Gophers display the defense they'll need to fight off Iowa and Wisconsin

EVANSTON, ILL. – On first down from his own 20 on Saturday, Northwestern quarterback Ryan Hilinski hit receiver Malik Washington with a 5-yard pass. Gophers linebacker Mariano Sori-Marin popped the ball out of Washington's grasp while tackling him. The ball bounced right toward Justin Walley, who collected it and raced into the endzone.

And there it was. You had to pinch yourself to make sure it was real. A Gophers defensive touchdown.

Anything is possible.

Every time Northwestern attempted to turn the momentum, there was a Gophers defensive player wagging a Dikembe Mutombo-sized finger at them. The Gophers defense set the tone for their 41-14 romp Saturday at Ryan Field, beginning with Walley's play.

More of that will be needed, as the 6-2 Gophers are alone at the top of the Big Ten West Division and will be fighting off challengers the rest of the season.

Walley's score made up for a Gophers opening drive that sputtered deep into Wildcats territory. The Gophers attempted a run on third-and-7 from the Northwestern 9, gaining a yard. They settled for a Matthew Trickett field goal.

Settling for field goals on the road is not good business. That's when an underdog, like Northwestern, starts believing it can overachieve. The scoop and score came on the Wildcats' first play from scrimmage. Instead of fretting about leaving points on the field early, the Gophers had a 10-0 lead.

The defense made flash plays throughout Saturday, but Sori-Marin's forced fumble and Walley's scoop and score stood out because it was the first defensive touchdown the Gophers have scored this season.

Sori-Marin didn't realize he had forced a fumble and never saw Walley pick up the ball.

"I was twirling around on the ground so I actually didn't realize it," Sori-Marin said. "Then I saw him halfway through the end zone. I was like, "Oh man!" I'm happy for him."

Took long enough. The Gophers are not a mere three games into the schedule; they are about to play their ninth game. Except for Ohio State in Week 1 and Miami (Ohio) in Week 2, you can argue that the Minnesota defense has been fairly effective. Until Saturday, they haven't had that attention-grabbing moment.

Now they have one, and it's OK to get greedy now.

"We want to be violent around the ball," Gophers coach P.J. Fleck said. "Create plays. Create takeaways. We've had a lot of tipped balls that just haven't been caught. Sometimes you're in the right spot, sometimes you're not.

"I tell ya, it was really big to get one of those. We were due for one of those at some point."

Sori-Morin also had a whopping 11 tackles on Saturday. Boye Mafe and M.J. Anderson each had a sack as the defense dominated Northwestern.

After Walley's touchdown, the Gophers forced a Wildcats three-and-out, with Mafe sacking Hilinski with a one-handed pulldown. Northwestern left tackle Peter Skoronski tried to block Mafe on the play and wound up being just taken for a ride into Hilinski. Minnesota turned that into a field goal to take a 13-0 lead. The Wildcats got the ball to begin the second half and drove to the Gophers 28 before Minnesota turned them over on downs.

That's how a unit gets noticed.

The Gophers are one of the better teams in the country at stopping the run, the result of work that goes back to last season. Since Week 2, they have not had an opponent score more than 23 points in a game against them. If they can maintain these good habits for the rest of the season, it will help a running game that continues to suffer injuries — Bryce Williams suffered a lower leg injury Saturday — and passing game that is far from prolific.

More splashy plays will help its reputation. Perhaps Sori-Marin will actually get to see the next one unfold — if he's not involved in it.

Maybe the seal has been broken, and this is just the start of a run of Gophers defenders finding the end zone.