On Thursday, before the Huskies’ final practice in preparation for their game at Minnesota, NIU coach Jerry Pettibone said his Huskies would have to play well in all phases of the game just to have a chance to win.

On Saturday, the Huskies played a patient, ball-control offense and for the most part held the Golden Gophers’ offense in check. But they played somewhat less-than-spectacular on special teams.

And they still had a chance to win.

After nearly three-and-one-half quarters of being pushed and shoved every which way by the visiting Huskies, Minnesota put together back-to-back scoring drives in the fourth quarter to post a 31-20 win in the Metrodome.

The NIU loss dropped its record to 3-1 and overshadowed fullback Adam Dach’s brilliant 167-yard effort in front of 40,006 fans and one Citrus Bowl representative.

“I’m pleased with our players,” Pettibone said. “We’d been working hard to play at this level against a Big Ten team. We went down to the fourth quarter and had a chance to win.

“I felt we played well enough to win, but we made mistakes that didn’t allow us to. Any time you’re in a big game, it’s usually determined by pluses and minuses in the kicking game.”

No doubt about it, the pluses in the kicking game belonged to Minnesota. Were it not for Gopher wideout Chris Gaiters’ 79-yard punt return for a touchdown and a fumble on a punt return by NIU’s Mark Clancy, the Gophers might have trailed at halftime by as much as 17-3.

As it was, Minnesota (2-1) earned a 17-17 tie at the half via Gaiters’ score and the Scott Schaffner touchdown pass which was set up by the NIU fumble.

NIU took a 3-0 lead on its first possession, when John Ivanic capped an 11-play, 58-yard drive with a 22-yard field goal at the 9:19 mark of the quarter. After UM’s Brent Berglund tied the score with a 23-yard field goal, NIU’s Marshall Taylor (3-10 passing, 73 yards, 1 int.) hit tight end Claude Royster (2 catches, 51 yards) on a 35-yard scoring strike on a gutsy fourth-and-one play with 10:32 left in the half.

NIU’s other score of the half came on a nine-yard run by Rodney Taylor with 5:29 left in the half.

The Huskies capped the initial possession of the second half with an Ivanic 30-yard field goal which gave NIU a 20-17 lead with 8:36 left in the period.

The field goal, which came as somewhat of a disappointment for NIU, as the Huskies had earned a first-and-goal situation from the 5-yard line. A crowd noise-related delay of game penalty helped stall the NIU drive.

Even a slim three-point lead seemed comfortable for NIU, though, as the Huskie defense continued its dominant ways throughout the third period. The NIU defense, headed by a nine-tackle peformance by right end Cary Caliendo (3 sacks), helped NIU control the ball for 12:23 of the third period.

In fact, NIU, which held the Gophers and star running back Darrell Thompson to two yards rushing in the first half (Thompson had only 37 yards rushing after three quarters), didn’t allow Minnesota to earn a first down by a run until the 8:59 mark of the fourth quarter.

But once the Gophers did move the chains, Thompson took over. In UM’s final two drives, Thompson (25 carries, 102 yards) ran for 65 yards on 10 attempts. The junior Heisman Trophy candidate rushed for 43 yards alone in UM’s final clock-eating scoring drive.

A 3-yard touchdown pass from Schaffner to Gaiters put UM up 24-20 with 5:44 remaining in the game, and after NIU punted the ball away on the ensuing series, UM ate up most of the final four minutes, scoring on a 2-yard dive by Schaffner with :48 left.

The touchdown pass to Gaiters was an especially hard pill for NIU to swallow, as Gaiters made a diving reception with his feet just inside the back of the endzone after NIU’s Brett Tucker had deflected the pass.