UCLA's passing attack dismantles Gophers defense

John Autey/Pioneer Press/TNS By Andy Greder / St. Paul Pioneer Press Today at 5:30 PM Listen Comments Share Share this article News Reporting News Reporting Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. The Trust Project What is this? MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Golden Gophers tried to grind out offensive drives on Saturday and ended up settling mostly for 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. ADVERTISEMENT “That’s the story of the game,” head coach P.J. Fleck said about that pair of blown coverages. “… There is supposed to be a post player, the post player is too far down (near the line of scrimmage) and not getting enough depth. It’s my responsibility to coach them better to make sure they know the depth of the defense matters more important than the (run fake). Simple.” A four-point favorite, UCLA remained one of only three undefeated teams left in the nation heading into Saturday night besides Utah and Miami (Fla.), while Minnesota (5-3, 3-2) stayed one game away from bowl eligibility with a second consecutive 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 overall had been pretty good this season. The Gophers’ defense had gave up 6.4 yards per pass attempt this season (31st in the nation), but UCLA nearly tripled that with an insane 18.9 average on Saturday. After stepping in for injured starter Nico Iamaleava to start October, Dieffenbach, a Cal Poly transfer, had a career day with 303 passing yards and three TDs. 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. MORE COLLEGE SPORTS: Jed Klang nears Cobbers TD catch record to help spark home win 58m ago 5 things you might have missed from UND's 2-2 tie with Western Michigan 6h ago Izzo's Insights: Trying to clear up the Mountain West tiebreakers 11h ago Minnesota had tied it 17-17 in the fourth quarter. ADVERTISEMENT Gophers quarterback Drake Lindsey, who completed 51% for 205 yards in the game, connected with Noah Jennings for a 27-yard gain. Then Lindsey connected with tight end George Rohl on a pop pass for a 4-yard touchdown to make it 17-17. “We were right where we wanted to be,” Lindsey said. On UCLA’s next play, Dieffenbach hit Mizell for a 75-yard touchdown as the U defense failed to be in the right spot. The Gophers churned out a 10-play, 66-yard drive that ended in a 36-yard field goal from Luke Drzewiecki. On UCLA’s next play, Dieffenbach connected with Mizell again for another 75-yard score as the U defense suffered another miscue. On each side of the half, Drzewiecki, who hit a 60-yarder in the 23-16 loss to Indiana last week, attempted a pair of 56-yard field goals. But both went wide right — his first misses of the year — and both were turned into UCLA touchdowns. 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 Dieffenbach hit Noah Fox-Flores for a 27-yard touchdown for a 17-10 lead. ADVERTISEMENT On the last play of the first half, Drzewiecki made a 38-yard field goal to tie the game at 10-10. Linebacker Maverick Baranowski intercepted Dieffenbach at the UCLA 44 with 55 seconds left to help set up the tying points. But the problems with the U defense were also apparent during an ominous start in the first quarter. On the opening drive, a coverage bust in the Gophers secondary led to 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 this season. With good field position, UCLA ripped off gains of 18, 28 and 12 yards before 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. Text Example ____________________________________ This story was written by one of our partner news agencies. Forum Communications Company uses content from agencies such as Reuters, Kaiser Health News, Tribune News Service and others to provide a wider range of news to our readers. Learn more about the news services FCC uses here. Comments Share Share this article News Reporting News Reporting Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. The Trust Project What is this? 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