Minnesota Gained 209 Yards Against Iowa and Won Anyway. Floyd of Rosedale Is Back in Minneapolis.
Minnesota's offense produced 209 total yards on Saturday, a season low. Drake Lindsey went 14 of 26 for 137 yards with an interception and no touchdowns. Darius Taylor carried 12 times for 20 yards.
The Gophers beat No. 15 Iowa 13-10 and emptied a crowd of 53,004 onto the field at Huntington Bank Stadium.
You do not need a good offense to win a Big Ten game in late October. You need to take the ball away four times and have a kicker who does not miss.
Luke Drzewiecki From 46 Yards, on the Last Play
Minnesota got the ball back with 1:46 on the clock and went 44 yards in seven plays. The drive turned on third and four from the Gophers' own 33, when Lindsey found Jalen Smith for 39 yards with 39 seconds left.
Drzewiecki hit the 46-yarder as the game ended. He has not missed a field goal this season. He also was not on the roster in the spring: he arrived in August after four years at New Mexico, where he left as the program's career scoring leader among kickers at 51 of 65 on field goals and 118 of 120 on extra points.
“I'm loving learning about all of them,” Drzewiecki said of Minnesota's rivalry trophies.
He gets to keep learning. The Gophers now hold the Floyd of Rosedale, the Little Brown Jug and Paul Bunyan's Axe at the same time for the first time since 1978.
Iowa Turned It Over Four Times After Three All Season
This is the part that should worry Kirk Ferentz. Iowa arrived in Minneapolis having committed three turnovers in six games. It gave the ball away four times in one afternoon: three interceptions and a lost fumble. Minnesota blocked a punt on top of it.
Iowa went 4 of 16 on third down and was held to 90 rushing yards after averaging 194. Kamari Moulton, the Big Ten's leading rusher at 103.8 yards a game, left midway through the second quarter with an undisclosed injury and finished with 22 yards on 10 carries.
Jeremy Hecklinski started and went 9 of 16 for 62 yards with an interception before Ferentz pulled him in the second quarter for Hank Brown, who had been out since spraining his shoulder against Ohio State on October 3. Brown threw for 136 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions.
“It's unrealistic to think that you'll win a conference game like that,” Ferentz said, pointing at the blocked punt and the giveaways.
Fleck Called It One of His Best Defensive Performances
Two weeks earlier, Minnesota's defense gave up 464 yards in a 41-13 loss to Purdue. On Saturday it held a ranked team to 288 yards and allowed one scoring drive after halftime.
“This is maybe one of the best defensive performances I've been around at the University of Minnesota,” P.J. Fleck said.
“Boy, it's good to have Floyd home,” he added.
Iowa had won 10 of the previous 11 meetings. Minnesota's only win in that stretch was a 12-10 game in Iowa City in 2023, and Saturday was the first time the Gophers had beaten Iowa at home since 2014.
Both Teams Are 5-2 and Only One Is Still Dreaming
Iowa fell out of the AP Top 25 entirely and dropped from 14th to 24th in the coaches poll. The Big Ten title is effectively gone, and the playoff case now needs something close to perfect across five remaining games, starting with Wisconsin at Kinnick Stadium on Halloween.
Minnesota is 5-2 and 2-2 in the league, a win from bowl eligibility, and about to face three straight ranked opponents beginning at No. 6 Indiana. The Gophers already knocked off Michigan this month. Their fans have stormed that field twice in October.
“These are moments and memories you pray about, dream about as a kid,” Lindsey said.
He threw for 137 yards and an interception, and he is right.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
