When Jerry Kill resigned Wednesday, Gophers players and assistant coaches lost not only their head coach, mentor and friend. They also were without their clock-management decision-maker.
The void showed Saturday night when the Gophers' offense wasted 12 of the final 19 seconds in Minnesota's 29-26 loss to No. 15 Michigan at TCF Bank Stadium.
With the ball at the half-yard line, the Gophers shifted and motioned four players before the ball was snapped to quarterback Mitch Leidner with seven seconds left. He then threw incomplete to Brandon Lingen.
"I didn't expect it to take that much time, but I haven't been in the offense long enough, so that's on me," said interim head coach Tracy Claeys, the Gophers' defensive coordinator before moving up to replace Kill.