Gophers find the ground game and beat Illinois 25-17

And we finally beat Brett Bielema thanks to Darius Taylor’s 189 all-purpose yards.

Minnesota wins their 4th consecutive game as Darius Taylor rushed for 131 and had 58 yards receiving (on 9 receptions), leading the Gophers to a 25-17 road win over Illinois.

A close game throughout but the Gophers were the first to get on the scoreboard. Each team punted on their first possessions but the Gopher defense forced a turnover on Illinois’ second possession, giving the Gophers great field position.

Brosmer led the Gopher offense down to the Illini five converting two key third downs hitting Elijah Spencer for 13 yards on 3rd and 12 and then hitting Jameson Geers on 3rd and 6 to put the Gophers at first and goal from the Illini 5. But the drive stalled, ending with a Dragan Kesich 20-yard FG.

The Illini soon answered with an 11-play drive that tied the game in the 2nd quarter.

The kickoff gave Minnesota the ball on their own 35 and Taylor took over. The Minnesota offense scored on 8 plays, covering 65 yards. Taylor accounted for 48 of those yards, capping the drive with a 29-yard run, untouched into the end zone.

But once again, Illinois answered. Luke Altmyer was 4/4 on this Illini drive, moving the ball 75 yards and then Josh McCray made a few Gopher defenders miss as he sprinted 42 yards for a game-tying touchdown.

Brosmer and the Gophers managed to put together a nice drive to get into field goal position and Kesich hit from 45 with 19 seconds left to give the Gophers took a 13-10 lead into halftime. And they were to get the ball to start the 3rd quarter.

But the only scoring of the 3rd quarter was another Kesich field goal. This one from 38 and the Gophers took a 16-10 lead into the 4th quarter.

Having never trailed, Minnesota worked to hold off Illinois. But an unsuccessful fake punt gave Illinois the ball at near-midfield and it only took them 5 plays to score. Justin Walley went down with an injury and on the next play, they went at his replacement. The result was a 21-yard touchdown pass to Zakhari Franklin and the first lead for Illinois at 17-16.

But Brosmer wasted no time and got the Gopher offense moving again. On the drive’s second play, he hit Daniel Jackson in stride for a 37-yard gain down the sideline.

Taylor rushed for 15, Brosmer hit Jackson again, this time for 10 yards, then he found Spencer for 13 to get the offense set up at the Illini 5. On 2nd and 1, Brosmer used play-action to find Geers for the go-ahead touchdown.

After missing the 2-point conversion, the Gophers were up 22-17 and Illinois was getting the ball with 5:14 left. But the Gopher defense took over from this point. They forced an immediate turnover on downs, giving the ball back in field goal range.

The offense failed to move the ball, but connected on a 46-yard Kesich field goal to give a safer, 8-point lead.

But the defense took care of things again. This time it was a Jah Joyner strip sack at the Minnesota 16. Danny Striggow fell on the loose ball and it was victory formation for the Gophers.

The win was the team’s 4th in a row, it was the first time Brett Bielema has lost to a Minnesota team and the Gophers are sitting at 6-3 with three games remaining.

Up next, it is a trip to Rutgers before getting another bye week. The Scarlet Knights will be coming off their bye, after their last four games.