Minnesota Falls to Northwestern 49-48 in Double Overtime

The Minnesota football team (1-6, 0-4) dropped a double-overtime contest to Northwestern (4-3, 2-2) 49-48 at Ryan Field in Evanston, Ill. on Saturday, Oct. 13.

Minnesota suffered the loss despite 580 yards of total offense, its eighth-highest total offensive output in school-history. It was the Golden Gophers' highest yardage total since they had 587 against Illinois on Oct. 23, 2004.

The Golden Gophers' 48 points were also the most since Nov. 4, 2006 when they had 63 against Indiana.

Freshman Adam Weber had the second-highest total offense output by a Golden Gopher player in school history, and the most since Tim Schade had 536 yards on Sept. 4, 1993.

Weber also had six touchdowns (five passing & one rushing), went 25-for-38 for a career-high 341 yards, ran for 89 yards on the afternoon and had two interceptions. His five touchdown passes were the most since 1993 when Schade threw for a school-record six against Penn State.

Ernie Wheelwright had seven receptions for 116 yards and a career-high three touchdowns. His three touchdowns were the most by a Golden Gopher receiver since Logan Payne caught four against Temple on Sept. 16, 2006.

Jay Thomas also rushed for a career-high 100 yard on a 22 carries, while Amir Pinnix had 56 yards rushing and a touchdown.

Minnesota had several opportunities during the fourth quarter and overtime to try to put away the game.

Leading 35-28, the Golden Gopher lined up for a 44-yard field goal. The attempt ended up sailing wide to the right, keeping it at a one possession game with 1:59 remaining.

Northwestern got the ball and drove it down to the Minnesota nine-yard line. The Golden Gopher defense stiffened, and made it four-down-and 4 at the Minnesota four-yard line with 12 seconds remaining in the game. Northwestern stayed alive when Eric Peterman caught a four-yard touchdown pass from C.J. Bacher to tie the game at 35 with eight seconds remaining.

Minnesota got the ball first in overtime, and struck quickly on the third play of the drive with a 21-yard touchdown reception by Wheelwright to put the Golden Gophers on top 42-35.

On Northwestern's first overtime possession, Minnesota's defense held firm initially getting the Wildcats to 4^th-and-4 from the Golden Gopher 19-yard line. Ross Lane caught a 10-yard pass to get to the Minnesota nine-yard line to keep the game alive again. Two players later, Lane caught a five-yard touchdown pass to tie the game at 42.

Northwestern got the ball first in the second overtime, and Brandon Roberson put the Wildcats up 49-42 with a six-yard touchdown run.

Minnesota was facing 4^th-and-1 from the Wildcat 16 on its second overtime drive, when Justin Valentine kept the Golden Gophers' drive alive with a two-yard run. Three plays later, Weber kept the ball on a three-yard option run for his sixth touchdown of the day. Minnesota went for the win with a two-point conversion, but Weber's pass attempt failed as the Golden Gophers suffered the one-point loss in double-overtime.

The Golden Gophers started off the second half the same way it ended the first, moving ball crisply on offense. Minnesota started the drive on their own 49-yard line after Northwestern's kickoff went out of bounds.

Pinnix immediately ripped off a 37-yard run to get down to the Wildcat 10-yard line. After a holding penalty pushed Minnesota back to the 20-yard line, Eric Decker caught 20-yard touchdown pass from Weber to put the Golden Gophers ahead 28-14 at the 14:20 mark of the third quarter.

The Golden Gophers extended their lead to 35-14 with 6:18 remaining in the third quarter on a Wheelwright 28-yard touchdown reception. Weber started the drive with a 28-yard run. Minnesota had third-and-3 from the Northwestern 34-yard line, when Decker caught a six-yard pass to keep the drive going. The Golden Gophers ended up going 80 yards on 10 plays in four minutes and 15 seconds.

On the next drive, Northwestern got down to the Minnesota 11-yard line on four plays due in large part to a 45-yard reception by Lane. However, the Golden Gophers halted the drive when Deon Hightower forced a fumble by Rasheed Ward that was recovered by Dom Barber.

Northwestern got the momentum back when Malcolm Arrington intercepted a pass and returned it to the Golden Gopher 8-yard line. The Wildcats cut the Minnesota lead to 35-21 on an eight-yard touchdown reception to Lane with 1:33 left in the third quarter.

The Wildcats intercepted a Golden Gopher pass at the Minnesota 47-yard line to start the fourth quarter.

Northwestern cut the Minnesota lead to 35-28 with 10:31 remaining in the game, when Bacher rushed in from the Golden Gopher six-yard line on 4^th-and-2. Earlier in the drive, Roberson ran for a first-down on 4th-and-1 from the Golden Gopher 19-yard line.

The first half started off slow with just seven points between the two teams in the first 23 minutes of the game. The two teams made up for lost time with 28 points in the final six minutes and 57 seconds of the half, 21 of which came from the Golden Gophers.

Minnesota tied the game at 7-7 when freshman Marcus Sherels caught a 21-yard touchdown pass, the first touchdown of his career, from Weber at the 6:57 mark of the second quarter. The drive went 82 yards on six plays over the span of two minutes and 29 seconds. With the ball on their own 42-yard line, Jack Simmons made the key play of the drive as he caught a 37-yard pass from Weber to get down to the Northwestern 21-yard line. Sherels scored on the next play.

The Golden Gophers started a drive on their own 14-yard line with 5:02 remaining in the half. On the fifth play of the drive, Minnesota flipped the field position around on the Wildcats, as Tra Herndon caught a 60-yard pass from Weber to bring it down to the Northwestern 18-yard line. The 60-yard reception by Herndon was Minnesota's longest play of the year.

Pinnix gained the final 18 yards of the drive on back-to-back runs, capping off the drive with a nine-yard touchdown run to give Minnesota its first lead of the game at 14-7.

Northwestern responded quickly with a six-play, 73-yard drive in one minute and 27 seconds, capped off by a 28-yard touchdown pass to Tonjua Jones from Bacher to tie the game at 14.

On the next drive Minnesota started on its own 35-yard line with 1:23 remaining in the half, after the Wildcats received a penalty on the kickoff for kicking it out of bounds. The Golden Gophers drove it down to the Wildcat 26-yard line with 14 seconds left in the half. After an incomplete pass, Minnesota finished the half off with a spectacular 26-yard touchdown catch by Wheelwright from Weber to take a 21-14 lead into halftime.

Northwestern got on the board first to make it 7-0 when Roberson plunged in on a one-yard touchdown run to finish off a nine play, 67-yard drive that lasted 4:08. The key play of the drive came when the Wildcats had 3^rd-and-18 from the Minnesota 49-yard line. Roberson took a screen pass from Bacher and took it 47 yards down the Golden Gopher two-yard line to set up the touchdown.

Minnesota had a golden opportunity to tie the game. After a 16-yard punt return by Decker the Golden Gophers started a drive at the Northwestern 34-yard line. A 24-yard reception by Wheelwright got the Golden Gophers down to the Wildcat five-yard line later in the drive. After a pair of runs by Thomas, Minnesota had the ball at the Northwestern one-yard line on third-and-goal. Northwestern halted Minnesota twice at the one-yard line to deny the Golden Gophers their early scoring opportunity.

Northwestern took over at its own one-yard line. With the help of a couple of offsides penalties, the Wildcats got some breathing room as they got the ball out to their own 41-yard line. On the next play, Omar Conteh caught a 51-yard pass to get down to the Golden Gopher eight-yard line. Minnesota held strong, as Dom Barber knocked down a pass intended for Rasheed Ward on third-and-goal in the end zone to force a Northwestern field goal attempt. Amado Villarreal hit the goal post to miss the 21-yard field goal attempt for Northwestern.

Bacher finished 41-of-58 with 470 yards and five touchdowns (four passing & one running). Lane had 108 yards receiving and two touchdown receptions, while Petermen finished with 114 yards receiving and one touchdown reception.

Minnesota will be back in action on Saturday, Oct. 20 when it faces North Dakota State in Metrodome at 11 a.m. That game can be seen live on the Big Ten Network.

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