The Outback Bowl followed the script in one way at least.

Minnesota's offense focused on possessing the ball. It finished with a 15-minute advantage there.

Still, that statistic only tells part of the story. The Golden Gophers' offense made a series of important plays while Auburn's offense, which was confident after scoring 48 points in the Iron Bowl, simply couldn't sustain any semblance of consistency.

Here's a look at the defining plays of Minnesota's 31-24 victory Wednesday ...

Minnesota equalized after the Tigers' opening, field-goal drive. Noah Igbinoghene changed that dynamic with a remarkable kickoff return for a touchdown, however.

The play covered 98 yards and included key blocks from Spencer Nigh (99), K.J. Britt (33) and Matthew Hill (19). With Minnesota's coverage knocked into submission, Igbinoghene was able to use his remarkable speed to finish the play with ease.

In fact, he eased his sprint with 20 yards to go. He was in the clear.

This probably was the most significant play of the first half. Christian Tutt inexplicably decided to lunge at a punt while running to his left, missed the ball and yielded a costly turnover. Minnesota used this possession to equalize just a few plays later.

That sequence seemed to startle the entire Auburn operation. The defense wasn't as sharp as expected. The offense wasn't as sharp as expected. And Minnesota seemed emboldened knowing that Igbioghene's kickoff return touchdown had been mitigated.

Any pre-game intimidation was gone.

This wasn't a scoring play, but it was a back-breaker for a tiring Auburn defense.

On 2nd-and-16, the Golden Gophers run a relatively standard zone run to the left. End Marlon Davidson crashes inside, linebacker K.J. Britt maintains outside leverage. So far so good. Still, the Minnesota tailback slides between the two Auburn defenders and gets his team into the red zone.

There's more. Christian Tutt missed a (difficult) tackle, Daniel Thomas failed to wrap up and Roger McCreary missed a tackle before Jeremiah Dinson was able to shepherd the tailback out of bounds. Auburn's defense was well off its usual standard here.

Minnesota scored two plays later to go ahead by a touchdown. The lead carried into halftime.

Auburn's second drive of the second half ended in satisfying fashion. Quarterback Bo Nix was the primary reason the Tigers were in position to score — he converted a third down with his legs and completed a series of important throws as well — but tailback Boobee Whitlow landed this finishing blow.

It's a relatively straightforward counter out of the Wildcat. Whitlow did what he does and Auburn equalized.

Also impressive: Whitlow fumbled two snaps earlier. So this is a nice moment of atonement for the redshirt sophomore.

Part of Auburn's troubles against the run Wednesday centered around the care coordinator Kevin Steele took to mitigate MInnesota's excellent wideouts. He spent most of the day with either two high safeties (Cover-2) or Cover-0 with some type of pressure package.

This is a version of the latter.

Auburn goes with a Cover-0 look. Nickel Christian Tutt blitzes off the slot receiver, which leaves free safety Smoke Monday in man coverage with no safety help. The receiver fakes an out-breaking route, Monday flips his hips, the receiver breaks back inside, Monday can't make up the lost ground.

It's a easy read for the quarterback. His throw is on time and on target.

This put the Gophers ahead with 10-ish minutes to go — increasing pressure on an Auburn offense that needed as few obstacles as possible.

This was Minnesota's final blow.

On a 4th down, the Gophers go with a delayed pop pass to the tight end. The defender under pressure here is linebacker Zakoby McClain, who has coverage on the tight end. Everything is fine until McClain decides this will be a run, he takes two hops forward and then then tight end slides past McClain into open space.

It's a tough catch, yes, but the tight end is up to the task. This play yields a first down and essentially ended the Tigers' comeback hopes.

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