Minnesota Football Game Balls: Lindsey and Perich shine in win over Rutgers
The Minnesota football program picked up its third win of the 2025 season on Saturday afternoon at Huntington Bank Stadium, defeating the Rutgers Scarlet Knights 31-28. In the win, multiple Gophers had impressive performances, including quarterback Drake Lindsey and safety Koi Perich.
Gophers Nation hands out game balls to multiple Golden Gophers for their performances against the Scarlet Knights.
Lindsey put together the best performance of his young career on Saturday. The redshirt freshman completed 31-of-41 passing attempts for 324 passing yards and three touchdowns.
In the second half, Lindsey was nearly unstoppable completing 23-of-28 passing attempts for 202 yards and two touchdowns. Through four games, Lindsey has completed 77-of-117 passing attempts for 958 yards and seven touchdowns with two interceptions.
WR Javon Tracy
Tracy had his biggest performance of his Gophers’ career with six receptions on eight targets for 54 yards and a touchdown. His touchdown on Saturday afternoon was the game winning touchdown for the Gophers as he used every bit of the last inch of his arms to extend the ball across the goal line.
This season, Tracy has 12 receptions for 204 yards and two touchdowns.
WR Jalen Smith
After a quiet game against California where he didn’t record a reception, the redshirt freshman put together his first career 100-yard performance.
The Mankato native recorded four receptions for 103 yards and one touchdown including a 78-yard reception that set up an eventual Gophers touchdown. It is the second reception of over 60 yards for Smith this season.
Smith now has six receptions for 179 yards and two touchdowns in four games played.
Williams had a tremendous defensive performance against Rutgers with 13 total tackles including three solo tackles. The veteran linebacker also had one tackle for loss. He increased his 2025 stat totals to 31 tackles and three tackles for loss.
Coming off the worst game of his career in week three against California, Perich responded in a major way with 11 tackles and one sack. He also had one punt return for 13 yards and totaled 83 yards on three kickoff returns including a 56-yard return just before halftime. The sophomore safety was swarming to the ball throughout the game and looked like someone playing with a major chip on his shoulder.
RUSH Karter Menz
We’ve been mentioning Menz over the last few weeks as a player who has been performing well but perhaps was not getting the recognition he deserved. Against Rutgers, the North Dakota native had a great day with five tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack, the first of his career.
Minnesota’s star pass rusher continues to dominate in the trenches. In the win, Smith had four tackles, two tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks. In four games, Smith has totaled six tackles for loss and 4.5 sacks.
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