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.

KOI PERICH IS UNSTOPPABLE 💥 @GopherFootball

📺: BTN pic.twitter.com/szyrO6FvBY

— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) November 22, 2025

Darius Taylor gets @GopherFootball on the board.

📺: @BigTenNetwork pic.twitter.com/xsrGZgGJzc

— Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) November 22, 2025

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.

Le'Meke Brockington ties things up for @GopherFootball 😎

📺: @BigTenNetwork pic.twitter.com/b9eE5ur7xS

— Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) November 22, 2025

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.

THE FIELD GOAL IS NO GOOD AND @NUFBFamily GETS A WIN AT WRIGLEY 💥💥💥 pic.twitter.com/NYEG5TPoAH

— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) November 22, 2025

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.

Related: Adrian Peterson’s Daughter; 8th-Grader Ari Peterson Offered by Minnesota Gophers WBB

We’ve mentioned this a lot already, but the Gophers are a much improved product of basketball this season. Games are competitive and fun to watch, not full of disappointment and frustration, like the past two years. For those of us who watch every game, no matter the quality, that’s worth something in and of itself. Still, morale victories don’t count in the win column and head coach Ben Johnson is trying to keep his job.

Minnesota Gophers come thru in must-win vs Northwestern

And… with their backs against the wall, the Gophers found a way to get the job done yet again, winning 75-66 in OT. As is usually the case with this team when they win, today’s victory was a team effort. All five starters scored in double figures and big plays were made down the stretch from Dawson Garcia, Pharrel Payne, Cam Christie and Elijah Hawkins.

Elijah Hawkins drains the deep @GopherMBB 3 to beat the halftime buzzer. 👀

📺: Big Ten Network pic.twitter.com/iMJsggHJvX

— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) February 3, 2024

But the deeper we get into the 2023-24 season, the more clear one thing becomes. Minnesota is a better team when Sophomore big man Pharrel Payne is on the floor. Saturday, he finished 7 of 8 from the field, totaling 14 points, 9 rebounds and 4 blocks. But the 6-9, 255 pound Sophomore provides a presence, both on offense and defense, that cannot be fully measured on a stat sheet.

Related: U of M Athletic Director Mark Coyle Receives Raise + Contract Extension, Pending Board Approval

His size and skill around the low block is something that a lot of power 5 college teams just cannot matchup with these days, given the focus on big men who prefer to shoot, rather than bang down low. Not Payne, who’s from Cottage Grove, MN. He knows his role and he plays it as well as any other “non-scoring” big man in the country.

FG: 7-8
PTS: 14
REB: 9
BLK: 4

Pharrel Payne made big play after big play in today's OT win. 😲@pharrelpayne x @GopherMBB pic.twitter.com/Ulwvllf89s

— Big Ten Men's Basketball (@B1GMBBall) February 3, 2024

The Gophers won the turnover (12-17) and assist (19-13) battles, which allowed them to overcome being outshot from 3, by a large margin both by percentage and threes made. Ben Johnson has some questions to answer about his late-game coaching decisions, though.

Ben Johnson’s near devastating late coaching decision

With 18 seconds remaining and Minnesota up three points, Hawkins fouled Northwestern’s best free throw shooter on purpose. Of course, fouling while up three points isn’t crazy, if time is nearly run off the clock. But with 18 seconds remaining, it allowed the Wildcats to make one free throw, then steal and inbound, before eventually tying the game and sending it to overtime.

Luckily for Ben, it will go down as an afterthought, being the Gophers won. But he needs to get better in those situations. Whatever he told Elijah to do was either dumb or not explained properly.

Related: Future Gopher Isaac Asuma Nearly Posts Triple-Double in Star-Studded ‘Border Battle’ Showcase

Nonetheless, his team pulled out a desperately needed dub and, in turn, kept their dreams of March dancing alive. Minnesota is now 14-7 and 5-5 in conference play. How big was today’s win, exactly? When the game started, they were 10th place in the Big Ten? By the time it was over, they jumped to 6th.

The Gophers next game is Tuesday, back at the barn, vs Michigan State, a team they stuck close with in East Lansing. Should they find a way to win that one, they’ll be right back in the NCAA Tournament mix.

He gets another! 😤

Second TD of the night for @Dariustay1or and @GopherFootball.

📺: @BigTenNetwork pic.twitter.com/SeulJIm3Om

— Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) September 24, 2023

Minnesota Gophers surrender 21-point lead vs Northwestern

Then, the Wildcats scored one touchdown… and a second touchdown… before finally, with just 5 seconds remaining in the contest, Northwestern scored a third-straight TD and tied the game at 31. Suddenly, what looked like a walk-away victory was in jeopardy of becoming a program-altering loss.

Overtime didn’t treat the Gophers any better. With Darius Taylor on the sidelines nursing an apparent injury, replacement running back Bryce Williams & QB Athan Kaliakmanis won the coin toss but failed to find the end zone, before settling for a field goal from the 2-yard line.

Northwestern then scored on their first play of OT, and just like that, the Gophers were left stunned at Ryan Field.

The @NUFBFamily win it in OT. 😤

Thanks to @CharlieMangieri. 👏

📺: @BigTenNetwork pic.twitter.com/1k5jxuA235

— Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) September 24, 2023

Even as Northwestern crept back into this football game, it never really felt like they had a chance until the closing minutes of the 4th quarter. But when they tied it up in the final seconds, an unsettling feeling settled in quickly.

Season crushing loss for Minnesota Gophers

Taking a step back, this was a must-win game for the Minnesota Gophers. They have one more non-conference game remaining on their 2023 schedule, vs the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns next weekend. After that, they get Michigan, Iowa, Ohio State and Wisconsin in four of their final 7 weeks.

Related: Michigan State Interested in PJ Fleck as Next Head Coach

PJ Fleck thought he could win this game like he’s won so many that have come before it. Jump out to an early lead and hand the game off to your running backs and Joe Rossi’s defense. Not a bad plan when your true freshman running back is going like Darius Taylor was on Saturday night.

Unfortunately, his running backs stopped picking up first downs, halfway through the 3rd quarter, and his normally dependable defense allowed big play after big play. In the end, it was arguably the worst loss of PJ Fleck’s career at Minnesota, right up there with the loss vs Bowling Green and Illinois in 2021 and the loss to Iowa in 2019.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

When and Where is Minnesota vs Northwestern?

Minnesota Gophers vs Northwestern Wildcats Football Facts:

How to watch Minnesota vs Northwestern:

Big Ten Network

Play by Play: Lisa Byington
Analyst: Anthony Herron
Sideline Reporter: Elise Menaker

How to listen to Minnesota vs Northwestern:

KFAN | SiriusXM: Ch. 388; SXM App

Play by Play: Mike Grimm
Analyst: Darrell Thompson
Sideline Reporter: Justin Gaard

Related: Best game day recipes for Gopher football fans

Minnesota vs Northwestern Preview

But it’s time to look forward because that 31-13 nightmare is over, and the wounded Gophers land a good recovery test in week 4. Minnesota enters Friday as an 11.5 point favorite over the controversial Cats. It’s been a couple of years since Northwestern has competed for the Big Ten West title and 2023’s squad didn’t have high expectations, to begin with.

That was before the Northwestern football hazing controversy was first reported over the summer, which led to the firing of 17-year head coach and Wildcat legend, Pat Fitzgerald. Then, players got mad and wore T-shirts in support of their former head coach. The rest of Fitzgerald’s staff was kept on and assistant coach David Braun was promoted to interim head coach.

Here we are, in week 4 of the regular season, months after the scandal originally blew up news feeds across the country, and Northwestern beat writer David Gold (InsideNU – SB Nation) is still describing the vibe around the Wildcat football program as, “strange”.

“The vibe around this team can only be described as strange. After a hazing scandal led to Pat Fitzgerald’s termination. after 17 years at the helm of the program, actual football has been second to the other issues surrounding the program.”

David Gold (via interview with Ryan Burns at GopherIllustrated.com)

4 Keys to Victory

1: Feed Darius Taylor – True freshman running back, Darius Taylor has risen to the top of the Minnesota Gophers depth chart, early this season, becoming the first true freshman to rush for over 100 yards in each of this first two games since Laurence Maroney did it back in 2004.

He’s been named Big Ten Freshman of the Week in two-straight weeks and provides a combination of speed, power and athleticism that not even Mo Ibrahim had. He’s devoured 56 total carries on the season, amassing an absurd 334 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns.

The running back competition is over. Darius Taylor is the Minnesota Gophers RB1 and the only person taking carries away from him, when healthy and able, is his quarterback, Athan Kaliakmanis.

2: Athan Kaliakmanis must play better – Minnesota quarterback, Athan Kaliakmanis, had what he described as the “worst game of his career” vs UNC. He had a 37.9% completion rate (11/29) and threw threw his third interception of the young season.

Kaliakmanis asked for and took all the blame, in a somber, yet passionate postgame press conference, following the loss. Earlier this week, after a couple of days to reflect, Athan was confident and hungry in his weekly podium interview with Gopher media.

But Saturday night feels like a swing game for Athan’s football career. He’s had an incredibly slow start to his season and his performance in Chapel Hill needs to be rock bottom. The redshirt sophomore has thrown 3 interceptions to just 1 touchdown in 2023 and that TD came in week 1 vs Nebraska.

#Gophers QB Athan Kaliakmanis on @Coach_Fleck talking to him for 2 hours after UNC loss this weekend about life and things other than football: "That was really special to me." Also, more from today's interviews during Northwestern week @StribSports @GopherFootball @B1Gfootball pic.twitter.com/9lsUIKBtjQ

— Marcus R. Fuller (@Marcus_R_Fuller) September 20, 2023

3: Fleck cannot ignore pass game: Getting Athan going has a lot to do with PJ Fleck’s offensive mindset, entering the game. As mentioned in the preview, Northwestern isn’t very good and their defensive line might be the worst position group on their roster.

Related: Michigan State Interested in PJ Fleck as Next Head Coach

Fleck could run Darius Taylor down the Wildcats’ throats for 4 quarters, to the tune of 35 carries, 250 yards and 4 touchdowns; just like he tried to do in week 2 vs Eastern Michigan when Taylor was fed 33 carries for 198 yards and a TD.

But Kaliakmanis threw the ball just 15 times in that contest, a performance that was sandwiched between 44 passes vs Nebraska (wk 1) and 29 passes vs North Carolina (wk 3). Fleck must allow OC Greg Harbaugh to stay balanced with run and pass plays on Saturday night, even knowing he doesn’t need to throw in order to win.

Getting Athan’s confidence back up must be a focus vs lesser competition the next two weeks (NW and Louisiana), before Michigan rolls into Dinkytown on October 7.

4: Get an early lead – The Wildcats are down, right now. Many players are just trying to get through this season, before moving on, others are wondering what happens next. But media members close to the program believe football is secondary for this program, right now.

That means, if the Gophers take an early lead and accelerate through the 1st half, this one should be over by halftime. Far too often, in the PJ Fleck era, however, we’ve seen superior Gopher football teams allow inferior opponents to stick around and make could-be blowouts into unneeded nail-biters.

Minnesota needs to get up early and then step on Northwestern’s throat. Do not let a dying cat breathe.

Minnesota vs Northwestern Prediction and Expectations

I expect the Gophers to run all over the Northwestern Wildcats on Saturday night. What we’ll see from Athan Kaliakmanis is still TBD, both in terms of quantity and quality. Barring a turnover meltdown, I see Minnesota having their best offensive performance so far this season, a much needed confidence booster after the UNC debacle.

On defense, I expect the Fighting Joe Rossi’s to suffocate the Wildcat offense. The Gophers pride themselves on having one of the top defenses in the country. In order to get their season numbers back to that trend, they’ll need to bully Northwestern for all four quarters.

My Prediction: Minnesota 27, Northwestern 6

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

Read all of our Gopher football blogs at Minnesota Sports Fan

Both results from those morning contests helped to swing the doors wide open in the East and West races. That was good news for Minnesota, who thanks to Iowa’s loss, were gifted a chance to take sole position of first place in the the West.

Suddenly, a maroon and gold win at Ryan Field would mean more than bowl eligibility..

We’re just a couple of minutes away from Kickoff here at Ryan Field. With the Iowa loss earlier, the #Gophers can take sole possession of 1st place in the Big Ten West if they take care of business against Northwestern this afternoon.

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) October 30, 2021

Taking care of business

The Minnesota Gophers have played down to their competition throughout the PJ Fleck era and you don’t have to look any further than week 4 of this season, when they somehow found a way to lose to FCS Bowling Green at Huntington Bank Stadium. That wasn’t going to happen this weekend, though.

While the offense failed to punch the football into the endzone during their first two drives, instead settling for two field goals inside the Northwestern 10-yard-line, the defense picked up their slack, returning a fumble for a touchdown in the first quarter and giving up just 14 points on the day.

The Wildcats would score seven of those points early in the 2nd quarter to make the score 13-7 but that was as close as they’d get to catching the Gophers. Their last seven points weren’t scored until 6:37 remained in the game.

Tanner Morgan completed some big passes when asked, but mostly handed the ball to freshmen running backs Ky Thomas and Mar’Keise Irving. He’d watched them tear the home defense apart all evening long.

• (FR) Mar’Keise Irving: 19 CAR | 110 YDS | 2 TD | 5.8 AVG
• (RSFR) Ky Thomas: 21 CAR | 106 YDS | 5.0 AVG

Another MN running back bites the dust

Redshirt Senior running back, Bryce Williams, got the start at running back next to Tanner Morgan but he left the game on a cart after being injured on a nice catch and run in the 1st half. If his injury keeps him off the field for any period of time, Minnesota will have just two running backs left on roster.

Even in the 4th quarter of this win, I was worried about giving any more carries to Irving or Thomas. Losing another running back could derail what the Minnesota Gophers are building in 2021. Fleck shared my concern, entering linebacker Derik LeCaptain as the emergency running back during the last offensive drive.

In his only carry, he broke about three tackles and ran for a touchdown. Incredible.

LeCaptain. My Captain. #skiumah #rowtheboat pic.twitter.com/DKgZjY3ISS

— Alex Donovan (@AlexDonovan13) October 30, 2021

Kings of the West (for now)

The final score of Saturday’s blowout was 41-14, in favor of the Gophers. It was their second-greatest margin of victory on the season, behind the 30-0 shutout of Colorado in week 3. We knew the Gophers had a good chance of taking the West reigns after today but they still had to go out and prove it on the field. They did.

Beating the shit out of the Northwestern Wildcats doesn’t prove anything but PJ Fleck and Co have set themselves up for success with just four games remaining on the schedule (vs Illinois, @ Iowa, @ Indiana and vs Wisconsin).

With four games remaining, the #Gophers officially sit on top of the Big Ten West. pic.twitter.com/3LUnlCq76I

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) October 30, 2021

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

The Minnesota Gophers have canceled their scheduled Saturday matchup with he Northwestern Wildcats. Positive COVID tests have continued across the football team, now reaching 47 positives since November 19 (21 students, 26 staff).

Here is the statement from the University of Minnesota Athletic Department:

Minnesota Athletics announced today that its Dec. 5 game against Northwestern has been canceled and all team-related activities remain paused. The game will not be rescheduled and will be ruled a no contest, per Big Ten policy this season. 

The decision to cancel the game against Northwestern was made by Director of Athletics Mark Coyle, President Joan Gabel and Gopher Athletics’ Medical Director Dr. Brad Nelson after consulting with the Big Ten Conference.  

“The health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches and staff continues to be our main priority,” said Coyle. “The last couple of days have shown a decrease in positive cases, but not to the point where we are able to return to competition. We are disappointed not to be able to compete against Northwestern on Saturday, but we need to continue to focus on following all CDC and MDH guidelines and slow the spread of the virus. We will now shift our priority to doing everything possible to compete at Nebraska on December 12, and our decisions will continue to be guided by our medical experts.”

In addition to the Big Ten’s established daily antigen testing, Minnesota announced last week that it was implementing additional PCR testing. Minnesota will also conduct all meetings virtually for the remaining duration of the season.

Minnesota first announced a pause in all team-related activities on Nov. 24, after 15 individuals (nine student-athletes and six staff members) tested positive for COVID-19 during a five-day span from Nov. 19 – Nov. 23. The program announced 10 additional positive tests (three student-athletes and seven staff members) on Nov. 25 and an additional 15 positive tests (eight student athletes and seven staff members) on Nov. 28. 

Since Nov. 19, the program has experienced 47 positive cases, which includes 21 student-athletes and 26 staff (anyone in daily testing who is not a student-athlete) members. 

Athletics is working with MDH on its positive cases and is continuing to follow all CDC and MDH guidelines. Minnesota’s next update will be released on Thursday, Dec. 3.

The Big Ten Tournament bracket was just released and the Gophers (12-seed) will kick off festivities on Wednesday night, 5 PM CT, vs Northwestern. All games in this tournament will be broadcast on Big Ten Network.

Just like they did today vs Nebraska, Minnesota has dominated lesser competition all season. They’re problem… they haven’t played much “lesser competition” this season.

That’s why they are two games below .500 and still have a KenPom Ranking of 29. Indiana is 19-12, on the bubble to dance, and ranked 40 in KenPom. So, I expect the Gophers to dominate Northwestern just like they did earlier this season.

Then, our tournament hopes (both NCAA and NIT) could fall on a win vs Iowa on Thursday. That’s right, even with their high KenPom and NET ranking, the Gophers are in danger of missing the NIT Tournament.

Who knows what could happen if the Gophers were to upset Iowa. They are in the middle of the bracket so the best teams wouldn’t match up until Saturday… Illinois would be our quarterfinal game if we make it that far.

Hell, if we shoot like we did today vs Nebraska, we’ll win the whole damn tournament and dance when it’s over… but that won’t happen. A couple wins so we can watch Dan Oturu and Marcus Carr mop up the NIT would be nice, though.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

It was another beautiful November day of football in the Big Ten, late this morning in Evanston, Illinois. The tailgate lots were packed and the crowd was in the stadium and raucous early… Ok, I’m just kidding. This is Northwestern, we’re talking about. Kids who attend Northwestern don’t have time to attend silly football games. These guys/gals have futures to change and dreams to fulfill. When students spend 6 years at Northwestern, they walk away as doctors and lawyers. People who tailgate and attend football games when it’s below 40 degrees, take 6 years to graduate from St. Cloud State University with a Bachelor’s Degree they’ll never use.

So you can be successful, like this kid will be… or you can be like me.

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Video of a Northwestern recruit at today’s game: pic.twitter.com/YSoBZlN8RX

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) November 23, 2019

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The Gophers didn’t care how many people were there to watch, they came out of the gates with an apparent need to get the taste that was the Iowa start, out of their mouths immediately. Before the 1st quarter was over, they had two touchdowns on the board (1 passing, 1 rushing) and they were driving again..

..oh, they’d score on that 3rd drive too. It was 21-0 so fast, I started thinking about dinner options. Suddenly, going to the grocery store this afternoon was a possibility.

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“CLIMBING THE LADDER!”

Rashod Bateman's catch makes it 7-0 for @GopherFootball in Evanston. pic.twitter.com/ckSlNOHAWc

— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) November 23, 2019

First TD came by air.

This one comes on the ground.

Shannon Brooks scores and @GopherFootball leads 14-0. pic.twitter.com/Em1OTPJv39

— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) November 23, 2019

Pretty, pretty good throw and catch right here.@GopherFootball is up 21-0 in Evanston. pic.twitter.com/yPaHM3jgEZ

— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) November 23, 2019

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That was until the Gophers punt receiving team came out onto the field for their 4th punt return of the half…

The Minnesota special teams’ unit ranks 128 out of 130 FBS teams, according to ESPN FPI. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that comes back to bite us over the next 1.5 months. This is Minnesota… Our history has been built upon being fucked by our own special teams… Anyway, it bit us today. Demetrius Douglas decided not to fair catch a ball that took its first bounce at the 20-yard-line, before bouncing all the way to the 6. The very next play, Tanner Morgan dropped back and was nearly sacked, before throwing the ball to a sideline with nobody near it. He was still in the pocket so the pass was deemed “intentional grounding”, and Morgan was considered sacked for a safety.

At that point, the score was 21-2 and the game was still well in-hand… but the Gopher offense never looked the same again in the 1st half. Instead of driving down the field and cutting through the Northwestern defense like a hot knife through butter, they were now struggling to gain first downs. The same offense that racked up 174 yards and 3 TD’s on 13 plays, in the first 3 drives; ran 5 plays the rest of the half. Those five plays resulted in a punt and one interception…

But, they got the ball back after halftime and things would change drastically.

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Second half, coming up. #MINNvsNU pic.twitter.com/80UxA3HsDR

— Minnesota Football (@GopherFootball) November 23, 2019

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Whatever issues the Gophers had moving the ball at the end of the first half, were long forgotten by the time the 3rd quarter rolled around. The Gophers never had to run the punt unit out again, the rest of this game. They were moving the ball efficiently on all fronts. Tanner Morgan finished the game with 4 touchdowns and the three running backs plus Seth Green totalled 212 yards on the ground.

In the passing game, Tanner spread the ball around all game to Rashad Bateman and Tyler Johnson. They both ended with 7 grabs. Bateman got 3 touchdowns so Tanner made sure TJ got more yards, finishing with 125 and just 1 score.

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The hesitation. The move. The catch. That's 3 TDs for @GopherFootball's Rashod Bateman today.

Minnesota leads 28-9. pic.twitter.com/r6YMgfOUyz

— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) November 23, 2019

Up, up and … in.@GopherFootball's Tanner Morgan is just dealing TDs today.

Gophers lead 35-16. pic.twitter.com/JokbtT3PFk

— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) November 23, 2019

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The only issues in the 2nd half came on the defensive end. After knocking Hunter Johnson out of the game in the first half, Northwestern was down to their 4th QB, Andrew Marty, who they probably should have just started the game with. His threat on the ground and through the air seemed to give the Gophers some headaches. Hunter Johnson left the game with 0 completions on 2 attemps. Marty finished the game 8/10 for 1 TD while also carrying 16 times for 52 yards and 2 scores on the ground.

Hopefully, his success was based more on the lack of preparation time the Gophers had for him, and not anytything we need to worry about for the long term; because we now shift our focus to Wisconsin. They are starting their game right now vs Purdue. If they win, the Gophers will welcome the Badgers to TCF Banks Stadium next weekend, with the Big Ten West on the line… We are venturing into uncharted territory now,  Gopher fam… are you ready?

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via GIPHY

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Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

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What the fuck is happening in Vegas right now?

The Gophers play one good game this season against Purdue and now Vegas has them favored to take down Northwestern this weekend, who has already clinched a spot in the Big Ten Championship game, representing the West. I know there were some whispers around this game that had Minnesota pulling the upset but the idea that the Gophers are now favored to win, and thus clinch a bowl appearance, has me reaching for my inhaler…

Now, let’s go over some of the things that have pushed this line in the Gophers’ favor:

– Clayton Thorson, the Northwestern 4-year starting quarterback has been BAD recently. He hasn’t thrown for over 167 yards in any of their last 4 games. In those games, he had 5 interceptions to only 3 touchdowns, never achieved a 58% completion rate, and only topped a 100 Quarterback Rating once (vs. Notre Dame: 107.4). It’s been a rough stretch for the senior.

– The Northwestern Defense is highly touted but can struggle in the pass game. Although the Wildcats rank in the top-5 in both rushing and yards and touchdowns, their pass defense is sporadic. They post the 9th-ranked Big Ten defense in passing yards. They are also known for their “bend but don’t break” defensive mentality. Though they post a bottom-half passing defense yard-wise, they rank 5th in the amount of passing touchdowns they give up. The Gophers need to penetrate the goaline as if they are Brandon on Spring Break. No field goals here.

– Because the Wildcats have already clinched the Big Ten West, many are expecting them to take their foot off of the gas pedal. To add to that, someone on 92Noon with Paul Allen today told him that the Cats are already resting players this week due to Jimmy Butler Syndrome (general soreness). Can the Gophers take advantage of a team that might not be 100% ready on gameday, like they did last week?

It’s going to come down to defense and putting the ball in the end zone. 

If the defense that showed up for the Gophers last week is the same one that find themselves on the TCF Bank field on Saturday, the Gophers should win. Northwestern hasn’t been good on offense (as shown above) and will give the ball away. The Gophers need to take advantage. Meanwhile, they need to be determined to score touchdowns like Brandon. No settling for foreplay and blue-ball field goals. Get the fucking ball in the end-zone.

If the Gophers can do those two things, this should be a victory, a resulting bowl birth, and a winning streak heading into Wisconsin next week, to finish the season off with a run at The Axe.

Eric Strack
Minnesota Sports Fan

Follow @Realmnsportsfan