Final: Minnesota 32, Illinois 23

Key play: 75-yard touchdown run by Shannon Brooks

When the Gophers needed to put the game on ice and not punt the ball back to Illinois, Brooks stepped up in a big way. He ripped off a 75-yard score to put the game away. It was fitting that Brooks did the damage in the closing moments for a Minnesota team that lacked the key late plays before Saturday. Credit the freshman for providing the dagger.

Telling stat: Illinois wins first down battle 28-16, but still loses

The Illini’s issue wasn’t sustaining drives. Wes Lunt found Malik Turner all afternoon, Josh Ferguson looked solid and even Kendrick Foster did well in limited work. But turnovers were the problem. Three times Illinois coughed the ball up and gave Minnesota good field position on a day in which it was one-dimensional on offense. Illinois shot itself in the foot one too many times. Fittingly, the game ended on a Ferguson fumble. Three turnovers won’t win you games on the road.

Worth noting:

-Shannon Brooks went off

Wow, did the Minnesota tailback step up. With Mitch Leidner struggling, Tracy Claeys decided to put the game in Brooks’ hands. That was a pretty good idea. Despite the fact that he had a costly earn fumble, he delivered the game of his young career. Two long touchdown runs provided the boost the Gophers needed against Illinois. Also interesting was the fact that Rodney Smith only had two carries. Brooks and Mitch Leidner did all the running for the Gophers to move the chains. When Minnesota needed a win to keep its bowl hopes alive, Brooks did the heavy lifting.

-Malik Turner had a career day

Say what you want about the sophomore’s drop issues. On Saturday, he and Lunt had a connection they hadn’t had all year. Geronimo Allison was bottled up by Eric Murray for most of the afternoon. As a result, Turner had plenty of room to roam. Illinois didn’t get a whole lot of opportunities down the stretch, but the chances they did get were thanks in large part to Turner. For Illinois to clinch a bowl berth next week, it’ll need more of the same from Turner next week.

What it means: Both teams are playing for a bowl to end the season

Minnesota needed to stop a four-game skid on Saturday. Keeping its bowl hopes alive was equally important. That’s exactly what the Gophers did on Saturday. They had three straight moral victories, but they finally picked up the only kind of wins that mattered. Illinois, on the other hand, will have to win against Northwestern in Chicago next week to earn another bowl berth. Bill Cubit’s future in Champaign could easily come down to Saturday’s game. Both teams will be playing rivalry games with plenty on the line next week. It should be quite the closing weekend across B1G country.