Minnesota get the most of final drive to sink Ohio to 3-1 on season.
Ohio got plenty of help from Minnesota’s special teams in its only Big Ten venture of the season.
Unfortunately, miscommunication and other struggles at the line of scrimmage undid much of that help.
Minnesota rallied on its final drive, while shutting down a late effort by Ohio (3-1), to escape the Bobcats 27-24. The Bobcats fall to 3-1 on the season, losing in their first game against a Big Ten team since their 2012 season-opening victory against the Nittany Lions.
Minnesota quickly cut the Ohio’s first drive of the game short, but it wouldn’t have that easy of a time the next possession. Starting deep in its own territory, Ohio used two passing plays to march down the field, the first of which came on a 38-yard reception by Keith Heitzman. Just three plays later, quarterback Derrius Vick settled into the pocket and launched a pass into the endzone that found the arms of Papi White for the first points of the game.
It wasn’t long after that when both offenses began banging on all cylinders.
Minnesota pieced together its first scoring drive early in the second quarter, using five runs and totaling 75 yards to reach the end zone and tie the game.
Vick used his game-management skills on the Bobcats’ next drive, completing six of seven passes to drive the Bobcats down the field while eating over six minutes of the clock. Three of those passes found the hands of Sebastian Smith, all of which came on third down, including a go-ahead, 10-yard strike that put Ohio back in front, 14-7.
Quarterback Mitch Leidner paced the Gophers’ offense with both his arms and his legs on the subsequent drive, passing for 41 yards before running for the final seven to tie the game once again at 14 apiece.
{{tncms-asset app="editorial" id="65b08698-64a2-11e5-b40d-b75f7e3e91dc"}}
After that score, Ohio struggled to put together momentum for itself on offense, though the defense was enough to keep the Bobcats well within contention. Ohio allowed just a field goal in the third quarter.
From there, it was the Gophers’ special teams that transferred momentum to Ohio. On the Bobcats’ third punt of the half, Minnesota committed its fourth special teams muffle of the game. This one, however, was the first to be picked up by Ohio, as Heitzman picked up the loose ball and carried it all the way to Minnesota’s 11-yard line. Two plays later, running back A.J. Oellette found a crease and ran in his second touchdown of the season to regain the lead for Ohio.
Ohio then turned a stop on defense into another successful drive, putting three points on the board from kicker Josiah Yazdani to force Minnesota into needing a touchdown on its final drive, with just 2:36 remaining in the game.
It was a challenge that the Gophers fittingly met.
The Gophers were able to chew up yards on each play it ran, mixing runs with passes to comfortably get all the way to Ohio’s 5-yard line. An offside penalty on Ohio put Minnesota at the 3-yard line, where running back Shannon Brooks took a handoff and ran it in for the game winning score with 30 seconds remaining.
Even with little time left, Ohio still had its shot at the end.
Daz Patterson was able to run the kick back all the way to just inside Golden Gopher territory, where the Bobcats had 21 seconds and a timeout to get within field goal range to tie the game. Vick was finally made vulnerable, however, and was unable to complete a pass to get the Bobcats into field goal range, and Ohio was forced to settle for an unsuccessful hail mary toss as time expired.
It could be a tough loss to swallow for Ohio, not just for how close they came to victory, but for how many opportunities it had to help itself more than it did. Minnesota committed four muffles on special teams, with Ohio recovering just one. The Gophers also muffed a kickoff near the sideline to pin themselves deep inside their end of the field, while also giving up a 56-yard return to Patterson on the final kickoff.
Ohio clotted these struggles with penalties, though. The Bobcats committed nine infractions in the game, totalling 51 yards, most of which came in pre-snap situations.
aw987712@ohio.edu
@_tonywolfe_
