MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Once Ty Dieffenbach saw the Minnesota secondary align and react the way he expected, it was time for the UCLA quarterback to let it fly.
Aidan Mizell was going to run it down. Dieffenbach had no doubt about that. And when the Bruins got the ball back about five minutes later, well, it was time to try it again.
With two 75-yard touchdown passes from Dieffenbach to Mizell on consecutive possessions in the fourth quarter, the Bruins
sped away from the Gophers and showed the Big Ten — and the College Football Playoff selection committee — yet another strength of their unbeaten breakout team in the 34-20 victory on Saturday.
“We knew it was going to be a big finding-the-gaps-in-the-defense game, and we just worked all week on the timing,” said Dieffenbach, who had a career-high 303 yards and three touchdowns on just eight completions.
Said Mizell: “We knew the whole game we were able to get behind the DB. We were just waiting for the right time to call it.”
Mizell, a transfer from Florida who entered the week with only seven receptions all season developed a strong connection during training camp with Dieffenbach while they worked frequently with the backups. Dieffenbach, who took over last month for the injured Nico Iamaleava, quickly realized he could hardly overthrow the 6-foot-1 senior.
“He can really run, so you’ve just got to put it out there for him,” Dieffenbach said.
Bruins coach Bob Chesney said offensive coordinator Dean Kennedy was trying to set up those plays to Mizell earlier in the game, and the strategy clearly worked on the Gophers — undoing more than 47 minutes of solid defense that had the game tied at 17 early in the fourth quarter.
“How we practice is how we play, and we knew by the way we practiced this week it was over with,” Mizell said.
On the first one, the Gophers were in a two-high formation with quarters zone coverage underneath. But Mizell caught safety Kerry Brown flat-footed and blew by him on a post route, and safety Zack Harden — who was supposed to be playing deeper — bit on a crossing route in front of him.
On the second one, both Harden and safety Aidan Gousby lurched forward on the run fake by Dieffenbach. That left no safety help for cornerback Aydan West, who was badly beaten by Mizell on a post route from the other side of the field.
“When you have a blown coverage, you’re going to get beat,” Gophers coach P.J. Fleck said. “We’ve got to have depth to the defense, and we didn’t have it.”
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