MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Minnesota scored to go ahead with 30 seconds left, and the Golden Gophers held on to give Ohio its first loss of the season, 27-24, on Saturday at TCF Bank Stadium.

Shannon Brooks scored on a 3-yard run that capped an 11-play, 78-yard drive that turned a four-point Minnesota deficit into a three-point lead and ultimately the win, but it was far from over then. Daz’mond Patterson’s 56-yard kick return gave the Bobcats (3-1) possession at the Minnesota 43-yard line.

Two straight incompletions were followed by a 7-yard completion from Derrius Vick to Jordan Reid, and Ohio used its final timeout with seven seconds left, sending out Josiah Yazdani to try a 53-yard field goal that could have forced overtime. Minnesota (3-1) called a timeout to try to ice the kicker, who followed through on his attempt anyway. That drew a flag for a delay of game against Ohio.

Backed up five more yards, the Bobcats opted to try to throw into the end zone, but the attempt was knocked away. Solich said afterward if he had it to do over, he would have tried a 58-yard field goal because of how well the ball was carrying.

“Of course, we could’ve played better,” Solich said. “That’s always the thing. There’s plays we’d like to have back, there are plays they want to have back. Both teams played very, very hard and both teams had a great will to win.”

Minnesota’s game-winning drive began after it held Ohio to a 41-yard Yazdani field goal with 2:36 remaining. The Golden Gophers never faced a third down on the drive and were aided by two three Bobcats penalties on the drive, including one pass interference and one offside penalty that moved Minnesota from the 6-yard line to the 3-yard line for a second-down play. Brooks scored from there.

Ohio used the game’s only turnover to take the lead. Craig James fumbled a punt return, and it was picked up and returned to the 11-yard line by Keith Heitzman. A.J. Ouelette gave the Bobcats a 21-17 lead with an 11-yard touchdown run in the first minute of the fourth quarter.

Minnesota tried to answer, but Ohio’s defense held inside the 10-yard line, and the Golden Gophers settled for a Ryan Santoso 24-yard field goal to make it 21-20. In like fashion, the Bobcats had a successful drive stall and settled for Yazdani’s field goal.

The Bobcats narrowly missed turnovers on each of the last two Minnesota possessions. Quarterback Mitch Leidner fumbled on a sack early in the first drive, but Minnesota recovered, and Ian Wells later had a potential interception go through his hands on the Golden Gophers’ final drive.

Ohio also had the potential for turnovers earlier in the game as Minnesota struggled receiving punts throughout, muffing two others before the one that the Bobcats recovered.

Minnesota actually benefitted by muffing the first punt return of the game. Both teams had chances to recover it, but the Golden Gophers ended up on it in the end zone for a touchback – not a safety because they never actually possessed it until then. They muffed and recovered another punt later in the first quarter.

Papi White got the Bobcats on the scoreboard first, beating the defense deep for a 39-yard touchdown pass from Vick. It was set up by a 38-yard completion down the middle to Heitzman.

Minnesota evened the game on a 40-yard touchdown run by true freshman Shannon Brooks early in the second quarter. Ohio came right back with a 70-yard drive culminating on a 10-yard touchdown pass from Vick to Sebastian Smith on third-and-8. Smith also caught a 31-yard pass on a third-down play, and the Bobcats extended the drive by converting a fourth-and-3 completion of 5 yards to Jordan Reid.

An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against Ohio helped Minnesota even the game before halftime on a Leidner 1-yard touchdown run. The Golden Gophers went up 17-14 on the opening possession of the second half, getting a 49-yard field goal from Santoso.

Ohio’s offense put up more points than any team to date against Minnesota’s tough defense. Despite playing on an injured ankle for two and a half quarters, Vick had a solid effort, going 17-of-27 passing for 194 yards and two scores. Smith was the leading receiver with four catches for 69 yards.

“We couldn’t call some plays because (Vick) couldn’t run,” Solich said. “There were times where he had to scramble now and then and he did what he could.

The Bobcats also had some success running the ball, led by Patterson, who had 70 yards on 13 carries. Ouellette finished with 59 yards on 12 attempts.

“We found ways to move it on the ground and make some explosive plays,” Solich said. “That gives us the capability of doing that in the future. If you look right now at our plays, this team is far ahead from any football team I’ve coached here. We are that kind of football team and we can make those kind of plays.”

But Minnesota also had one of its more successful offensive games of the year, finishing with 468 yards. It certainly was the best passing game of the season by Leidner, who was 22-of-32 for 264 yards. Rodney Smith carried 16 times for 94 6ards, and Brooks had 10 carries for 82 yards.

Linebacker Jovon Johnson, who missed the last two games with an injury, returned but left again in the first quarter. Fellow linebacker Quentin Poling sat out the second half due to a suspension, and linebacker Chad Moore broke his hand but returned to the game with a cast. Minnesota also lost several players to injuries throughout the game.

“It’s just unbelievable,” Minnesota coach Jerry Kill said. “We didn’t have anyone left in the secondary to play. Those kids did a heck of a job. Just finding a way to win, that’s all you have to do at the end of the day.”

Safety Devin Jones led Ohio’s defense with 10 tackles, including one for loss, and safety Nathan Carpenter had nine tackles. Linebacker Blair Brown had seven tackles, including two for a loss, but was guilty of two costly penalties.

"I think this is the type of game that sets a tone for us and a tone within our team,” Ohio cornerback Devin Bass said. “This type of loss leaves a bad taste in your mouth for each and every one of us, and I think we’ll find a lot of positives that will come out of this game and hopefully that’ll lead us into conference play. This game is done. It has no bearing on our overall goals, but as a unit and as a team, I think the display of commitment and how hard we played until the very end — anybody watching this game, they were like, ‘Damn, these boys can play.’”

Ohio begins Mid-American Conference play against Akron at 2 p.m. Saturday at InfoCision Stadium.