MINNEAPOLIS - It took a long time for Gopher redshirt sophomore and four-time cancer survivor Casey O'Brien to get into a game.
That special appearance on Saturday in the win by the 17th-ranked Gophers over Rutgers is getting more attention.
O'Brien was sent out late in the game to hold the ball for the extra point by kicker Michael Lantz. He was mobbed by teammates after the kick, and on Monday the Big Ten named O'Brien its special teams player of the week.
He wound up holding for three kicks. And his performance was flawless.
"It means the world to me," O'Brien said, speaking after the game on the Big Ten Network. "There's been so many ups and downs, nights in the hospitals and surgeries and everything like that, that's gone into this moment. This is what I dreamed about, and tonight it got to come through."
After leaving the field, O'Brien, who played prep football at Cretin-Derham Hall, held a long embrace with Fleck on the sidelines.
"He's an unbelievable person. He's been through an awful lot," Gopher coach P.J. Fleck told Big Ten Network. "When you think courage, you think Casey O'Brien. When you think Row the Boat, you think our program. You think the University of Minnesota and our state of Minnesota, you think Casey O'Brien. No one can ever take away that he played college football in the Big Ten. No one can ever take that away from him."
Now cancer-free for nearly two years, O'Brien was first diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a rare bone disease, while a high school freshman.
O'Brien has had 14 surgeries and numerous chemo treatments, with the disease's effects making a full left knee replacement necessary.
As for the Gophers, everything fell into place Saturday as Rodney Smith ran for 111 yards and two touchdowns and the Gophers improved to 7-0 for the first time since winning the national title in 1960 with a 42-7 victory over the Scarlet Knights.
Coupled with Illinois' stunning last-second victory over Wisconsin, Minnesota (7-0, 4-0) has a one-game over the Badgers (6-1, 3-1) in the division and control over its destiny.
The path is not going to be easy. After facing Maryland (3-4) next weekend, the Gophers get a bye and then face No. 6 Penn State, No. 20 Iowa, Northwestern and Wisconsin in the regular-season finale.
"They've been very mature during this whole process," Fleck said. "It's my job to keep them grounded and focused. Today we're 1-0 in the Rutgers football championship. That's all that matters."
The win pushed the Gophers to 17th in the AP poll, with Wisconsin falling to 13th.
In the coaches poll, the Gophers are 16th.
Minnesota struggled against Rutgers in the first half before scoring four touchdowns in the second, including one by the defense.
Smith scored on runs of 3 and 16 yards and Tanner Morgan threw two touchdowns as the Gophers won their ninth straight game spanning two seasons. Rutgers (1-6, 0-5) lost its fifth consecutive loss overall and 17th straight in the Big Ten Conference.
The nine-game winning streak is the Gophers' longest since 1941-42.
Morgan gave much of the credit for the offense's success to his skill players, the runners who can go inside or outside and his receivers, who can beat double coverages.
"Coach (Fleck) has done a great job of preparing us and not allowing us to look ahead," said Morgan, who was 15 of 28 for 245 yards.
The Gophers blew the game open in the fourth quarter, when Mohamed Ibrahim had a 6-yard TD run and defensive back Antoine Winfield Jr. scored on a 33-yard interception return on consecutive plays on offense. Morgan threw his second TD, a 56-yard pass to Tyler Johnson that could have been viewed as rubbing it in against a beaten foe.
Rutgers interim coach Nunzio Campanile had no problem with the late TD, saying it was up to his team to prevent it.
UP NEXT
Minnesota hosts Maryland Saturday in a 2:30 p.m. start.