This post was updated Nov. 7 at 2:15 p.m.
MINNEAPOLIS — Row. Row. Row.
The chant engulfed Huntington Bank Stadium prior to kickoff as fans pulled on imaginary oars.
The mass of bodies rocking back and forth in their seats gave the illusion of movement, as if the stadium was actually attempting to “row the boat” – the motto embraced by the landbound Golden Gophers.
But fans could not generate enough momentum to carry their team through four quarters, and No. 8 UCLA football (9-0, 6-0 Big Ten) sailed to a 34-20 win over Minnesota (5-4, 3-3) after a deadlocked first half Saturday morning in Minneapolis. Senior quarterback Ty Dieffenbach’s two fourth-quarter connections with senior wide receiver Aidan Mizell for 150 yards accounted for nearly half of the Bruins’ total passing yards.
“They’re putting us in the right positions to make plays,” Mizell said. “I’m a fast guy. He sends me deep. It’s just what happens.”
The Bruins’ opening drive began promisingly when Dieffenbach linked with senior wide receiver Semaj Morgan for 56 yards. But whatever defensive oversight left Morgan wide open downfield meant Minnesota had buckled down on stopping the run, and UCLA’s efforts to get fifth-year running back Wayne Knight cooking in the red zone were ineffective to start.
So when senior offensive lineman Riley Robell went down with an injury in the second quarter, UCLA’s front continued to be challenged in a half that saw just 58 rushing yards on a 3.6-yard-per-carry average.
Even before Robell’s departure, UCLA’s ground game was uncharacteristically slow at the beginning. However, settling for a field goal was enough to get early points on the board for the Bruins – who are the third ranked team the Golden Gophers have faced in as many weeks.
“The creativity in it comes from the amount of defense we were going to see from these guys,” said coach Bob Chesney of Minnesota’s defense. “One in particular – free safety blitz – shows up over and over again. We had two things for that we felt confident about could be huge runs, and just missed a block on one of them, and they just played good defense.”
The battle of the running backs – helming two Big Ten teams with ground-heavy offenses – pitted Knight against Golden Gophers running back Darius Taylor, who has led his team’s driving efforts for most of the season.
Fittingly, it was Knight and Taylor who earned the first touchdowns for their respective teams. UCLA’s scoring drive in the latter half of the first quarter was made possible by Dieffenbach getting in on the running action himself, something Bruin fans have seen more of as he settles into his new QB1 title.
“I’m going to keep gaining confidence and just showing the guys like, ‘Heck, I can play too,’” Dieffenbach said. “Coach Chesney tells me every day, ‘Just keep playing with confidence, we got you.’”
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Knight tied a bow on the drive by closing out the final yard on third down, marking his 13th rushing touchdown of the season – a Big Ten high. And three drives later, Taylor completed a short gain on third down – a diving effort that was initially reviewed – to find the end zone.
While Minnesota’s first-half offense was able to extend possessions and encroach UCLA’s side of the field – led by wide receiver Jalen Smith’s 85 total yards on five receptions – two botched field goals by kicker Luke Drzewiecki in his first two misses of the year left the Golden Gophers tied at 10 entering halftime.
Golden Gophers quarterback Drake Lindsey continued to struggle with offensive decision-making – a pattern that has emerged in recent games – to finish with 205 passing yards on a 19-for-37 clip. Despite connecting with tight end George Rohl on a short floater into the end zone for four yards early in the fourth quarter, Lindsey was consistently pressured out of the pocket – highlighted by fifth-year linebacker Jalen Woods’ 11 tackles.
“We just came out of halftime honing in on our fundamentals – just what we practice on every day,” Woods said. “Because if we do that, we’re a good defense. Just being more aggressive and knowing when to hit the gaps when we hit them and making sure that they are one-dimensional.”
UCLA began to pick up steam in the third quarter when a wide-open throw down the middle of the field to sophomore tight end Noah Fox-Flores resulted in a touchdown on the catch-and-run. Dieffenbach – who finished the game with 303 total passing yards on just eight completions – displayed some of his best ball placement of the year.
Behind an offensive line that was able to recover from Robell’s absence, Dieffenbach had time to throw in the pocket and go the distance, even having timely opportunities to make plays on his feet, where he ran for 27 yards on six carries. The Calabasas, California, local ended the day with three total passing touchdowns, bringing his season count to six.
“Riley was out a couple plays in there, Hall (fifth-year offensive lineman Hall Schmidt) was out a couple plays in there, and here comes (junior offensive lineman Jensen) Somerville, here comes (fifth-year offensive lineman Jaylan) Jeffers, and they got to hang in there and let this ball be delivered,” Chesney said. “They did a great job of creating a pocket to be able to step up into and let the ball fly.”
In UCLA’s first play of the final quarter, Dieffenbach stepped back in the pocket and whipped it to Mizell for a 75-yard touchdown.
And on UCLA’s very next possession, the Dieffenbach-Mizell duo put the Bruins up by double digits with a one-play drive once again to go the distance.
“He always tells me, ‘You can’t overthrow me, man, just put it out there,’” Dieffenbach said.
Fans took the Bruins’ extension to a double-digit lead to mean the end of the game and flooded the exits en masse.
As the speedy Mizell ran into the end zone twice in just as many tries – just his second and third scores of the year – a final Bruin field goal effectively allowed the Westwood squad to run away with the game as a whole.
