Three Gophers takeaways: A mad dash, a rushing linebacker and getting some national attention

The recap: Behind an offense that surpassed 300 rushing yards for the second consecutive game and a defense that scored a touchdown and gave up only one TD in non-garbage time, the Gophers hammered Northwestern 41-14 on Saturday in Evanston, Ill. That victory, coupled with Wisconsin's 27-7 win at home over No. 9 Iowa, put the Gophers (6-2, 4-1) alone atop the West Division, one game ahead of the Badgers, Hawkeyes and Purdue.

Minnesota's running back room took another hit when Bryce Williams suffered a lower left leg injury in the first quarter and was lost for the game. Coach P.J. Fleck didn't have a specific update on Williams' status after the game. The injury put the onus in the backfield on true freshman Mar'Keise Irving and redshirt freshman Ky Thomas, who rushed for 110 and 106 yards, respectively.

Gophers quarterback Tanner Morgan entered Saturday with two career TD runs. He now has three, after his career-long 18-yard TD run in the fourth quarter.

On the play, Morgan faked a handoff to Irving, who was running to the right. When Wildcats linebacker Peter McIntyre bit on the fake, Morgan sprinted to the left and found a clear lane to the end zone.

"The guy crashed, so I had to pull [the handoff]," Morgan said. "He kind of redirected, so I had to give him a little 'hesi' for a second.'"

Derik LeCaptain, who's spent most of his three-year Gophers career as a linebacker and special-teams player, has been working with the running backs, too, because of injuries and Cam Wiley's entry into the transfer portal. On Saturday, he got the call late in the fourth quarter and responded with a 24-yard TD run.

On the run, LeCaptain showed a nose for contact, breaking three tackles on his way to paydirt. Linebacker Mariano Sori-Marin dubbed him, "the running 'backer."

"You just talk about a guy who does what he's asked to do," Sori-Marin said of LeCaptain, who rushed for 5,199 yards and 100 TDs in his career at Southern Door High School in Brussels, Wis. "He doesn't ask questions. He just puts his head down and works."

The Gophers continue to pay a poll tax for their 14-10 loss to Bowling Green in September, with both the Associated Press media poll and the AFCA coaches poll excluding Minnesota. Riding a four-game winning streak, however, they're getting closer to cracking the Top 25.

Last week, the Gophers received one vote in the AP poll and none in the coaches poll. On Sunday, the Gophers had 29 votes in the coaches poll, good for 30th, and 51 in the AP poll, good for 31st.

THE POLLS: Associated Press and Coaches

11 a.m. Saturday, Huntington Bank Stadium, ESPN2, 100.3-FM

The skinny: The Fighting Illini (3-6, 2-4 Big Ten) followed up their nine-overtime victory at Penn State with a 20-14 home loss to Rutgers on Saturday, a game in which they rushed for only 107 yards a week after going off for 357 against the Nittany Lions. Illinois produced only three first downs in the second half.

"It's very discouraging," said Illinois coach Bret Bielema, whose team led 14-10 at halftime. "We can't seem to play a four-quarter game at home for some reason. And that's 100 percent my responsibility. We came out in the second half and laid an egg. My fault."