With the Floyd of Rosedale on the line, the Minnesota Gophers knocked off the Iowa Hawkeyes in convincing fashion for a pivotal Big Ten win.
The Minnesota Gophers welcomed the Iowa Hawkeyes into TCF Bank Stadium on Saturday in a pivotal, must-win, Big Ten matchup. In a battle for the Floyd of Rosedale, the Gophers were out to bring home the pig. With an ugly loss on the road to Illinois, the Gophers needed to come out and prove they used the bye week to improve. Fortunately for Minnesota, they came out and did just that.
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Out of the gate, the Hawkeyes systematically drove the ball down the field on a 12 play 76 yard drive that took just under six minutes off of the clock. From the one yard line, the Hawkeyes handed it to their bruising running back and Mark Weisman punched it into the end zone to give Iowa the first score of the game.
From there on out, this one was all Gophers. By kickoff, Vegas had Minnesota as 1.5 point underdogs, but Jerry Kill’s team seemingly paid no mind to that notion.
Over the course of the rest of the game, the Gophers outscored Iowa 51-7, with a halftime the lead stood at 35-7, and the Gophers squad had the game plenty in hand.
Maxx Williams tallied three touchdowns on the day for the Gophers, along with two very impressive tip toe catches near the boundary. Minnesota’s first score of the game came on a 44 yard completion from Mitch Leidner to Donovahn Jones, and the third score came on a six yard touchdown run by David Cobb.
The Gophers added another touchdown in the fourth quarter behind a punishing run from Rodrick Williams Jr. A missed extra point by Andrew Harte had the score sitting at 48-7 in favor of Minnesota with over 10 minutes left in the contest. A late Ryan Santoso field goal added to the Gophers margin as they looked up at a 51-7 lead.
With just 21 seconds left in the game, and facing the third string Gophers defense, Iowa would add a touchdown on a Andrew Stone 24 yard reception.
Jerry Kill and the Gophers have now taken back the Little Brown Jug and the Floyd of Rosedale in the same season. They have an opportunity to grab Paul Bunyan’s Axe on November 29 and would then hold all three rivalry trophies.
Next Saturday, the Ohio State Buckeyes head into TCF Bank Stadium. The Gophers likely need one more win for a big name bowl game at the end of the season.
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