The Gophers football team won against the Michigan State Spartans in their first overtime game of the season.
Gophers redshirt quarterback Drake Lindsey had a 3-yard run into the end zone for the final play of the game, making the score 23-20. This marked the sixth consecutive home game win for the Gophers, their longest home win streak since 2019.
The week before playing the Spartans, the Gophers suffered a big loss against rival Iowa. After the 41-3 loss, Lindsey said that it was the toughest game of football he had ever played.
“I didn’t play my best, so I just gotta look at it in a mature way and learn from it, because it happens to all quarterbacks that have played the game,” Lindsey said. “There’s going to be ups and downs at this position, so you just gotta look at it and move on.”
The next week, when playing against the Spartans, it was clear Lindsey had moved on. The young quarterback had a total of 197 passing yards against Michigan State, compared to his 109 passing yards and three interceptions the week before.
The rushing offense improved as well. Minnesota rushed for 104 yards against the Spartans, but a notable increase from their meager 24 yards against the Hawkeyes.
Junior running back Darius Taylor did not play in the game against the Spartans due to an unspecified injury, but redshirt freshman running back Fame Ijeboi stepped into the role with ease. He accumulated 108 yards on the ground.
Gophers head coach P.J. Fleck repeatedly said the phrase “Row the Boat” and how it is about never giving up.
“What our team showed tonight, though, was exactly the resolve, the resiliency and what Row the Boat is all about, and I am so darn proud of them,” Fleck said.
The Gophers led the first half of the game 10-0. During the second half, the Spartans fought back.
It was the Spartans’ redshirt freshman quarterback Alessio Milivojevic’s first time starting a Big Ten football game. He was able to throw 311 passing yards that helped the Spartans take the lead for the first time with less than two minutes left in the fourth quarter.
This did not stop the Gophers. Lindsey took nine plays to move the offense up 65 yards, where they scored on a two-yard run, tying the game and bringing it into overtime.
Lindsey said he had no doubt in his mind that the offense would be able to clutch the game in the end.
“We’ve been in this position multiple times — where it feels like we have to go do something, where we maybe not played our best game — but when it comes, it comes down to it, it is what we are built on,” Lindsey said. “It is what we do, we finish games, and that’s exactly what our offense did.”
