Max Brosmer has shown moxie with Gopher games on the line.

The sixth-year transfer quarterback has orchestrated two late, game-winning drives to complete a sweep of Los Angeles’ new Big Ten teams over eight days.

Against Southern California on Oct. 5, Brosmer went 2 for 2 for 38 yards and had three rushes for 10 yards, including the go-ahead touchdown on a QB sneak with less than minute left in a 24-17 win over the Trojans.

At UCLA on Saturday, Brosmer went 5 for 7 for 56 yards and the go-ahead TD on a 4-yard completion to Darius Taylor with less then a minute remaining in a 21-17 win over the Bruins.

“It was a matter of rallying the troops,” Brosmer said Saturday.  “It was a matter of simple execution throughout the game and it ended up being on that last drive where it was really important. The guys buckled down and took it upon themselves to be the reason.”

Unlike most Gophers, the New Hampshire transfer had been to Rose Bowl Stadium before, but that previously came in the stands while cheering on his boyhood team, Ohio State, in the venerated bowl game in Pasadena, Calif.

Trailing UCLA 17-14 with 2:20 remaining on Saturday, Brosmer strung together initial completions of 13 yards to Jameson Geers, 27 to Daniel Jackson and 8 to Elijah Spencer to start the drive.

But Brosmer’s poise in big moments was fully on display on third and goal from the UCLA 4. If the U doesn’t convert from that spot, they might opt to kick a short field goal and head to overtime.

One setback was the Gophers weren’t able to have Daniel Jackson on the field because his helmet came off on the previous play, and by rule, he had to sit out. It was a big loss because Jackson was feeling it with a career high 10 catches for 89 yards.

The Gophers lined up in trips left formation, but sent receiver Cristian Driver in motion to the right. When Brosmer took the shotgun snap, he first looked to Driver in the flat, then to tight end Geers in the curl also on right side and receiver Spencer in the middle of the field. Lemeke Brockington also ran a route to toward the middle.

Without the Bruins blitzing, Taylor was able to leak out of the backfield on a shallow route toward the left. He caught Brosmer’s pass at the 4 and had the angle on a UCLA linebacker to score.

“That play: I don’t think you know how hard it is,” Gophers head coach P.J. Fleck said. “He went through four reads.”

UCLA sent blitzes Saturday in apparent attempts to force the Gopher running backs to stay in for pass protection. Taylor had four targets and Marcus Major had three against the Bruins, down from a combined eight against USC and 16 versus Michigan two weeks ago.

The Gophers went with a faster tempo on the final drive, which is where Brosmer hits his max.

“I thought we could be able to open it up and throw the football down the field,” Fleck said. “We got into our two-minute set, where I think he’s really comfortable. I think some people are like, ‘Why don’t you do two-minute all game?’ That is just not how we play. But when he’s in that mode, he’s really, really comfortable.”

Before the late drive at the Rose Bowl on Saturday, Brosmer talked to the offense on the sidelines.

“It’s more the message that I’m saying to my team. It’s making sure their minds are right, knowing that we don’t have to get all of it at one time,” Brosmer said. “That we are really satisfied with (shorter) gains. And making sure we are going to dictate the flow of the game as best we can. We try to do too much, then the drive gets killed.”

Fleck and offensive coordinator Greg Harbaugh have routinely praised Brosmer’s ability process pre- and post-snap. That comes with Brosmer, a graduate student, spending more time at the Larson Football Performance Center and sitting in on some coaches’ meetings. It allows the Gophers to go to the line of scrimmage with multiple plays or checks for Brosmer to get the U in the right one.

Brosmer completed 26 of 37 passes for 193 yards, with two touchdowns and no interceptions on Saturday. His 68.1 completion percentage is 20th in the nation and is on pace to break Tanner Morgan’s record 66.9 set in 2022.

Fellow U captain Cody Lindenberg pointed toward Brosmer’s leadership.

“It starts outside of the field. It starts outside of those moments (with the game on the line) because you are only as good as your preparation,” the linebacker said. “You are only as good as your training. To be that calm and collected in moments like that just shows how prepared and how ready he is in those situations. It’s him and the guys around him, that he’s going to have that sort of poise about himself because that is just infectious.

“It helps everybody else to stay calm and make sure that we are not riding a wave up or down. Just even keeled and one play at a time. It’s unbelievable to have a guy like that being a force for the offense.”

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