigley, Foiling Drake Lindsey Coming Out Party

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Drake Lindsey - Minnesota Gophers
Credit: Eric Strack - Minnesota Sports Fan

It was a beautiful fall day for football on the north side of Chicago Saturday, where the Minnesota Gophers played an 11 AM regular season contest against the Northwestern Wildcats.

Unlike any other meeting between the two Big Ten rivals, Saturday marked the first time Minnesota and Northwestern have ever met for a football game at the friendly confines of Wrigley Field, home of Major League Baseball’s Chicago Cubs since 1914.

Minnesota Gophers start slow, punch back early vs Northwestern

As has been the case for much of this season, the Golden Gophers started out slow Saturday morning against Northwestern, quickly falling behind 13-0, as Minnesota struggled to find a first down while the Wildcats were driving up and down the field, at will.

Eventually, the Fighting Flecks found their footing and started throwing punches of their own, scoring the game’s next 21-straight points, to take a 21-13 lead at halftime.

Koi Perich woke the Gopher sideline up with a 93-yard kick return that was eventually punched in by Darius Taylor on a fake fullback dive, halfback toss play to the right that allowed the star running back to walk in for Minnesota’s first points of the game.

Once Minnesota’s offense began to move the ball, it became apparent quickly that sophomore quarterback Drake Lindsey was feeling himself today at Wrigley Field, where he completed 13-of-16 passes in the first half for 130 yards and two touchdowns.

Drake Lindsey, Gopher offense balls out

Thankfully, Drake and the offense came to play in the second half, Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the defense. After showing up late, and allowing the Wildcats to jump out early, the Gopher defense was nowhere to be found out of halftime.

Down eight points to start the third quarter, Northwestern started the second half by scoring three straight touchdowns and 22 total points, to retake the lead 35-28 going into the fourth quarter. In those three drives, the Wildcats offense went off for 226 yards on 23 plays.

One drive after they gave the lead back, however, Drake Lindsey led the Minnesota offense down the field yet again for a 6-play, 75-yard scoring drive that ended in this beautiful touchdown pass to Le’Meke Brockington — Lindsey’s fourth TD pass on the day.

It was a good thing the Gophers put those points up so quickly. Because, in order for Drake Lindsey to get the ball back, the defense needed to get off the field, which it took them over seven minutes to do.

Gopher defense can’t hang at Wrigley

Finally, after 14 Wildcat plays and 60 yards gained, Minnesota’s defense held Northwestern to a field goal that made the score 38-35 with 52 seconds remaining on the clock, plenty of time for Drake Lindsey, especially after another nice kick return by Koi Perich.

Four plays and 30 yards later, Brady Denaburg (0/1 on the day) was lining up a 40-yard field goal to put the game into overtime. Unfortunately, he finished the day 0/2, leaving the Minnesota Gophers three points short of OT, and 6-5 on the season.

In the end, Drake Lindsey’s 264 yards and 4 touchdowns (20/30 passing) were not enough to beat a Northwestern squad that put up 525 yards of total offense on a MN Gopher defense that got left behind in Minneapolis.

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