MINNESOTA—Northwestern’s first ever visit to TCF Bank Stadium(now in it’s second season)will be remembered as one in which they won even though they were their own worst enemy.Key turnovers in the red zone, missed tackles, three blown coverages, and another missed point after touchdown. But Stefan Demos kicked a 27 yard field goal with 2:07 left,and NU held on for a 29-28 win over host Minnesota. But this was like pulling teeth. NU(5-0, 1-0) deferred after winning the coin toss and after giving up a first down,forced Minnesota’s Dan Orseke to punt to NU’s Hunter Bates who fair caught the ball at his own 33. After Dan Persa ran and the Wildcats picked up a first down on the second play,Persa hit Demitrius Fields for 11 and from the Gophers 45, Freshman Tony Jones ran past the DB’s and Persa hit him in stride for an easy touchdown just 2:49 into the game for a 7-0 lead. Minnesota(1-4, 0-1) was then stopped ‘three and out’ and after another Bates fair catch,the Wildcats took over at their own 38.On a second down, Venric Mark fumbled and the Gophers took over at the NU 46. After an 8 yard gain by Duane Bennett, he then took advantage of a blown coverage in the Cats secondary and Adam Weber simply had to lob the ball to him for an easy 38 yard touchdown to tie the game. On the next series which began at the NU 26, Persa hit Jeremy Ebart twice in a row including a 29er to the 12,and Mike Trumpy,behind a couple of solid blocks,went around right end untouched and scored to make it 14-7 with 7:49 to go in the quarter.Another NU ‘stop’ followed and Persa carved up the Minnesota defense moving the ball to the 18, but after an incompleted pass and a two yard loss by Trumpy,and a hand to the face penalty on Minn, the Cats got a first and goal at the 10.Persa carried to the five,but lost the ball and Ryan Collado of Minnesota recovered,but it was ruled on the field that Persa was down by contact. The play was reviewed and was overturned,giving the Gophers the ball at their 4.The game’s momentum changed in Minnesota’s favor as the Cats continued to shoot themselves in the foot.The Gophers started moving the ball on the ground with Bennett and DeLeon Eskridge and got to their own 48 as the first quarter ended.The drive stopped at the 44 of NU and Orseke’s weak 20 yard punt died at the NU 24.And hurt by a false start penalty,NU went ‘three and out’ forcing Brandon Williams to ‘rugby punt’ and after a fair catch,Minnesota started at their 28. After an other blown coverage,on a play action,Weber hit his TE Eric Lair for 42 yards and he was knocked out of bounds at the NU 8. The Gophers promised some trick plays and delivered on first and goal as Bennett tossed a half back option pass to Lair in the end zone to tie the game 14-14 with 7:30 left-this instead of the Cats leading 28-0 which they likely would have,had it not been for the two fumbles. Ellestad’s kickoff went out of bounds,giving NU the ball at their own 40 to start.Persa ran 18 yds to the Minn 37 on a third and 16.After a false start, Persa had two incompletions give Minn the ball with 2:43 left at their 33.After getting the ball to midfield, Weber DaJohn McKnight for 20 yards,then a pass interference gave the Gophers a first and goal at the 8.Eskridge ran for four yards to the 4,and then took it four yards up the middle to give Minnesota it’s first lead,21-14 with :59 left,and the defuddled Cats took this sudden deficit into half time while Minnesota had all of the momentum.
NU received the second half kickoff and it was downed in the end zone for a touch back. Persa hit Charles Brown who lost the ball,then recovered it for 32 yards to the Minnesota 16.Trumpy went around RE for 11 to the five for a first and goal.Persa bootlegged and carried to just outside the one.Jacob Schmidt bowled over for the TD, but Stefan Demos,with a perfect snap and hold, missed the PAT wide left,allowing Minnesota to keep the lead 21-20.Minnesota picked up a first down on their next series,but was then stopped and punted to the NU 20. From there,the Cats picked up a pair of first downs on third down plays.Persa next tried to go deep to Ebart and pass interference on the Gophers Collado put the ball at the Minnesota 34.Persa picked up ten to the 20.After a Minnesota time out, Persa threw into double coverage and it went right to Michael Carter who picked it off and Minnesota took over at their 11, making it three NU turnovers to none for Minnesota.The fourth quarter stared with Minnesota ramming the ball down NU’s throat on the ground and the Cats defense looked helpless to stop it,giving up chunks of five yards or more per crack.On a 3rd down from the NU 25,there was yet another blown coverage-with Lair again the benefactor-being wide open up the middle and Weber hit him for the TD which with a good PAT by Ellestad,gave the Gophers a 28-20 lead.On the Cats next drive, Persa found Brown for 26 yards to the Minnesota 28.Two plays later,Persa threw a high pass that Ebert made a nice brag on in the back of the end zone, but on a two point attempt,Persa,under a rush, tossed a pass incomplete,leaving Minnesota with a 28-16 lead.After the kickoff,Minnesota started at their 23,and on third down, Weber was sacked for the first time in the game by Vince Browne, forcing a punt that Bates fair caught at the NU 36 with 6:14 left.Ebert made a 15 yard catch to midfield.On a third down, Persa ran around for 22 yards to the Minnesota 24.Persa then on a busted play ran again to the left side for 11 yards to the 13.Persa found Jones for nine yards to the four,making it third and 1.And after a hotgun formation,Persa lost a yard making it fourth down.After a delay of game penalty, Demos kicked a 27 yard field goal with 2:07 left to give the Cats their first lead of the second half 29-28. Minnesota took over at their 38.On a fourth down, Weber kept the Gopher alive with a 16 yard run to the NU 39.Three plays later it was another fourth down,this time from the 40 with :25 to go.Weber’s pass was then picked off by Ben Johnson to clinch the win.It was the only Gophers turnover of the game
NOTES—Persa rushed for 99 yards on 18 carries…..Minnesota’s Eskridge was 22-119…..Ebart caught 7 for 105 yards and a TD…..Attendance was 49,228.
LES
