MINNEAPOLIS -- Minnesotas defense delivered an overpowering performance. Mitch Leidner provided the finishing touch.Leidner threw his first touchdown pass in seven weeks and Blake Cashman and Steven Richardson each had two of Minnesotas season-high seven sacks , leading the Gophers to a 29-12 victory over Northwestern on Saturday.Playing at home for the final time, Leidner found Drew Wolitarsky from 9 yards out with 6:46 left to give the Gophers (8-3, 5-3) a 22-6 lead and then ran in a 12-yard score with 2:31 remaining. The fifth-year senior, who was intercepted once, ended a five-game streak without a touchdown pass.Its been long overdue, Wolitarsky said, smiling.Emmit Carpenter made three field goals and Shannon Brooks totaled 110 yards from scrimmage for the Gophers, whose offense sputtered through most of the afternoon after an 80-yard game-opening march into the end zone and before the late Leidner-led push.Hey, find a way to win this thing, coach Tracy Claeys said. Who cares how anybody has played?Clayton Thorson threw for 276 yards and a late score, but the Wildcats (5-6, 4-4) were denied on fourth-and-1 at the Minnesota 16 in the second quarter and fourth-and-1 at the Gophers 13 in the third quarter. They lost two fumbles and failed on both 2-point conversion tries.Weve just got to learn how to finish, wide receiver Andrew Scanlan said.CARR CRASHAustin Carr, the Big Tens leading receiver, had five catches for 68 yards for the Wildcats before leaving the field a bit woozy from a helmet-to-helmet hit by Minnesota safety Duke McGhee. The targeting penalty, the seventh time this season a Gophers player has received the automatic ejection including two for McGhee, helped set up Northwesterns first score.He knows better than that, Claeys said.Fitzgerald declined to discuss Carrs condition, beyond he seemed to be doing well after the game. The 4-yard touchdown run by Justin Jackson with 2:17 left in the third quarter finished the drive and cut the lead to 15-6, but the Gophers werent deterred.Emotions were pretty high at that point, but were a level-headed team and we didnt let that affect us, said linebacker Jack Lynn, who had 1 1/2 of Minnesotas 12 tackles for loss.TAKE THATRichardson recalled a recruiting visit that Fitzgerald once made to his high school, Chicagos Mount Carmel, that left him feeling snubbed. Richardson, listed at 6 feet and 300 pounds, said Fitzgerald was immediately turned off by his lack of height.I saw that guy come into my high school coachs office and just look me up and down and just look at me like Im way too short to play the game, Richardson said. It was really nice to play one of these types of game in front of him, just because he doubted you.EMPTY SEATSWith a kickoff temperature of 30 degrees, including an 18-degree wind chill factor, the Gophers played in front of their smallest crowd (38,162) in eight seasons at TCF Bank Stadium. Less than half of those fans were still in the seats by the fourth quarter. Minnesotas average attendance this year was 43,814, the lowest since 2002 when the team played at the Metrodome.THE TAKEAWAYNorthwestern: With the Thorson-to-Carr connection quiet even before the star pass-catcher departed the game, the Wildcats were uncharacteristically unproductive on offense until they entered catch-up mode late and padded their statistics.Minnesota: Eliminated earlier in the day from Big Ten championship game contention, the Gophers can still tie for first place in the West Division by upsetting Wisconsin and having Iowa beat Nebraska. They reached the eight-win mark for the third time in four seasons, a feat not accomplished by the program since 1905.UP NEXTNorthwestern: Hosting in-state rival Illinois on Saturday, the Wildcats need a win for bowl eligibility. Theyve beaten the Illini in three of the last four meetings.Minnesota: Seeking their first victory over Wisconsin since 2003 on Saturday, the Gophers have not won at Camp Randall Stadium since 1994.Itd be a great way to top off the year, no question, Leidner said. I know its really important to a lot of guys on this team.---For more college football coverage: http://www.collegefootball.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-Top25Doug Kotar Giants Jersey . -- Canadian Andrew Wiggins got the ball on the wing, made a nifty spin move and then let go with a soft floater from about 10 feet that swished through the net in Allen Fieldhouse. Harry Carson Youth Jersey .C. at the helm of the top team in the Eastern Conference. His tenure as the GM in Vancouver was all too brief. Though he led the Canucks to what was then a franchise record-shattering campaign in just his second season, Nonis was gone and replaced one year later. http://www.authenticnygiantspro.com/Saquon-barkley-giants-jersey/ . Malkin got tangled up with Detroits Luke Glendening early in the third period and his left skate took the brunt of collision with the boards behind Pittsburghs net. Doug Kotar Youth Jersey .R. Smith realized how easily basketball can be taken from him, and he wasnt going to take his place in the NBA for granted anymore. Lawrence Taylor Womens Jersey . After Gasquet beat fifth-seeded Ivan Dodig of Croatia 7-5, 6-3, Tsonga followed up with a 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-2 win against sixth-seeded Edouard Roger-Vasselin in an all-French match.RIO DE JANEIRO -- Late in the Olympic 200-meter freestyle final, Katie Ledecky began to feel nausea swelling up from her stomach to her throat.It was an inopportune moment. Ledecky had a shot to win the race that is, for her, the object that is different from all the others. The 200 is her off event, the one in which Ledecky wasnt a world-record holder or a prohibitive favorite, the one in which she was swimming to win and not for a specific time goal. Five of the 10 top all-time performers in the distance were in Tuesday nights eight-woman field.To Ledeckys left, Swedens Sarah Sjostrom was surfing her wave off the last turn. I didnt think I was going to be that close, Sjostrom said. I got some extra speed for free.Ledecky burped. The feeling passed. She drove herself to the wall.Everything was hurting and I knew I wasnt going to be able to see the field in the last 50, so I just had to dig deep and do my own thing, she said. When I saw it for real on the scoreboard, it all kind of sank in then.The really tough ones done.Ledecky collected her second individual gold medal of the Rio Games and her third overall, ticking off ambitions like so many items on a shopping list. Her time of 1:53.73 fell just short of fellow American Allison Schmitts Olympic record.It was simply good enough, an unusual admission for this unusually driven athlete. The 400 freestyle gold and 400 freestyle relay silver were predictable treasures, but the shorter distance tests her like no other.The 200 is such a more stressful event for me than the 400 or the 800, just because I cant really settle into my rhythm, Ledecky said. One mistake and youre done. It just feels good that its over.Ledeckys next event: 4x200-metter freestyle relay, Wedesday, Aug.dddddddddddd. 10, 10:50 p.m. ETHer longtime coach, Bruce Gemmell, said he got this text after the race from his son Andrew, a distance and open water swimmer who trains with Ledecky: Ive seen her practice those last 50 over and over and over.The .35 of a second that made the difference between Ledecky and Sjostrom was carved from those reps. And since no detail is too small in this hybrid of distance and sprint, its probably a good thing that Ledecky had practice at surviving a surge of queasiness, as well.Gemmell told the story of an unnamed male swimmer who, after one especially draining workout at altitude at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, turned to Ledecky and said, That was so hard, I feel like throwing up. To which she replied, I feel that way three times a week. Tuesday, she said the bilious feeling made her mad, and irritation made her faster.Her two remaining events, the 800 freestyle relay and the 800 itself, in which Ledecky has broken her own world record three times since she set it in 2013, sits at the end of the meet, waiting for her to claim it. Assuming she does, she will complete a sweep accomplished only by Debbie Meyer in 1968.A champions postrace duties, from media to anti-doping, can drag on for a while. Ledecky said athlete-to-athlete, the first question the morning after is often how much rest they got. Its hard to sleep after a great performance, Ledecky said. She got a nap Tuesday morning and shell adjust.Shes getting a lot of practice at staying up past her bedtime this week. ' ' '