The Gophers struggled to run the ball through two games to start the season and didn’t give it much of a college try for nearly three full quarters Saturday at Huntington Bank Stadium.
With top tailback Darius Taylor out injured combined with Akron’s porous pass defense, Minnesota relied on the passing game until late in a 41-7 blowout win.
The Gophers (2-1) cruised as a 24-point favorite over the Mid-American Conference opponent and cleansed their palate after a 38-13 loss to Mississippi State last week and before the Big Ten opener at Washington next weekend.
In the final nonconference game, Minnesota passed the ball on 70% of plays (31 to 13) until the end of the third quarter, when they ran the ball 11 straight times for 70 yards on one drive. AJ Turner capped it with a 5-yard touchdown run.
That was an unexpected plot twist.
With the script flipped, the rout was on as running back TJ Thomas took an outside zone for a 71-yard touchdown run; it was the fourth longest run of head coach P.J. Fleck’s tenure.
The Zips, which received $1.2 million payment for Saturday’s game, came into the game allowing 8.2 yards per pass attempt (117th in the nation).
Drake Lindsey took advantage with 204 yards on 17 of 31 passing for three touchdowns and one interception.
The Gophers special teams made a huge impact. Two big returns and a fumble recovery on a muffed punt set up good to great field position. All three were turned into touchdowns for Minnesota.
Quayd Hendryx gained 42 yards on opening kickoff and Lindsey finished it off with a 16-yard touchdown to Roman Voss. It was four-star freshman tight end’s first career touchdown and Minnesota’s first TD drive against an FBS opponent to open a game since Penn State in November 2024.
Then Javon Tracy’s 55-yard punt return to Akron’s 8 was finished off when Lindsey threaded a pass to a well-covered Noah Jennings for a 6-yard TD.
In the third quarter, a muffled punt from Akron returner Sean Patrick muffed punt in the third quarter resulted in another U touchdown.
Off that takeaway, Lindsey released a nice back-shoulder throw to Jalen Smith for an 18-yard touchdown.
In between his first-half TDs, Lindsey snapped his program record for pass attempts without an interception 232. Last week, he broke Max Brosmer’s mark of 206 set in 2024.
Lindsey threw high to receiver Jalen Smith. The pass was tipped and picked off by Akron defensive end Omari Abor, a former top 100 recruit who stated his career any Ohio State.
Also in the first half, Gophers linebacker Joey Gerlach, who started in place of injured Matt Kingsbury, forced a fumble in the first quarter and defensive end JT Bush recovered it.
Akron starting quarterback Sebastian Broughton left the game in the first half with an apparent knee injury. Brayden Roggow played in the middle and Semaj Beals finished it.