It looked like the Gophers were going to fall behind by three scores, but an amazingly bad throw by Terrelle Pryor kept that from happening.
Punter Dan Orseske blasted a punt for 48 yards, but Ohio State return man Jordan Hall returned the punt 70 yards down to the Minnesota 2. A great hustle play by a Gophers player. . .whose name I don’t have at the moment . .knocked Hall out of bounds short of the end zone, and it turned out to be huge for the Gophers.
On first down, Pryor pump faked toward the end zone, and then. . .inexplicably. . .threw it to exactly the same place. The play didn’t fool Ryan Collado, who intercepted the pass at the goal line and took the ball out to the Minnesota 4 to squelch the scoring threat.
Hustle, kids. . .it pays off.
With 5:36 left until halftime, the Gophers. . .somehow. . .still only trail 17-7.