Healthy, confident Leidner passes and runs well in win over Wildcats

Mitch Leidner's returned from injury and was a difference-maker when the Gophers defeated Michigan on Sept. 27.

On Saturday, the sophomore quarterback made it two strong performances in a row as the Gophers defeated Northwestern 24-17.

Leidner completed 10 of 15 passes for 153 yards. He threw one interception, trying to force a ball to Maxx Williams, who was double-covered, on the Gophers' first drive of the second half. Otherwise, Leidner was on target.

"I think he's playing with a high level of confidence," coach Jerry Kill said.

Leidner also looks healthy again. He sprained the medial collateral ligament in his left knee on Sept. 6 and suffered a turf toe injury to his left foot Sept. 13, when he made four turnovers in the loss at Texas Christian.

But after missing the Sept. 20 game against San Jose State, Leidner came up big at Michigan, completing 14 of 22 passes for 167 yards and a touchdown.

Against Northwestern, Leidner had runs of 9 and 22 yards setting up the first of his two touchdowns, which both came on 1-yard sneaks. He set up his second touchdown with a perfectly placed 52-yard pass to Williams on a wheel route.

Kill said he bumped into Chandler Harnish after the game, and his former quarterback at Northern Illinois, now on the Vikings practice squad, was impressed.

"[Harnish] said, 'Man, that kid threw the post corner about as well as you can throw it,' " Kill said. "Isaac Fruechte ran some great routes. Once your confidence gets going, you develop some chemistry. Donovahn [Jones] made some great catches, Maxx [Williams] — you start spreading the ball around, good things happen."

David Cobb came in ranked sixth in the nation in rushing (144.4 yards per game), but Northwestern made it tough on him, stacking the box to prevent the run. Cobb finished with 30 carries for 97 yards.

But the Gophers had success with their play-action passes, as Northwestern seemed to bite on every fake handoff to Cobb.

"Mitch did a great job carrying out his fakes," Cobb said. "Whether he was giving it to me or keeping it, everything looked the same. That makes us more balanced, makes us two-dimensional, so you can't really stack the box anymore."

Foster Bush had made nine consecutive starts at right guard, dating to last season, but he missed this game with a concussion. Joe Bjorklund replaced Bush, but he, too, is battling an unspecified injury.

Left guard Zac Epping made his 40th consecutive start despite playing with a high-ankle sprain. So Isaac Hayes spelled Epping, and when Bjorklund needed a break, the Gophers turned to Mayes.

"It's hard to throw Connor in a situation where we didn't play him earlier," Kill said. "But we've had so many injuries there. … Connor didn't play a lot today, but we'll gradually get him ready. That's our job."

• The Gophers unveiled new gold helmets for the game. They repainted the white ones they used in last year's Texas Bowl with the gold paint and plan to use these twice this season.

• Derrick Wells was questionable because of a left hamstring injury, but he played nickel back and made three tackles.