MINNEAPOLIS — Ohio State had squandered leads of 17 and 18 points in losing its last two Big Ten games. The Buckeyes weren't thinking about doing it again. They were more concerned about climbing back in the conference race.

        “It never popped in our head,” said Steve Bellisari, who had one of the best games of his career — completing 17-of-22 passes for 203 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions in a 31-28 win over Minnesota on Saturday night. He rushed for 66 yards and wasn't sacked.

        Since first-place Michigan lost on the last play of the game to rival Michigan State earlier in the day, Ohio State (5-3, 3-2) moved a game back of the Wolverines and Illinois in a three-way tie for third place.

        “I think our guys were aware,” said Buckeyes coach Jim Tressel. “Enough guys whispered to them what happened this afternoon.”

        Jonathan Wells ran for 152 yards and two touchdowns for the Buckeyes. He scored from 1 yard out with 3:01 remaining in the third quarter to put Ohio State up 21-20 — probably the biggest play of the game.

        “For us to answer like that away from home was tremendous,” Tressel said.

        Chris Vance — who had his first career 100-yard receiving game — had a 36-yard touchdown pass from Bellisari tipped into his hands by Minnesota's Ukee Dozier, widening the Buckeyes' lead to 28-20 early in the fourth quarter.

        Tellis Redmon rushed for 103 yards and a touchdown for the Golden Gophers, who haven't beaten the Buckeyes at home since 1981.

        The Gophers (3-5, 1-3) dropped to last place in the Big Ten and must win their last three games — at Michigan, at Iowa and Wisconsin at home — to earn their third straight bowl bid.

        Minnesota coach Glen Mason, who lost out to Tressel last spring for the Ohio State job, missed a chance to beat his alma mater for the second straight season.

        “They made the big plays tonight and we didn't,” Mason said. “We didn't tackle well against a big, strong physical team with excellent running backs.”

        Asad Abdul-Khaliq, putting an apparent end to Minnesota's quarterback rotation by starting his fourth straight game, rushed eight times for 47 yards and a touchdown. He completed 11-of-21 passes for 120 yards.

        Abdul-Khaliq's 2-yard scamper and 2-point conversion pass to Ben Utecht with 1:55 left pulled the Gophers to 31-28. Ohio State recovered the onside kick.

        “If we got that, I felt we could have pulled it out,” Mason said.

        Two plays after Mike Doss intercepted Abdul-Khaliq's pass in the third quarter — the Gophers' first turnover in 11 quarters — Minnesota's Mike Lehan recovered a fumble by Wells.

        Redmon raced around right end on the next play for a 52-yard score to give the Gophers a 20-14 lead.

        A 2-yard touchdown run by Thomas Tapeh and a 44-yard field goal by Nystrom as time expired in the second quarter cut the lead to 14-13.

        Ron Johnson had four receptions for 59 yards and passed Tutu Atwell to become Minnesota's all-time leader in receiving yards with 2,661.

        Bellisari, whom Buckeyes fans had become impatient with this season, capped another impressive drive in the second quarter with a 14-yard touchdown pass down the middle to wide-open tight end Darnell Sanders that put the Buckeyes ahead 14-3.

        “I thought he was very patient running the ball,” Tressel said. “He was very accurate. He had a real grasp of what we were doing.”

        Minnesota wide receiver Antoine Burns had promised a Gophers victory earlier in the week, prompting a healthy round of trash talk between players from both teams. Ohio State had pinned Burns' comments up in its locker room in Columbus.

        “We knew they were going to be up for the game,” said Minnesota defensive end Greg White, “because of the he-said, she-said stuff. We knew they were going to come out and play.”

        Said Wells: “Oh yeah, it was in my head.”

Team		1	2	3	4			SCORE
Ohio State		7	7	7	10			31
Minnesota		3	10	7	8			28

Scoring Summary
1st Quarter	Minnesota Field Goal - 30-yarder by Dan Nystrom. 6:08 remaining. Ohio State Touchdown - 2-yard run by Jonathan Wells. (Mike Nugent kick). 1:01 remaining.
2nd Quarter	Ohio State Touchdown - 14-yard pass from Steve Bellisari to Darnell Sanders. (Mike Nugent kick). 8:18 remaining. Minnesota Touchdown - 3-yard run by Thomas Tapeh. (Dan Nystrom kick). 4:17 remaining. Minnesota Field Goal - 44-yarder by Dan Nystrom. 0:00 remaining.
3rd Quarter	Minnesota Touchdown - 52-yarder by Tellis Redmon. (Dan Nystrom kick). 5:51 remaining. Ohio State Touchdown - 1-yard run by Jonathan Wells. (Mike Nugent kick). 3:01 remaining.
4th Quarter	Ohio State Touchdown - 36-yard pass from Chris Vance to Steve Bellisari. (Mike Nugent kick). 14:24 remaining. Ohio State Field Goal - 35-yarder by Mike Nugent. 4:17 remaining. Minnesota Touchdown - 2-yard run by Asad Abdul-Khaliq. (Abdul-Khaliq pass to Ben Utecht). 1:55 remaining.

Attendance: 45,407

Final Team Statistics	Ohio State	Minnesota
First downs	25	20
Rushes-yards	47-265	45-246
Passing yards	203	120
Return yards	11	0
Passing (Att-Comp-Int)	17-12-0	23-11-1
Punts-Average	4-42.0	5-47.5
Fumbles-Lost	1-1	2-0
Penalties-Yards	4-43	5-35
Time of Possession	29:42	30:18

Rushing
Ohio State	- Wells 24-152, Bellisari 11-66, Ross 11-45, Martin 1-2.
Minnesota	- Redmon 17-103, Barber 15-84, Abdul-Khaliq 9-43, Tapeh 4-16.
Passing
Ohio State	- Bellisari 12-17-0, 203 yards and 2 touchdowns.
Minnesota	- Abdul-Khaliq 11-21-1, 120 yards. Redmon 0-1-0, 0 yards. Cole 0-1-0, 0 yards.
Receiving
Ohio State	- Vance 5-101, Jenkins 3-50, Sanders 2-18, Wells 1-23, Martin 1-11.
Minnesota	- Johnson 4-59, Redmon 2-20, Utecht 2-19, Burns 1-13, Johnson 1-5, Henderson 1-4.

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