The Minnesota Golden Gophers achieved bowl eligiblity on Saturday with a 25-17 win over the Illinois Fighting Illini using an impressive effort in the final minutes to ice the win and get their sixth win of the season.

For P.J. Fleck and the Golden Gopherrs, it was thier fourth straight win, improving their record to 6-3 on the season. Gophers Nation offers five takeaways from the win.

Following Minnesota's 48-23 win over Maryland a week ago, P.J. Fleck talked about the importance of wanting to see his team finishing strong against the Golden Gophers and alluded to late blown leads in the past, including against Illinois a year ago.

On Saturday, against the Illini, the Golden Gophers were able to finish strong on both sides of the ball. In the final stanza, the Gophers outscored Illinois 9-7 with all nine points coming in the final five minutes. After trailing 17-16 with 9:03 remaining in the game, the Gophers offense put together a nearly four-minute scoring drive to take a 22-17 lead before causing a turnover on downs for Illinois deep in their own territory.

While the Gophers offense couldn’t capitalize with a touchdown, they were able to nab a field goal to extend the lead to eight points. Finally, after Illinois appeared to be driving down the field for a potential touchdown and game-tying two-point conversion attempt, Jah Joyner who played a season low 17 snaps got to Luke Altmyer and forced a fumble, which was recovered by Danny Striggow.

The Gophers defense this season has repeatedly come up big in the fourth quarter especially late, helping ice wins against USC, UCLA, and now Illinois with turnovers in the final minute.

It was the Darius Taylor show on Saturday afternoon as the sophomore tailback combined for 189 yards from scrimmage in the win for the Golden Gophers. On the ground, Taylor carried the rock 22 times for 131 yards and a touchdown while through the air he had nine receptions for 58 yards. Illinois had no answer when it came to trying to stop Taylor on Saturday. It was an impressive effort from the running back who hasn't necessarily had the season that many thought he could be destined for coming into the season. Look for the Michigan native and former four-star prospect to potentially finish this regular season off on a tear if Saturday's game was any indication of what could be coming in the upcoming weeks. Additionally, Minnesota is now 5-0 this season when rushing for over 100-yards.

After an extremely shaky start to the season, Dragan Kesich is finding his groove. Over the course of the last two games including on Saturday, Kesich is now 6-for-6. Against the Illini, the senior kicker was excellent with field goal attempts from 20, 38, 45, and 46 yards out. It's the first time since the Gophers win over Rhode Island that Kesich made multiple field goals from 40+ yards. With three games remaining, the Serbian Hammer's leg could become a difference maker once again.

Despite being without Tyler Cooper on Saturday against Illinois, Minnesota's offensive line had one of its best games of the season. Quinn Carroll was fantastic at right tackle both in his run and pass blocking while Greg Johnson and Ashton Beers had similar performances. Phillip Daniels got his first start of his career at right tackle in the game and did an admirable job as well., allowing only two pass pressures throughout the game. His run blocking in our opinion was also excellent. The Gophers offensive linemen that had the toughest game was actually their future potential first round pick in Aireontae Ersery who was fine in blocking for Darius Taylor and the rushing attack but allowed a team high four pressures. The offensive line has been far from perfect on Saturday and they'll have a few tough matchups remaining this season but Saturday's performance was a step in the right direction especially considering Tyler Cooper's absence.

For the fourth straight season, the Minnesota Golden Gophers will be going bowling. It's the first time since 2012-2016 that the program has done so. Under head coach P.J. Fleck, the Golden Gophers have achieved bowl status in six of eight seasons, only missing in the 2017 and 2020 seasons.

If the Gophers can win two of their last three games against Rutgers, Penn State, and Wisconsin, the program will have an opportunity to achieve at least eight wins for the fourth time in six seasons. It would mark the first time since the 1900-1905 seasons that the program won at least eight games four times in six seasons or fewer.

Four straight bowl games are a rare occurrence in Minnesota Golden Gophers history and it's one that P.J. Fleck and his program should be applauded for. However, with strong results also often come higher expectations. We will see how expectations continue to rise in Minneapolis as the Gophers remain a strong and consistent program under the 43-year-old head coach.

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