Michigan State seemed to represent a great hangover cure for the Gophers on Saturday.
Minnesota was able to sleep off the awful 41-3 loss at Iowa last week and welcomed a struggling Spartans squad to Huntington Bank Stadium. At 0-5, the Big Ten basement dweller had the worst scoring defense in the conference, a leaky offensive line and felt the need to make a starting quarterback change.
The elixir was working just enough as the Gophers led 10-0 at the half, but a pounding headache returned in the second half. The Spartans scored 17 unanswered points to take a 17-10 lead, yet in a two-minute drill, Minnesota put together a 65-yard drive to tie the game on a Drake Lindsey 1-yard run with 29 seconds left to force overtime.
Lindsey did it again in overtime with a naked bootleg run on third and goal from 3 yards out for a touchdown and Minnesota escaped with a 23-20 win.
With the narrow win, Minnesota (6-3, 4-2 Big Ten) reached bowl eligibility, while Michigan State (3-6, 0-6) lost after taking 20-17 lead with 35-yard field goal to start the overtime session.
The Spartans was allowing 32 points per game, but Minnesota managed to score roughly half that in regulation. Michigan State’s defense — led by former U coordinator Joe Rossi — stifled his former team for most of four quarters.
The Gophers’ first-half lead was curtailed, in part, to two underwhelming red-zone trips — a 30-yard field goal and missed 33-yard field goal just before the break.
Michigan State stepped through that opening with a 71-yard touchdown pass to Rodney Bullard on the opening drive of the second half. Gophers defensive backs Aidan Gousby and Kerry Brown botched coverage and tackling to allow the explosive play.
As Minnesota’s offense remained stuck, Michigan State tied the game 10-10 early in the fourth quarter. But the Spartans missed a 23-yard field goal with five minutes left in the game.
A bigger play from the Spartans offense came when Elijah Tau-Tolliver made multiple Gophers miss and broke off an 85-yard run and the Spartans punched it in two plays later.
Michigan State’s offensive line came into the game as one of the most porous in the Big Ten and Minnesota cashed in with six first half sacks. Minnesota got only one in the second half.
The Spartans made a surprising change at quarterback as redshirt freshman Alessio Milivojevic replaced junior Aidan Chiles. In his first career start, Milivojevic spent the first half running for his life and scraping himself off the turf.
The Gophers offense continued to struggle on its opening drive; they went three-and-out and settled another punt. Against FBS competition this season, Minnesota has a total seven punts, one field goal and zero touchdowns.
The U wasn’t much better on its second drive, another punt, but got going with a 49-yard cutback run from Fame Ijeboi. It was the second-longest run of the season behind Darius Taylor’s 71-yarder against Nebraska.
Filling in for injured Taylor, Ijeboi capped the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run to take a 7-0 lead.
After that, the Gophers put together their longest drive of the half, a 10-play, 51-yarder, but they have to settle for a 30-yard field goal from Brady Denaburg.
At the end of the half, Minnesota had a nine-play, 60-yard drive, with a 35-yard completion from Lindsey to Javon Tracy, but that drive also stalls in the red zone. The failed opportunity was exacerbated by Denaburg missing a 33-yard field goal wide right.
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