In P.J. Fleck's five years as Gophers coach, his teams have been successful when they use their running attack to control the pace of the game, eat minutes off the clock and limit opponents' offensive opportunities.
Upon first glance at the official stat sheet, that appeared to be the case Saturday with Minnesota holding the ball for 30 minutes, 23 seconds to Bowling Green's 28:30. A closer look, however, shows that the Falcons had the ball when the Gophers needed it most, with a fourth-quarter time of possession of 9:14 to Minnesota's 5:46. That played perfectly into Bowling Green's hands in its 14-10 upset victory at Huntington Bank Stadium.
Bowling Green's time advantage in the final 15 minutes came mostly from a possession that began with 13:28 left in the game and was extended by Gophers special-teams mistakes.
The Falcons had moved to their 40-yard line and faced fourth-and-8. Matt Naranjo's punt went 62 yards for a touchback, but Gophers defensive back Phillip Howard roughed Naranjo, giving Bowling Green the ball at the Minnesota 47.
Bowling Green drove five more plays to the Gophers 27 and brought in Nate Needham for a 45-yard field-goal attempt on fourth-and-5. Needham missed, but Gophers defensive tackle Val Martin was called for illegal formation for lining up over the long snapper. First down, Falcons.
Though the Gophers forced and recovered a fumble three plays later, the clock showed only 7:35 left, still time to score but with less margin for error.
Fleck was asked about the special-teams miscues.
"Yeah, they drive you crazy,'' he said. "They're preventable. It's not like we don't know that. But that's what I mean, and that's why it completely falls on me. And we made some mistakes today that were uncharacteristic of our football team, and I'm talking like our football team since we've been here.''