Among Drake Lindsey’s 31 completions and three touchdown passes in the Gophers’ 31-28 win over Rutgers, his 9-yard TD toss to receiver Jalen Smith appeared on first glance to be among the least impressive plays on Saturday.

It was easy to overlook because it traveled only two yards in the air, with Smith doing most of the work, outracing and outmuscling two Rutgers defensive backs to reach the pylon.

But the redshirt freshman quarterback’s pre-snap check set up Smith for success, and the play contributed to Lindsey being named Big Ten freshman of the week on Monday.

Lindsey completed 76% of his 41 passes for 324 yards, three scores and no interceptions. No other Gophers QB has had that many completions, attempts, yards and TDs without a pick since at least 1995.

On that specific play,

See Full Page