BERKELEY, Calif. — When P.J. Fleck connected the Gophers in July to a pie-in-the-sky goal of making the College Football Playoff, the U head coach underscored it with a need to take care of business in one-score games.
The dream was alive late Saturday night when Minnesota took a 14-10 second-half lead over California. But after Cal took a 17-14 lead, Minnesota’s special teams didn’t step up in the fourth quarter.
Advertisement
Kicker Brady Denaburg missed a game-tying 51-yard field goal and then U returner Koi Perich attempted to pick up a bouncing punt, but couldn’t grab it. Cal recovered it at Minnesota’s 8 and scored a touchdown three plays later in a 27-14 win at Memorial Stadium.
It obviously didn’t end up being a one-score game, but it was nip and tuck when Minnesota’s miscues added up and eventually devastated the U’s minuscule chance of making the CFP.
After two nonconference games against lesser competition, the Gophers (2-1) stated a string of 10 games against opponents from Power Four conferences over 12 weeks. The U was a 2-point underdog to Cal (3-0).
Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele out-performed Drake Lindsey. The Cal quarterback threw for 279 yards and three touchdowns and no interceptions. Lindsey had 189 yards, one touchdown and one interception.
Advertisement
Drake Lindsey bounced back his pick to start second half in finding Jameson Geers for a 3-yard touchdown pass and a 14-10 lead in the third quarter.
On the following drive, Sagapolutele completed five of six passes and capped it with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Mason Mini to retake the lead at 17-14.
Perich, who received preseason All-America praise, also made a mental mistake in fair catching a punt at the U’s 3-yard line in the first quarter.
After a Minnesota punt, Sagapolutele gave the Bears a 7-0 lead. The 6-foot-3, 215-pound signal caller had completions of 16, 18 and 22 yards before an easy three-yard touchdown pass.
Advertisement
He often kept plays alive in the pocket and completed 69 percent of his passes for 241 yards in the first half.
Counterpart Lindsey started much slower and the U punted on its first four drives. He got into a rhythm on the final drive, including three completions to Le’Meke Brockington.
Running back Cam Davis finished the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run.
With only 43 seconds left, Minnesota’s defense gave up 29- and 18-yard completions to help set up a 45-yard field goal from Abram Murray as time expired.
At halftime, Fleck told KFAN the U “didn’t play well” to start the game, but “weathered the storm” and he “loved the response” into the prevent defense’s lapses in the final few seconds.
Advertisement
Minnesota played without leading rusher Darius Taylor, who was ruled out after exiting the 66-0 win over Northwestern (La.) State with an apparent hamstring injury on Sept. 6.
Another running back, A.J. Turner, went down in the second quarter. He appeared to injure his left knee and didn’t put any weight on it as he left the field.
The Gophers were 3-0 in games on the West Coast under Fleck, with victories over UCLA last season, Fresno State in 2019 and Oregon State in 2017.
To prepare for this year’s late kickoff, the Gophers flipped its schedule and practiced at night midweek to best resemble the kickoff time of 9:40 p.m. Pacific time. The NCAA doesn’t allow practices after 10 and the U was on the field until approximately 9:30 on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Advertisement
