MINNEAPOLIS -- Trailing at halftime by 11 to underdog Purdue, the Gophers had to do something.
Needing to jumpstart the offense, Minnesota took to the air. It did so with perhaps more success than the passing game has had all season, as quarterback Mitch Leidner had three completions go for more than 35 yards.
Each of the three deep passes helped set up Gophers scoring drives as Minnesota rallied from its halftime deficit to edge Purdue 39-38 at TCF Bank Stadium. If not for the resurgent passing attack, the Gophers might have been stuck with their first Big Ten loss.
"We did a good job offensively staying in there with the play-action pass and throwing the deep balls and getting big plays," said Gophers head coach Jerry Kill. "We had about three very, very critical plays throwing the football. Really, that was the difference in the ball game."
The first of the three big pass plays came early in the second half -- just three plays into the third quarter, to be exact. On first and 10 from its own 37-yard line, Minnesota lined up in a two-back set, trailing 31-20. Leidner faked a handoff to running back Donnell Kirkwood and spun to face downfield.
That's where he saw a wide-open Donovahn Jones streaking toward the end zone with no Purdue defenders near him. Leidner's pass was a bit behind Jones, who had to slow down and turn to make the catch. If Jones caught the pass in stride, it would have been six points.
Instead, it was still a 42-yard gain, Leidner's second-longest completion of the season at that point and third-longest pass in his two years at Minnesota. It was also the longest career catch for the sophomore Jones, who had previously hauled in a 35-yarder in the season opener against Eastern Illinois. Three plays after the long connection from Leidner to Jones, Minnesota was in the end zone on a 6-yard run by Leidner that cut Purdue's lead to 31-26.
On the Gophers' very next possession, Leidner one-upped his 42-yard pass with an even longer strike to senior wide receiver Isaac Fruechte. On second and 10 from the Minnesota 30-yard line, Leidner and the Gophers once again ran the play-action pass to perfection. After going in motion on the play, Fruechte ran a deep route down the middle of the field. Though he wasn't as open as Jones was one drive earlier, Fruechte had enough separation for Leidner to place the ball perfectly for a 45-yard pass down to Purdue's 25-yard line.
Like Jones on the earlier deep pass, Fruechte set a new career high for his longest catch in a Gophers uniform. Also like Jones' catch, Fruechte's grab helped set up another Minnesota score, this time a 20-yard field goal by Ryan Santoso to trim the deficit to 31-29.
But Leidner and his receivers weren't done going deep. After a Purdue touchdown once again made it a two-possession game, the Gophers took to the air to cut into the Boilermakers' lead. Late in the third quarter, Leidner found wide receiver KJ Maye deep downfield -- and it once again came after a play-action fake. On second and six from Purdue's 37-yard line, Leidner faked the handoff to David Cobb and connected on a pass to Maye as he broke toward the sideline inside the 15-yard line.
Maye did the work from there, diving over a Boilermakers defender and into the end zone for his first career touchdown. Just like that, the Gophers had three second-half pass completions of 35 or more yards after managing 22 total passing yards before halftime.
"In the third quarter, we needed to pass because the running game, they kind of picked up on that," Maye said. "We had to switch it up a little bit. We were down, so we had to make some big plays in the passing game."
The end result for Leidner was 165 passing yards in the game, 124 of which came on those three throws. Coming into Saturday's game, Leidner had just two career completions of more than 40 yards and only four total passes that went for 35 or more yards.
As the Gophers look to become a more dynamic offense as the season progresses, more plays like the ones Leidner made Saturday will certainly help.
"I think it was a big spark for everyone," Leidner said of the deep passes. "The receivers did a great job getting open downfield. The offensive linemen did a great job protecting. At that point after the first one, we knew we were going to be able to do some things downfield with these guys. Luckily we were able to keep taking some shots at them, and they were successful."
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