The Gophers went to the locker room trailing 14-3. Some quick takeaways:

* The Gophers trailed 31-20 at halftime last week against Purdue and came back to win 39-38. Before that Minnesota was 0-22 in games trailing at halftime under Jerry Kill. The Gophers will get the ball first in the second half.

* Illinois, which ranks last in the Big Ten in scoring defense, came out determined to stop David Cobb, who managed just 13 yards on his first nine carries. Gophers quarterback Mitch Leidner completed just one of his first six passes for two yards. Halftime stats:

Cobb: 12 carries, 24 yards. Leidner: 3-of-10 passing for 30 yards.

* The Gophers were concerned coming in about Illinois offensive coordinator Bill Cubit having a bye week to prepare for this game. Reilly O'Toole is more of a pure passer, and the read option stuff Illinois ran with O'Toole at QB seemed to catch Minnesota off-guard. That coupled with poor tackling gave Illinois a quick 14-0 lead.

O'Toole led two long touchdown drives, but with the score 14-3, Illinois switched to sophomore quarterback Aaron Bailey. Seemed like a gift for Minnesota at the time.

* Late in the first quarter Illinois was out-gaining the Gophers 157-0. The Gophers went three-and-out on their first two drives. They finally moved the ball on their third drive, and Ryan Santoso kicked a 44-yard field goal just past the cross bar. He is 7-for-7 on his field goal attempts in Big Ten play.