The way safety Antonio Johnson sees it, the Gophers were down two safeties, so they needed two to step up.
For the second consecutive game, Minnesota was without Damarius Travis (hamstring) and Ace Rogers (knee), so they turned to Kunle Ayinde and Duke McGhee.
"They played great," said Johnson, who had eight tackles in Minnesota's 10-7 win over Kent State on Saturday. "They do their job and there's no falloff when someone goes down. Someone comes in and does exactly what they need to do."
Ayinde was disruptive with a near-interception of Kent State's Colin Reardon's pass in the third quarter.