Minnesota upsets #14 Iowa 13-10 and brings home Floyd of Rosedale!

For the first time since 1978, Minnesota holds possession of all three of their long-time rivalry trophies. After beating Iowa 13-10 at home, the Gophers now hold on to Floyd of Rosedale, The Little Brown Jug and Paul Bunyan’s Axe. Late in the fourth quarter, Drake Lindsey found Jalen Smith for a 39-yard gain to set up the Luke Drzewiecki game-winning field goal.

When you can win the turnover battle and get a blocked punt against Iowa, you have a chance to win. When the defense and special teams played well, all they needed was “just enough” from the offense to beat Iowa for only the second time in 10 tries for PJ Fleck.

Iowa took the opening kickoff and was forced to punt after their first three scripted plays. But Minnesota blocked the punt and took their first possession at the Iowa 12-yard line. But three quick plays resulted in one yard and a Luke Drzewiecki 31-yard FG.

Iowa was then able to move the ball, down to the Minnesota 10-yard line. But Jeremy Hecklinski threw the ball in the middle of the field and Joey Gerlach dove to pick it off.

Both teams traded punts into the second quarter before a Lindsey interception set up the Iowa offense at the Gophers’ 14. But their offense sputtered and settled for a Caden Buhr field goal.

If you longed for classic Big Ten football, then the first half today was everything you could have dreamed of. Was it a bad Minnesota offense and a good Gopher defense? Or was the Iowa offense terrible and the Iowa defense was shutting down the Gophers. Whatever the case, it was not entertaining football and the score was 3-3 at the half.

And then the Gopher offense briefly came alive to open the second half, at least for one drive. Javon Tracy lined up at running back on the first play of the quarter and he squirted through the line and ran for 23 yards. On third and six, Lindsey hit Tracy for just enough and the drive stayed alive. 12 more yards to Tracy, 23 yards to Roman Voss down to the two and eventually (and I mean eventually) Darius Taylor took a direct snap in for a score and 10-3 lead.

In that one drive, Minnesota gained 71 yards and more than doubled their offensive production.

The Iowa offense, however, remained mostly inept. Hank Brown came back to reclaim the QB1 position in the second quarter, but he was no more effective. Iowa’s running back, Kamari Moulton, left the game midway through the second quarter and the Hawkeyes’ running game was not nearly as effective. Their biggest play of the third quarter was a 15-yard pass interference penalty.

But they managed to find one drive. With 5:44 remaining in the game, and the score still 10-3, Minnesota was forced to punt. Tom Weston kicked one high and short, and John Nestor downed it at the Iowa two-yard line. At this point, things were looking very good for Minnesota. But the Iowa offense found something and they went 98 yards in four plays to tie the game and completely take the air out of the statium.

A quick Gopher punt was followed by a quick Iowa punt and the Gopher offense had one last chance from their own 27-yard line to get into field goal range and win it. On third and four, it was the Lindsey to Smith connection (his only catch of the gtaame) that set up the46-yard field goal to beat Iowa.

PJ Flecked has talked for weeks about wanting his team to play complementary football. They did that at Washington and in the Michigan win. They absolutely did not at Purdue two weeks ago and for the last two weeks the mantra was to play consistent football. And his team answered the call. It is rare to go toe-to-toe with Iowa in all three phases, but the Gophers definitely won special teams today; their offense was slightly better and while both defenses played well, the Gopher offense put Iowa’s defense on skates for one possession. And that was enough.

The last time that Minnesota possessed the Little Brown Jug, Floyd of Rosedale and Paul Bunyan’s Axe was 1978. The Gophers beat Iowa in mid-October of that season, having defeated Michigan and Wisconsin in 1977. Now the Gophers have an opportunity to beat all three of their long-standing rivals for the first time since 1967, if they can get a win in Madison at the end of November.

Before we get to the Badger game, the Gophers head to Indiana next week to face the reigning college football champions.