Gophers quarterback Drake Lindsey has orchestrated four game-tying or game-winning drives in the fourth quarter of Big Ten games this season.
Not bad for a redshirt freshman.
Lindsey led two such drives against Michigan State and one apiece versus Rutgers and Purdue. His leadership in those clutch wins has made Minnesota bowl eligible at 6-3 overall and 4-2 in Big Ten play going into Friday night’s game against No. 8 Oregon.
Against Michigan State on Nov. 1, Lindsey took the field training 17-10 with 1 minute and 52 seconds remaining.
“We gotta go!” Lindsey told his team on the sideline before that two-minute drill.
Lindsey completed 6 of 7 passes for 39 yards and capped the nine-play, 65-yard drive with a 2-yard touchdown run. Then, in overtime, he sealed the game with a 3-yard TD run on a naked bootleg — in which he had to stiff-arm a defender in the backfield to avoid a 7-yard loss — on 3rd-and-goal for a 23-20 win.
“There were some really, really good (moments) and there were some really tough (times),” head coach P.J. Fleck said Monday about the Spartans win. “… He’s done that a lot this year. He’s played really well, and then maybe inconsistent at times. And then bang, when we needed him the most, he was there.”
Minnesota Gophers quarterback Drake Lindsey (5) gives his wrist bands to a fan after the Gophers 23-20 overtime win agains the Michigan State Spartans after a NCAA football game at Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
Against Purdue on Oct. 11, Lindsey led a 14-play, 70-yard drive to tie the game at 20-20. Lindsey went 5 for 10 for 44 yards and a two-yard touchdown pass to Jameson Geers on the drive.
On the next play from scrimmage, safety Koi Perich’s 27-yard interception return for a touchdown helped seal the comeback win over the Boilermakers.
Versus Rutgers on Sept. 27, Lindsey marched Minnesota down the field on a seven-play, 72-yard drive. He completed 6 of 7 for 72 yards, with a touchdown to Javon Tracy to win it 31-28.
Before he can lead others in those vital moments, Lindsey takes a minute to himself. Then he turns his attention outward.
“He just stays really calm, collected,” receiver Jalen Smith said Tuesday. “I think that helps everybody else on the offense remain that way when you see your quarterback is level-headed.”
Defensive end Anthony Smith isn’t on the field at the same time as Lindsey, but can feel his presence.
“You root for those guys that are such positive impacts on you,” Smith said. “Again, going from the offseason and seeing the person he’s become. When we get to Saturdays, he is preforming the way we knew he could perform. It’s just really exciting.”
Fleck often points to Lindsey’s championship pedigree in putting his high school team on his back to win a state title in Fayetteville, Ark., during his senior season.
“The fight he has,” Fleck said. “He’s scrappy.”
Before the Michigan State comeback, things had grown bleak, with four straight drives ending in punts. That led to a blunt comment from offensive coordinator Greg Harbaugh. Over the player phone on the sideline, he told his QB: “We have no choice” but to score a TD.
Lindsey delivered.
“That’s just who he is,” Harbaugh said Tuesday. “He’s had his back against the wall a couple of times.”
Lindsey’s lowest moment this season came in the 41-3 loss to Iowa on Oct. 25. In only his eighth start, he threw three interceptions and was sacked four times in the rivalry game beatdown. That came after other tough times at Ohio State and at California.
And like Ohio State and Iowa, Oregon has a top-five defense and more challenges are expected for Lindsey in Eugene, Ore.
Lindsey said he has learned from each of his road games. He admitted he wasn’t comfortable in his first road test at California, but felt better at No. 1 Ohio State and said he felt good going into No. 21 Iowa.
Fleck, unprompted after the Iowa loss, said he was going to stand by Lindsey as his starting quarterback going into Michigan State.
“I think when you make a decision to play a freshman, you’ve already made a decision you aren’t going to overreact,” Fleck told the Pioneer Press. “We know that this is a journey and a process. We are going to commit to the process. That doesn’t mean that everything is going to go perfect and that doesn’t mean everything is going to go wrong.”
“But there are things that are going to be really good and there are going to be things that aren’t very good. The peaks and valleys are farther apart than they will be as more experienced he gets.”
In nine games this season, Lindsey is 171 for 275 (63%) for 1,743 yards, 10 touchdowns and six interceptions. His completion percentage, yardage and touchdown totals are just outside the top 10 in the 18-team conference.
Lindsey has limited sacks, taking only 15 through nine games, and has added four rushing touchdowns.
In those three comebacks, Lindsey has had success when the offense goes into an up-tempo speed; his predecessor, Max Bosmer, had success in that style, too.
Harbaugh said the amount of times his offense will go up-tempo depends on the state of the game. How is the Gophers’ defense handling the other team’s offense? How is the U offensive line doing against a foe’s defensive front?
“It comes done to situationally being able to use it, so it helps our football team,” Harbaugh said. “But then secondly, sometimes you’ve just got to have it and you’ve got to be able to do it.”
Lindsey said success in clutch situations can come down to throwing some passes that might have been ill-advised earlier in the game.
Lindsey mentioned a 13-yard completion to Le’Meke Brockington on the game-tying drive against Michigan State. Lindsey threaded it into Brockington on third down. If they didn’t get a conversion in that moment, they faced a 4th and 4.
“You have to have confidence in all your guys,” Lindsey said. “But you also might have to make a throw that you might have not made or would have checked down in the first quarter.”
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