Minnesota was eager to get back on the field — and it showed.
Tanner Morgan led No. 10 Minnesota to scores on its first three possessions and finished with four touchdown passes, and the Gophers bounced back from their first loss of the season with a 38-22 victory against Northwestern on Saturday at Ryan Field.
The Gophers (10-1, 7-1 Big Ten), who lost at Iowa last week, clinched a share of the West Division title and their sixth season with 10 or more wins.
Morgan threw three touchdown passes to Rashod Bateman and one to Tyler Johnson against Northwestern (2-9, 0-8). Bateman finished with 78 receiving yards and Johnson had 125, giving Minnesota its first pair of 1,000-yard receivers in a season.
With quarterback Aidan Smith (hand) sidelined, Northwestern turned to Hunter Johnson, who hadn’t started since the season opener. Andrew Marty entered early in the second quarter after Johnson went 0-for-2 and was sacked three times.
Marty threw a touchdown pass to Jace James and ran for two scores.
“[Johnson] was the most healthy quarterback we had to start the game who had experience,” NU coach Pat Fitzgerald said. “When Hunter went down, it was Andrew’s opportunity.
“He was pretty efficient; I’m just happy for him.”
Joe Gaziano sacked Morgan for a safety early in the second quarter to get Northwestern on the board. Gaziano added another sack to give him 29 for his career, a school record.
After the loss to the Hawkeyes, Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck said his team “wanted to get that taste out of their mouth so bad.”
The Gophers wasted no time.
“The word of the week was ‘respond,’ ” Fleck said.
“We needed to, and they responded. That was a clear message from the beginning, that we had to start fast.
“That’s what championship football looks like — come out of the gate and put 21 points on the board like that.”
