CHAMPAIGN, Ill. >> Gophers coach P.J. Fleck could joke about it afterward, but in the moment Saturday, it wasn’t much of a laughing matter.

Leading No. 24 Illinois 16-10 in the fourth quarter, Minnesota faced a fourth-and-12 from its own 44-yard line when Fleck gave a “green light” to punter Mark Crawford to decide whether he had an opening to run for a first down — granted, if the Illinois punt return team gave him the right look. The Illini bailed to set up blocks and there was roughly 14 yards of space when Crawford took off running. He had one man to beat, but redshirt freshman Collin Dixon raced him down from behind and the U came up 2 yards short.

“Mark Crawford is 48 years old,” Fleck embellished on his actually still quite seasoned 31-year-old Australian punter. “I mean the guy can make a decision on his own.”

The call to give freedom to his veteran punter didn’t work out as the Illini got the ball at their own 46 and scored the go-ahead touchdown five plays later for a 17-16 lead.

Fleck’s openness to a fake punt — the U’s first since tight end Ko Kieft’s rush failed against Michigan in 2020 — was under the microscope and threatened a win. His audience wouldn’t have been as receptive to humor if that proved to be a turning point in a loss.

But the Gophers offense responded with its own touchdown drive, the U’s defense produced two big stops, and its special teams provided a clutch field goal to widen the big-picture focus out to a 25-17 win over Illinois at Memorial Stadium. The Gophers (6-3, 4-2 Big Ten) extended their winning streak to four games and reached bowl eligibility with the victory over the Illini (6-3, 3-3).

“Is it risky? Yeah, there is a risk involved,” Fleck said, bringing up his decision go for the upset win on fourth and inches against then-No. 11 Southern California on Oct. 5. “But most of you (reporters) talk about how I don’t do much risk anyway. … This didn’t work, but there are times when it comes about when you have to trust your players.”

Illinois coach Bret Bielema suffered his first loss against Minnesota. He was 10-0 since racking up seven straight victories at Wisconsin from 2006-12 and three more at Illinois since 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. Brosmer completed only 59% of his passes but hit on four straight to set up the go-ahead score, including a 37-yard to Daniel Jackson.

Then safety Kerry Brown had two big plays to stop the Illini: a tackle for lost yards on third down and a pass breakup on fourth down.

Dragan Kesich, the 2023 Big Ten kicker of the year award, matched a career-high with four field goals. With less than two minutes left, his 46-yarder, which he made after being pushed back five yards because of a false start penalty, extended the lead to 25-17.

Still, the Illini were driving in the final minute, until Jah Joyner’s strip sack of quarterback Luke Altmyer led to Danny Striggow’s recovery to ice the game.

The Gophers led 13-10 at the half, with each team scoring a touchdown on a long run. Darius Taylor, who had 189 all-purpose yards, 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 drove to the Illini 32 with 1:27 left in the half, but Fleck declined to use any of his three timeouts, declining to be exhaustive in his effort to score a touchdown. As he set up Kesich’s 45-yard field goal in the final minute, Fleck wasn’t taking many risks at that point.

Turns out he was saving it for later.