30 September 2023
The Gophers shook off an early hangover on homecoming Saturday and finished strong for a 35-24 victory over Louisiana at Huntington Bank Stadium.
It was the opposite formula from last week’s fourth-quarter collapse at Northwestern. Coughing up a 21-point lead on the road to the Wildcats last Saturday seemed to linger as Minnesota again struggled against a double-digit underdog.
Louisiana took a 17-14 halftime lead, but Minnesota (3-2) took over in the second half and pushed the 11-point spread versus the Ragin’ Cajuns (3-2).
Gophers coach P.J. Fleck put the Sun Belt Conference school away with a fourth-quarter decision to go for it on fourth down. With three yards to go from Louisiana’s 38, a play-action pass from Athan Kaliakmanis found a wide-open Daniel Jackson for a touchdown.
That play call is what Fleck didn’t do against Northwestern last week, when he opted to punt and the Wildcats were able to complete a stunning comeback.
On Saturday, Minnesota took a 35-17 lead with that play-to-win play call, but poor linebacker play continued to bite Minnesota as Maverick Baranowski missed a tackle on a 52-yard touchdown run for the final margin.
Minnesota played without the Big Ten’s leading rusher — freshman Darius Taylor missed the game with a leg injury — but had success with a by-committee approach for 201 total yards.
Zach Evans, who did not have a carry through four games, had 10 carries for 74 yards and a touchdown. Bryce Williams had 15 carries for 53 yards; Sean Tyler added 10 carries for 47 yards.
The Gophers had a strong third quarter, retaking the lead at 21-17 with an 18-yard touchdown run from Evans and two Louisiana turnovers, the first on downs and the second a Tyler Nubin interception.
Louisiana’s backup quarterback Zeon Chriss had a strong first half with two touchdowns, then a bad second half with two interceptions.
Chriss totaled 168 yards in the first half — 101 passing and 67 rushing — and his two passing touchdowns came against the U’s best defensive backs — Tyler Nubin and Justin Walley.
Nubin and Jack Henderson intercepted Chriss in the second half.
Minnesota started the homecoming game flat, allowing Louisiana’s offense to put together a long touchdown drive to start the game. It took 10 plays, but that was only because they failed to hit on open passing plays earlier in the drive.
U kick returner Quentin Redding fielded the ensuing kickoff and stepped out of bounds at the Gophers’ 4-yard line. Minnesota’s offense then went three-and-out on its opening drive.
Gophers took its only first-half lead, 14-10, with seven minutes to go in the second quarter. But Louisiana put together its third long scoring drive of the half to take a 17-14 lead. The Rajun’ Cajuns had scoring drives spanning 75, 64 and 75 yards.
With Cody Lindeberg (leg) out for a fifth game, the Gophers’ young linebackers continued to have issues in space and turned to walk-on Tyler Stolsky to try to change that.
With 1 minute and 47 seconds left in the first half, Minnesota didn’t have pace to start its final drive, and some fans at Huntington Bank Stadium booed the approach.
After a first down, the U picked up the tempo, but Kaliakmanis overthrew Corey Crooms Jr., and Louisiana safety Tyrone Lewis intercepted the bad pass.
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