COLUMBUS, OHIO – The Gophers faced Ohio State on Saturday without their top two middle linebackers.

Cody Lindenberg was listed on the Big Ten availability report as questionable because of a leg injury but missed his second consecutive game. His backup, Maverick Baranowski, was listed as out. Baranowski suffered an apparent shoulder injury at Purdue last week.

Lindenberg, who missed the first seven games because of leg injury, wore a compression sleeve on his left leg and took part in the early, non-padded warmups but was not uniform when the team took the field in full pads.

The absences of Lindenberg and Baranowski last week forced the Gophers to use true freshman Matt Kingsbury and redshirt freshman Tyler Stolsky in the key position. Against Ohio State, Stolsky got the start and ranked second on the team with eight tackles.

True freshman running back Darius Taylor, the team's leading rusher, missed his fourth consecutive game. On the Gophers' second series, redshirt freshman Zach Evans left the game after an 11-yard gain because of an upper-body injury. He did not return.

• Defensive back Darius Green left the game after a hard hit in the second quarter.

• Safety Aidan Gousby and reserve linebacker Jack Tinnen were listed as out for the season.