CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — P.J. Fleck is not a high-stakes gambler.

This reputation is forged over nearly eight full seasons as the Gophers head coach, and his more-conservative ethos made his decision to run a fake punt on Saturday so striking. The exact circumstances of the play against No. 24 Illinois made it even more baffling.

The Gophers led the Illini 16-10 with 11 minutes left, and the U faced a fourth and 12 from their own 44. That’s when Fleck decided it was time for punter Mark Crawford to rush for the first down. Crawford had an opening, but he couldn’t outrun the one man he had to beat and only picked up 10 yards.

The Illini then got the ball at their own 46 and scored the go-ahead touchdown five plays later for a 17-16 lead. Fleck’s decision was under a microscope. It was Minnesota’s first fake punt under Fleck since 2020.

But Minnesota responded with its own touchdown, two big defensive stops stop and a clutch field goal in between to make the big-picture focus a 25-17 win over Illini at Memorial Stadium. The Gophers (6-3, 4-2 Big Ten) extended its winning streak to four games and they reached bowl eligibility with a victory over the Illini (6-3, 3-3).

Illinois coach Bret Bielema suffered his first loss against Minnesota after going 10-0 since he started coaching at Wisconsin in 2006 and continued with the Illini in 2021.

After the fake punt led to the Illini retaking the lead, the Gophers put together a seven-play, 75-yard drive to retake the lead with a 1-yard touchdown pass from Max Brosmer to Jameson Geers. Then safety Kerry Brown had two big plays to stop the Illini on third down, a tackle for lost yards, and a pass break up on fourth down.

Dragan Kesich, who won the 2023 Big Ten kicker of the year award, matched a career high with four made field goals. His 46-yard made it 27-17 with less than two minutes remaining.

The Illini were driving in the final minute, but Jah Joyner strip sack off Luke Altmyer led to Danny Striggow’s recovery to ice the game.

Gophers running back Darius Taylor produced 189 total yards (131 rushing and 58 receiving) and one touchdown.

Taylor played through multiple leg injuries. He was hit hard on the opening drive and hurt his left quad. On the second drive, he was twisted sideways and needed attention on his left ankle. In the second half, he stayed down on the field again, but didn’t go in the injury tent that time.

The Gophers led 13-10 at the half, with each team scoring a touchdown on a long run. Taylor benefited from great offensive line blocking on a 29-yard TD to make it 10-3. But on the next drive, Illinois’ Josh McCray broke tackles by Justin Walley and Koi Perich to snap off a 42-yard score to make it 10-10.

Minnesota drive to the Illini 32 with 1:27 left in the half, but Fleck declined to use one of his three timeouts, ran another play that ended in Brosmer scrambling for no gain before he used his first timeout with 29 seconds remaining.

Brosmer was hurried on third down before throwing an incompletion and Kesich hit a 45-yard field goal for a 13-10 lead.

With 19 seconds remaining, Illinois had an opportunity to drive 38 yards but Ethan Moczulski missed a 55-yard field goal to end the half.

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