Tanner Morgan began the game with an 11-yard connection to Daniel Jackson but soon had his pass tipped at the line of scrimmage and intercepted by Tarique Barnes at midfield.

Illinois capitalized off of that turnover with an Isaiah Williams two-yard touchdown run. 7-0 Illini.

Led by Chase Brown, Illinois closed the first quarter by dominating the ground game. The Gophers defense has only allowed on average 92.9 opponent rushing yards per game, Illinois ran for 93 in the first quarter.

On the first play of the second quarter, Brandon Peters found Tip Reiman in the corner of the endzone for a 15-yard touchdown. Illinois took a surprising 14-0 lead.

Boye Mafe talked postgame about the difficult first quarter on defense.

“You can’t always enact from scout and watching film exactly how it’s going to be in the game,” said Mafe. “In the first couple drives we got to see exactly what it was like and learned what small adjustments we had to make.”

Minnesota on their next possession turned the ball over on downs with a failed 4th and one. Cole Kramer kept the ball for no gain. Kramer on the drive had two rushes for 13 yards and completed a 20-yard pass down the sideline to Ko Kieft.

The rest of the second quarter was a defensive slugfest as neither team scored. Illinois repeatedly went three-and-out every drive. The Gophers attempted a 45-yard field goal before halftime but it hooked wide left.

Thomas Rush made a key sack on the Illini’s first drive of the second half to force a punt. Illinois was driving near midfield and clicking on offense, unlike at the end of the first half.

Chris Autman-Bell on the next possession got injured after going up for a pass in traffic between two defenders that took him out of the game. It appeared that his head hit hard on the turf but he walked off under his own power.

To end the drive, Morgan was sacked by Owen Carney Jr. on 4th down for a loss of seven.

The Illini offense started to cook again on the next drive with Peters completing a 23-yard pass to Casey Washington, followed by a 12-yard run by Chase that would take the game to the end of the third quarter.

That Illinois burst proved to be all for naught as the Illini punted the ball back to the Gophers as the two teams traded three-and-outs.

“It was a combination of protection and drops,” Fleck said on the Gophers’ passing struggles. Fleck also said Illinois was implementing good blitz packages where they were inserting gaps and coming in from different depths and directions.

On the next drive, Morgan and the Gophers offense finally found their groove. Morgan went 7-9, throwing for 76 yards.

Morgan capped off his impressive drive with a fake hand-off and rushed to the left for a touchdown. After a Matthew Trickett extra-point miss, it was 14-6 Illinois with five minutes remaining.

Time oozed out for the Gophers on the next Illinois drive as they punted the ball down inside Minnesota’s 2-yard line with 72 seconds left.

Minnesota started the drive strong with Dylan Wright hauling in a 36-yard catch. Everything went downhill after that huge play.

Isaiah Gay sacked Morgan for a loss of 11 yards. Following that loss, Kerby Joseph intercepted Morgan’s pass intended for Brevyn Spann-Ford to seal the game.

“When you face adversity there’s two roads you can go down, said Mariano Sori-Marin. “You can go down the blame game or you can come together. I know how resilient we are, and I know when we come in tomorrow, we’re going to get down to work.

Minnesota plays No. 22 Iowa next Saturday in Iowa City.

If the Gophers win out they still have a chance to play in the 2021 Big Ten Championship in Indianapolis. “When you get to November, the goal every year is to be in the hunt,” said Fleck. “We’re still in the hunt.”

On the first drive of the game, Gophers defensive lineman Nyles Pinckney forced a fumble on Terrapins quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa. The ball was recovered by defensive back Coney Durr to set up Minnesota with a favorable field position around midfield.

Yet, the Gophers’ first drive went nowhere as the offense picked up a total of two yards and a Matthew Trickett 50-yard field goal sailed wide left.

Tagovailoa followed his lost fumble by connecting with his top target wide receiver Rakim Jarrett for a 38-yard strike to set up the Terps in the red zone.

An offensive pass-interference on Terrapins running back Tayon Fleet-Davis took Maryland out of the red zone leading to a successful 47-yard field goal by Joseph Petrino. The field goal put Maryland ahead 3-0.

The Gophers answered with a 37-yard field goal conversion by Trickett to tie it at 3-3.

Running back Ky Thomas exploded on the next Gophers possession for a 38-yard gain. That was followed by a Bucky Irving rush for 21 yards. The drive was capped off by a two-yard quarterback keeper by Cole Kramer. 10-3 Gophers.

Minnesota kept hammering the ground game as Thomas soon rushed 10 yards for another Gophers score, widening their lead to 17-3.

Maryland answered through the air. Wide receiver Marcus Fleming hauled in a 43-yard bomb thrown by Tagovailoa to insert them in field goal range. Fleet-Davis soon ran in the end zone for a 13-yard score, still trailing Minnesota by 17-10.

The half ended on a blocked field goal attempt by Trickett from 38 yards. Maryland had trouble recovering the ball downfield and corralled it too late to score in the endzone as the Gophers made a touchdown-saving stop.

Thomas rushed for 101 yards in the first half and Irving totaled 69 all-purpose yards.

“I thought Kenni Burns did a really good job of knowing who’s had the hot hand on which call, on what carry and on what drive,” said Fleck. Post-game, Fleck was happy with how much Kenni Burns has matured a young running back core without Ibrahim or Potts.

Minnesota ended their first two drives in the second half with touchdown runs from Bryce Williams and Irving. A 35-yard pass from Tanner Morgan to Mike Brown-Stephens was a key play to set up the first touchdown. Another completion put Minnesota up by 31-10 with just over five minutes left in the third.

“We executed our game plan how we wanted to at this point of the game,” said offensive lineman Conner Olson, who made a program record today with his 52nd career start. “A big philosophy on our offense is body blows so around the third quarter we like to see a little bit more give on the line as we are continuing to lean on them [opposing D-Line].”

Time of possession was soon dominated by the Gophers if it wasn’t already. Their 13-play drive that took 8:36 of playtime resulted in a 45-yard field goal from Trickett that padded Minnesota’s lead 34-10.

Mark Crawford had a light workload on Saturday as the Aussie’s first punt for the Gophers didn’t come until 5 minutes left in the contest.

Fleming hauled in a garbage-time 17-yard touchdown pass from Tagovailoa with less than two minutes left in the game. A failed two-point conversion brought the final score to 34-16. Both Thomas and Irving finished with over 100 yards rushing.

Morgan was very pleased with the “dominant” performance of his offensive line. “Seeing those guys being able to execute on every single play…it was phenomenal to see.”Morgan said.

Minnesota will face Northwestern on the road next Saturday, Oct. 30 at 2:30 p.m. CST

The Gophers started out slow and their rebound to Bowling Green’s offensive scores wasn’t enough on Saturday during the University of Minnesota’s homecoming at Huntington Bank Stadium.

Bowling Green and Minnesota traded punts to start off the game, with Chris Autman-Bell leaving the game after hauling in a 9-yard reception on the Gophers third play in regulation. Soon, Matthew Trickett converted on a 33 yard field goal to make the game 3-0.

The Gophers would not score another point for the rest of the half as The Eagles took a 7-3 lead at the half off of a Matt McDonald touchdown scamper. Bowling Green had luck letting McDonald run around all game long. Both of their touchdowns were goal line quarterback draws.

The second half was more of the same for the Gophers as the offense could never get going. Bowling Green on the day tallied four sacks on the experienced Minnesota offensive line. The Gophers lost 37 total yards as an end result.

Fleck told the media postgame, “couldn’t have played any worse…undisciplined…couldn’t get into any rhythm. 100% falls on me, this is 100% on me. I apologize to our fans.”

In the fourth quarter, Minnesota started out strong with a burst by RB Trey Potts for a 51-yard gain. But that run would prove to no avail as the Gophers lost 17-14. With 2:13 left in the game, Gophers QB Tanner Morgan threw a game-sealing interception. That was Morgan’s first of the game and it was intended for Dylan Wright.

The Gophers would get the ball back with 23 seconds left but Morgan would throw an interception with 17 seconds left down the middle intended for Mike Brown-Stephens. Tanner Morgan entered the game with 481 yards, 3 touchdowns and 0 interceptions.

“I did not respond well enough today,” Morgan said postgame. “That’s 100% on me. I don’t just say that to say that. I mean that.”

Against Bowling Green, Morgan was 5-13, throwing for 59 yards and 2 interceptions. The Gophers play at Purdue next Saturday at 11 AM CST on the Big Ten Network.

“We didn’t have it today, and that’s 100% on me…we just couldn’t get in rhythm in the passing game,” Fleck said. “This is a tough storm to row through, but we’re going to row right through it.”

Fleck also said that the Falcons threw some new blitzes at the Gophers that their offense wasn’t prepared to handle.

With that loss, Minnesota falls to 2-2 on the season. Their next game will be on the road against Purdue on Saturday Oct. 2 with an 11 a.m. kickoff time.

The Minnesota Gophers beat the Miami-Ohio RedHawks 31-26 on Saturday afternoon at Huntington Bank Stadium. 

Miami-Ohio returned starting quarterback Brett Gabbert and he fared better than his backup AJ Mayer in the previous week. The Gophers defense was too much for the Redhawks offense early but Miami got into their groove in the second half, nearly coming back from an 18-point halftime deficit to beat Minnesota.

To start the second quarter, Miami converted on a 46-yard field goal, trailing Minnesota 7-3.

On the next Gophers possession, Tanner Morgan threw a 25-yard dart to Dylan Wright running a post route for a score to increase their lead to 11 over the RedHawks, pulling ahead 14-3.

Daniel Jackson concluded the drive with a six-yard touchdown catch in the left flat to put Minnesota ahead 21-3 at the half.

After starting the second half with a sack on Morgan, Miami made adjustments on the field, bringing in Backup quarterback AJ Mayer, who threw a 26-yard pass to Jack Sorenson and capped off the drive by rushing for a 1-yard touchdown.

The Gophers struggled to create cohesive plays in the third quarter. Potts barely ran for a two-yard first down on a 3rd and 2 and on the next set of downs Wright tripped on turf in the middle of a slant route that would’ve been a sure-fire first down. The Gophers punted for the second straight possession.

Head Coach PJ Fleck attributed dropped balls as the main reason why the Gophers were so sluggish offensively in the third quarter.

The Redhawks offense continued to confuse the Gophers on the next drive. The drive ended with a Redhawks 45-yard field goal. Gophers 21-13.

After a second Minnesota 3-and-out in the third quarter with Miami-Ohio driving in Minnesota territory the 3rd quarter concluded.

In the 4th, Miami scored on a 23-yard strike by Gabbert to Sorenson for a touchdown to make the game 21-19. The RedHawks did not choose to attempt a two-point conversion due to a 5-yard sideline warning penalty, and settled for an extra point, trailing the Gophers just 21-20.

The Gophers’ next possession was nothing like anything seen in the third quarter. The drive featured five straight runs by Potts ending in a touchdown after freshman Mar’Keise “Bucky” Irving ran for a 43-yard kick return to make the game 28-20.

Gabbert next made his first major mishap of the game the next possession throwing a pass that was intercepted by safety Tyler Nubin.

The Gophers turned that turnover into points with a 53-yard kick by Matthew Trickett. This was the first 50+ yard successful kick of Trickett’s career which extended the Gophers lead to 11.

When Trickett walked on the field to attempt the field goal he said he was thinking “God’s got me,” Trickett said. “Trust my training, trust the guys around me and trust the guys up front to not let anybody through.”

Miami-Ohio responded by scoring directly after a 4th down roughing the passer call on Rashad Cheney Jr. that reversed a turnover on downs. An unsuccessful two-point conversion made the game 31-26, the eventual final score thanks Potts, who bulldozed his way for key first downs to prevent another Redhawks touchdown.

Fleck described Pott’s performance as ‘gutsy’ post game. “You don’t know how someone is going to react in that type of situation in that type of game”, Fleck said. “You know what Mo [Ibrahim]is going to do but Mo’s done that for years. Now Trey has shown what he can do.”

Potts didn’t expect to get such a ‘bell cow’ type of role in the backfield. He said, “when your number is called you have to go out and make a play”. Potts finished with 34 carries, 178 yards, 2 TD, and 5.2 yards per carry.

Minnesota will face Colorado in their first road game on Saturday, Sept. 18 at 12 p.m. CST.

Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the quarter in which Irving ran for a 43-yard kick return; it was in the fourth quarter. 

After sweeping then-No. 22 Northwestern, the Gophers softball team won three out of four games in its home series against the Nebraska Cornhuskers this weekend.

The star of the weekend was junior pitcher Autumn Pease, who tabbed a no-hitter with three strikeouts and a walk in a 2-0 victory over the Cornhuskers in the first game of a Saturday doubleheader. Pease is 10-1 on the season with a 1.29 ERA, 79 strikeouts and 14 walks through 16 appearances and 81.1 total innings pitched.

The Gophers also picked a win in a shoot-out on Friday night, coming back from a 7-6 deficit in the seventh inning and rallying to win 8-7 after scoring two runs in the bottom of the seventh. MaKenna Partain hit a single to score the tying runner, Carlie Brandt. Yet, the throw from Nebraska right fielder Tristen Edwards was off target, which scored the winning runner, Sara Kinch.

Kinch had a career day Friday, hitting 3-for-3 with a home run and two singles. She was the Gophers’ top batter in the series with three home runs.

In the third game of the series, the Gophers continued not allowing the Cornhuskers to score any runs in the concluding game of the doubleheader, with a dominating 9-0 victory. The Gophers achieved the shutout by a combined effort from starter Amber Fiser and Ava Dueck, who closed the last inning.

In the last game of the series Sunday, the Cornhuskers snapped Minnesota’s eight-game winning streak. Unlike in the second game, Nebraska got the bats going off of Pease. Pease allowed three earned runs and walked one while striking out one.

The Cornhuskers were able to bring in two runs off Fiser in the 6th inning, breaking a 4-4 tie. A home run by Edwards scored Billie Andrews and was the eventual deciding score as the Cornhuskers won 6-4. Fiser allowed three earned runs, walked three and struck out three.

Nebraska’s win over Minnesota on Sunday marked the Cornhuskers’ first win over the Gophers since 2015, breaking a 14-game losing streak.

Up next, the Gophers (22-6) take on the Iowa Hawkeyes (15-13) in a four-game home stand from April 23-25.

On March 30, one of the Gophers’ top golfers Angus Flanagan made the Great Britain and Ireland Walker Cup roster.

The Walker Cup is a match play tournament that occurs every two years between Great Britain and Ireland (GB&I) and the U.S. and has been played since 1922. The 48th Walker Cup will take place at Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Florida, from May 8-9.

“It’s always been a goal of mine to have four years of school and then play the Walker Cup during my senior year, or the end of my senior year,” Flanagan said. “I was at Seminole in 2016 playing with my dad and we met the head pro there and that’s actually how I ended up playing at Minnesota. So it’s a funny story how Seminole got me to Minnesota, and now that’s where I’m going to play the Walker Cup. It’s come full circle.”

The connection that Flanagan met at Seminole was Bob Ford, who was a head professional at Oakmont Country Club in Pittsburgh until 2016 and will retire at Seminole this June. When Gophers head coach Justin Smith was playing professionally, Ford was a mentor to Smith. Both are originally from Pennsylvania.

Flanagan recently played Seminole last winter break, so he’ll bring familiarity with the course when he represents GB&I in the Walker Cup this May.

Flanagan is also good friends with eight of the members on the GB&I squad, who attend schools across the country such as Wake Forest, Louisville and Stanford. He also has a family friend from Scotland that played in a Walker Cup that he has been in contact with for advice on the event.

“This past year I’ve played in my first two PGA events [3M Open and Genesis Invitational] and now I get to play in the Walker Cup, which is the pinnacle of amateur golf,” Flanagan said. “It is pretty surreal given the circumstances with COVID-19.”

The U.S. has won the last two Walker Cups and needs 13 points to get a third straight. GB&I will need 13.5 points to bring it back to Europe.

Flanagan thinks his team will have the advantage because Seminole is a tropical course with heavy gusts from the ocean, which is similar to what it is like playing across the pond on the English and Irish coasts.

“In theory, Seminole should suit us guys from back home because we can hit the ball low and we’ve played a bunch of wind golf before, so it should be a good one,” Flanagan said.

Flanagan is the second Gophers’ golfer to compete in the Walker Cup, following former Minnesota hockey and golf player John Harris who represented Team USA four times.

In his current collegiate season, Flanagan is ranked No. 9 in the PGA Tour University rankings and leads the Gophers in scoring average (72.08), rounds under par (6), lowest round of 18 (68) and lowest 54-hole score (207). His 71.67 scoring average in the 2018-19 season is currently third in program history, and his average this season would place him top-10 in program history.

Flanagan also won co-Big Ten Golfer of the Week honors after winning the Boilermaker Invitational with a score of 9-under. This was Flanagan’s third individual title after winning the Macdonald Cup in 2019 and being a co-medalling at the 2019 Big Ten Championship.

Minnesota as a team finished tied for third with host-team Purdue this Sunday at Kampen Golf Course.

The Gophers women’s hockey team, the fourth seed, faced off against top-seed Wisconsin in the opening game of the 2021 WCHA Final Faceoff. They played an even game throughout the first half of the first period but ultimately fell 5-3.

Wisconsin forward Sophie Shirley scored the first goal of the game off of a textbook lead-in pass from Britta Curl on a two-on-one breakaway. With Shirley’s 10th goal of the season, the Badgers went up 1-0 midway through the first and kept that lead until the end of the period with eight shots on goal apiece.

In the second period, the Badgers got another close opportunity in front of the net with forward Makenna Webster converting on a goal to make the game 2-0. The Gophers soon answered with an Abbey Murphy goal from the slot to diminish the Wisconsin lead back to a one-goal advantage.

The Badgers ended the period with a 3-1 lead after Webster scored her second of the game. The Badgers finally converted on their fourth power play opportunity after previously going 0-for-3. The Gophers did not have any power plays at this point of the game and finished 0-of-1 with a chance midway through the third period.

To start out the final period, Lauren Bench replaced Makayla Pahl as goalie for the Gophers. And with less than three minutes elapsed in the period, redshirt junior forward Amy Potomak scored her third goal of the season to make the game 3-2.

Gophers head coach Brad Frost said there was a needed change after the second period.

“I felt like Lauren could come in and jump-start us a little bit,” he said. “I wasn’t planning on playing both goalies tonight, but that’s how it worked out.”

The Badgers ended up returning the lead to a two-goal advantage as freshman forward Lacey Eden swooped in on an unsuspecting Bench, who left the net empty trying to pass to another player. A rare easy opportunity ended up costing Minnesota the game, even with the Gophers managing to bring the game back to 4-3 with a late Grace Zumwinkle goal.

Wisconsin added a late goal with only seconds left from Curl. Minnesota outshot Wisconsin 26-23 but still came up short.

“Tough result here tonight, but man, I thought our team played well,” Frost told Gopher Sports. “As a group we defended well and were on it. I know saying we defended well and giving up five doesn’t often times make a whole lot of sense, but I just loved how our team competed.”

“We got down a couple goals a couple times and got it to one and had a ton of momentum, and unfortunately, whether it was being in the box too much or not catching any bounces, the result did not end up the way we wanted it to.”

By losing to Wisconsin, the Gophers will not receive an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament after failing to win the WCHA championship. They will wait until Sunday at 8 p.m. to see whether they make the tournament.

Brayton Lee has been one of the top wrestlers for the Gophers wrestling team this year, going 7-2 over nine matches in the 157-pound weight class with his most notable win against then-No. 6 Kendall Coleman of Purdue. Lee is currently ranked No. 6 in the nation at 157.

In 2020, Lee was situated at 149 pounds and made the jump to 157 for the 2021 season. It hasn’t made much of a difference to the redshirt sophomore from Brownsburg, Indiana.

“I mean, it hasn’t been too much different,” Lee said. “The guys, I think some of them are a little bit longer; their frames are a little bit bigger. But I haven’t really had a moment where I’ve really thought these guys were a lot stronger and bigger.”

Lee also said the reason for the switch was natural. He had to diet to stay at 149, and 157 is around his regular build, so it takes some mental pressure off his mind when making weight each week.

Next on the agenda for Lee and the rest of the team is the Big Ten championships. The brackets aren’t finalized for Saturday yet, so Lee still isn’t sure who he’ll be facing when he hits the mat.

But, he was glad to have wrestled the best 157-pound wrestler in the Big Ten — No. 2 Ryan Deakin of Northwestern — in the last dual of the regular season. Cleaning up some areas going into a possible future matchup against Deakin and capitalizing on more opportunities next time is important for Lee.

Lee said practicing for the upcoming Big Ten championships has been mostly light, focusing on technique, and once in a while the team will “rev it up” to simulate possible matchups. Lee is looking to come out as loose as possible; he knows he won’t be as anxious or nervous as when he competed in the event last season — the team’s last showing before the pandemic.

“The Big Tens are really a fun atmosphere,” Lee said. “With no fans it could be a little different, but being there for your teammates, going out there watching them and then coming back into the back room — this weekend always offers really good excitement.”

The Big Ten championships will take place at Penn State University from March 6 to 7.

The No. 12 Gophers wrestling team picked up its fifth straight win on Sunday, topping No. 11 Northwestern 29-10 in the team’s final dual of the regular season.

To start at the 157 pound weight class, Minnesota’s No. 6 Brayton Lee took on top-ranked Ryan Deakin. Deakin dominated Lee in a 12-0 major decision as Northwestern took an early 4-0 lead.

Following Northwestern’s early win, Minnesota rattled off six straight wins to pull away in the dual. At 165 pounds, No. 17 Andrew Sparks defeated Northwestern’s David Ferrante in a 14-11 decision. At 174 pounds, No. 16 Jake Allar won a narrow 6-5 decision over the Wildcats’ Troy Fisher.

Minnesota started to pull away when Isaiah Salazar pinned Jack Jessen at 184 pounds, and Garret Joles picked up a decision at 197 pounds, giving the Gophers a 15-4 advantage.

Soon after, No. 1 heavyweight Gable Steveson beat Jack Heyob in a 16-1 technical fall win to increase Minnesota’s lead to 20-4. The win marked Steveson’s third-straight undefeated regular season, and the top-ranked heavyweight has rattled off 26 straight wins.

“I felt good about our team’s last dual. In the Big Ten’s, I know it’s going to be a big challenge, but this right here in Maturi is where the money starts, and we have to get all the bread in March 6-7 like we did today,” Steveson said.

Upset wins also occurred after Steveson’s match, including No. 11 Patrick McKee winning a 9-6 decision over No. 4 Michael DeAugustino in the 125 pound weight class. Michael Blockus also won a 3-2 decision over No. 12 Yahya Thomas in the 149 pound weight class.

“I loved Pat McKee’s body language today, and besides one fortunate event for Northwestern, he really dominated that match. Blockus also had a great one, too, knocking off the 12th ranked guy. He’s tough as nails, and we as a coaching staff, we’re just waiting for him to get a great opportunity to show that,” Gophers head coach Brandon Eggum said. “Salazar also stepping in at [1]84 as a true freshman, competing at such a high level today was also awesome to see.”

At 133 pounds, Chris Cannon pinned Minnesota’s Boo Dryden, and at 141 pounds, Marcos Polanco earned a 3-1 decision victory over Colin Valdiveiz. Blockus’ upset rounded out the win for Minnesota, and the Gophers walked out of Maturi Pavilion with a winning streak and momentum heading into the Big Ten Championships.

“We are taking a couple days to recover this week, and then our practices will be individualized for the guys that will be competing, working on specifics for them that we want to see in Pennsylvania,” Eggum said.

The Big Ten Championships take place on March 6-7 at Penn State.

The Gophers wrestling team earned its third straight dual victory, defeating No. 9 Illinois 25-13 on Friday at Maturi Pavilion.

To open the match, No. 7 Patrick McKee won a tight contest 4-2 against No. 13 Justin Cardani in the 125-pound match as the Gophers quickly jumped out to a 3-0 lead.

Up next, No. 19 Boo Dryden faced No. 20 Lucas Byrd at 133-pounds in a match where Byrd tallied two takedowns en route to an 11-3 major decision over Dryden. This gave the Fighting Illini their first lead at 4-3.

After that, Marcos Polanco battled No. 13 Dylan Duncan in the 141-pound weight class. Polanco managed to get a two-point reversal in the contest, but that wasn’t enough to win as Duncan topped Polanco 4-2. This victory put Illinois at a four-point advantage.

At 149 pounds, Michael Blockhus and No. 8 Mike Carr competed in a close battle with Carr completing two takedowns. Blockhus notched three escapes, but couldn’t close the deal and fell 5-3. With three straight victories, Illinois started to pull away, taking a 10-3 lead.

At the 157-pound weight class, No. 6 Brayton Lee started off with a takedown over Johnny Mologousis and didn’t look back. Lee racked up 10 takedowns as he rolled to a technical fall win 26-8 that bolted the Gophers back in the contest 10-8. This was Lee’s fifth technical fall win.

Starting the second half of the match, in the 165 pound class, No. 15 Andrew Sparks took on Luke Odom. Sparks, following Lee, had nine takedowns and defeated Odom 21-7 in another major decision victory. The two dominating performances put the Gophers back on top 13-10.

At 174-pounds, No. 16 Jake Allar defeated DJ Shannon 8-3. Shannon didn’t let Allar get a big lead early, but still came up short as the Gophers pulled away further, 16-10.

A top-15 duel was featured in the 184-pound match, with No. 15 Owen Webster vs No. 7 Zac Braunagel. Webster lost to Braunagel in a tight match during the Big Ten Championships last spring.

After two periods the score was deadlocked at 2-2, with Webster nabbing a takedown and Braunagel escaping twice. With a clutch escape in the third period, Webster completed the decision upset with a 3-2 score, giving the Gophers a 19-10 advantage.

Garret Joles took on Matt Wroblewski in an unranked match at 197-pounds. In the third period, Joles made an escape to even the score at 4-4. The match went into overtime and Wroblewski completed a takedown to win 6-4. Illinois made a dent into the Gophers lead with one match to go, trailing 19-13.

For the finale, the marquee heavyweight matchup between No. 1 Gable Stevenson and No. 6 Luke Luffman ensued and it didn’t last long. Steveson notched his 10th career pin, this one coming in just 34 seconds to secure the Gophers’ victory.

“That pin was big,” Gophers head coach Brandon Eggum said of Steveson’s fall victory. “It’s not easy to get bonus points versus one of the top six guys in the country. Owen and Brayton also gave us a lot of room for error which is always a nice thing to have going against a talented team like Illinois.”

The Gophers have won three straight contests after dismantling Purdue 32-4 in Piscataway, New Jersey and going on to defeat the host, No. 24 Rutgers 21-18. Up next, they travel to Madison, Wisconsin to take on the No. 17 Badgers.