UCLA throws over Gophers’ poor defense in 34-20 win
· Yahoo Sports
The Gophers tried to grind out offensive drives on Saturday and ended up mostly settling field goals, while eighth-ranked UCLA threw it all around Huntington Bank Stadium and scored touchdowns to remain undefeated.
Backup quarterback Ty Dieffenbach threw two 75-yard touchdown passes to Aidan Mizell in the fourth quarter to blow open a close game in a 34-20 victory.
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A four-point favorite, UCLA remains one of only three undefeated teams left in the nation besides Utah and Miami (Fla.), while Minnesota (5-3, 3-2) stayed one game away from bowl eligibility with a second-straight loss.
The U’s offense has been the team’s beleaguered unit all this season, and while that didn’t change Saturday, the Bruins (9-0, 6-0) surprisingly exposed a Minnesota secondary that suffered from blown and simply bad coverages all day long.
Dieffenbach had a career day with 303 passing yards and three TDs. After stepping in for starter Nico Iamaleava, the Cal Poly transfer had thrown for under 200 yards in three of his four games this season.
The Gophers defense gave up 6.4 yards per pass attempt this season (31st in the nation), while UCLA averaged an insane 18.9 on Saturday
The Gophers actually won the turnover margin (plus-1) against a Bruins team that had the second-best margin in the nation, but Minnesota scored only three points off two takeaways, while its special teams missed two field goals and had a punt blocked.
Minnesota had tied it 17-17 in the forth quarter.
After Lindsey hit Noah Jennings for a 27-yard gain, Lindsey connected with tight end George Rohl on a pop pass for a 4-yard touchdown to make it 17-17.
On the next play, Dieffenbach hit Mizell for a 75-yard score, while safety Kerry Brown ran behind.
Then Gophers settled for a 36-yard field goal from Luke Drzewiecki on their drive.
On the next play, Dieffenbach connected with Mizell for another 75-yard score as cornerback Aydan West couldn’t keep up.
Drzewiecki attempted two 56-yard field goals. Both went wide right and both were turned into UCLA touchdowns on each side of the half.
In the second half, Drzewiecki’s miss gave the Bruins good field position. Running back Wayne Knight caused cornerback John Nestor to miss a tackle and busted off a 31-yard run. Then quarterback Ty Dieffenbach hit Noah Fox-Flores for a 27-yard touchdown for a 17-10 lead.
On the last play of the first half, Drzewiecki made a 38-yard field to tie the game at 10-10.
Minnesota was able to deadlock the Bruins at 10-10 because linebacker Maverick Baranowski intercepted Ty Dieffenbach at the UCLA 44 with 55 seconds left.
The U defense had an ominous start.
On the opening drive, a coverage bust in the Gophers secondary led to a Dieffenbach hitting a wide open Semanj Morgan over the middle for a 54-yard gain. From the 16-yard line, Minnesota’s defense bowed up and held the Bruins to a 37-yard field goal and a 3-0 lead.
On the next drive, Drzewiecki’s 56-yard field goal attempt went wide right — his first miss in 15 attempts across this season.
With good field position, UCLA ripped off gains of 18, 28 and 12 before Wayne Knight used his speed and linebacker Matt Kingsbury took a poor angle on a 1-yard touchdown run for a 10-0 lead with five minutes left in the first quarter.
The Gophers cut the lead to 10-7 with Darius Taylor’s 3-yard run in the second quarter. That scoring play was set up with a conversion on third-and-5 earlier in the drive. Lindsey avoided a sack, rolled right and found tight end Jacob Simpson for his first catch of the season, a 21-yard gain to put the U in the red zone.