Neal: Fourth-quarter version of Brosmer indicates Fleck was smart to get him, smarter to let him throw

CHAMPAIGN, ILL. - The Gophers attempted an ill-advised fake punt on fourth-and-12 on Saturday that failed and ignited an Illinois scoring drive that put the Illini ahead by a point with just over nine minutes left to play.

It looked like the game — in which Minnesota kicked more field goals than it scored touchdowns — was slipping out of the Gophers’ clutches.

Not on Max Brosmer’s watch.

The quarterback had a message for the offense when the Gophers fell behind for the first time all afternoon.

“The number one thing is to stick to it, keep your head down and keep working,” Brosmer said. “One of the things we’ve talked about all year is to continue to move.”

At that point in the game, Brosmer was 18-for-32 for 152 passing yards and no touchdowns. It was far from the Brosmer who had been on a three-game heater, completing 75.2% of his passes during the stretch.

It was a combination of Brosmer misfiring and the Illini defensive scheme marginalizing him. But once the Gophers fell behind, they responded. Brosmer led that response, showing again he’s one of coach P.J. Fleck’s best transfers.

The response began when Brosmer, who came to the Gophers as a graduate transfer from New Hampshire, dropped a dime to Daniel Jackson for a 37-yard gain, on a route that Jackson had been waiting to run all game.

“He made an outstanding play,” Brosmer said. “That moved and generated energy for us, moving down the field.”

Darius Taylor rushed for 15 yards before 5 were given back on the next play because of a delay-of-game penalty. Brosmer went back to work. Jackson for 10 yards. Elijah Spencer for 13, with a targeting call on the Illini’s Miles Scott that moved the ball to the 2. Two plays later, Brosmer hit Jameson Geers to his right for a touchdown and a 22-17 Gophers lead. Illinois was stopped on its next drive, and Dragan Kesich booted his fourth field goal of the afternoon. Gophers 25, Illini 17.

Brosmer went 6-for-9 with a touchdown after the Gophers fell behind. The most important player on offense stepped up when he wasn’t at his best and when his team needed to retake the lead. That’s just as impressive as the accuracy he showed during the Gophers’ three-game winning streak.

That streak now is at four games, with a trip to Rutgers next week.

Thanks to the scheduling challenges facing the Very Big Ten, the Gophers and Illinois don’t face each other again until 2027. So the Gophers can enjoy this one for three years, knowing they finally handed Illinois coach Bret Bielema his first loss against them in 11 meetings. They now are bowl-eligible, something that seemed unlikely at the beginning of the season.

Brosmer also drove the Gophers to victory in a game that seemed rather laborious, with mistakes, questionable play-calling on both sides and poor execution being a running theme for three quarters.

But you take the victory, darn the aesthetics. The Gophers are 6-3, 4-2 in the Very Big Ten, with three games remaining.

At the top of the list of issues was the fake punt that eventually put the Gophers behind. If the receiving team’s formation is vulnerable to a fake, there is freedom on the field to fake the punt. Fleck also could have told punter Mark Crawford to punt away no matter the look. He didn’t, and his 30-year old Australian punter tried to run 12 yards for the first down, came up short and fumbled on top of that. Illinois had scored 10 points at that stage of the game, as the Gophers defense was very effective. Why allow a fake there?

While Fleck was bracing for questions about that decision, he was asked about Brosmer’s influence over the Gophers’ response. Fleck revealed what he was hearing in his headset before the winning drive began.

“I was outside the huddle, and Greg [Harbaugh Jr., co-offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach] was telling one of our coaches, ‘Let him go. Let him go. Just let him go.’ Because it was Max talking to the offense and making that his drive. Not him, but, ‘We need to put a big drive together here.’

“And I thought they did a really good job of that.”

Two decisions Fleck is thriving on: Portaling in Brosmer. And letting him throw.