Upon Further Review: Loss to Iowa sinks Gophers’ season deeper in the mud
The Minnesota Gophers hoped to once again hoist the bronzed pig known as Floyd of Rosedale, instead, they sunk deeper in the mud that has become their 2020 season.
For the sixth straight year Minnesota saw Iowa take home the yearly prize, but this time unlike in recent years the Hawkeyes did it with relative ease, trouncing the Gophers 35-7.
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It was the worst loss for the Gophers in the series since Nov. 22, 2008, when Iowa won 55-0 in Minnesota. While it wasn’t the most lopsided loss in head coach P.J. Fleck’s tenure as Gophers head coach, it was the biggest margin of defeat by a team that entered a contest with a losing record against FBS teams since 45-7 loss to Purdue on Oct. 8, 2011. (The Boilermakers were 2-2, but one of those victories was against FCS Southeast Missouri State.)
Little went right for Minnesota, as often happens when losing by 28. It started early. Down 7-0, the Gophers appeared to be in good position to tie but a James Gordon interception return to the Iowa 13 was nullified by a blindside block penalty and then exacerbated by Fleck picking up a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct for objecting to that call. The Gophers eventually punted it back to the Iowa 15 – two yards behind where they would have had the ball – and Iowa marched down the field for a score and 14-0 lead.
Iowa sold out trying to stop Mohamed Ibrahim, and while he did have 144 yards rushing it took him 33 carries to get it.
The Hawkeyes made it so Tanner Morgan had to beat them, and he couldn’t. Morgan completed just 16 of 33 passes for 167 yards with two ugly interceptions and one touchdown, which came at the end of the fourth quarter with the game out of hand.
Iowa continued the trend of teams running all over Minnesota, gaining 235 yards on the ground – the third time the Gophers have allowed 200+ yards rushing – on 6.7 yards per carry.
This might have been the game played for a pig, but only one team played like a pig.
Here’s a recap of Friday’s game:
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Iowa picked its poison in choosing to stop Ibrahim. That meant no double team for Rashod Bateman. Minnesota is struggling to find other options in its passing game but that doesn’t seem to matter. Bateman had eight catches (on 15 targets) for 111 yards and Minnesota’s lone score. It was Bateman’s third game with 100+ yards this season.
DON’T FORGET ABOUT ME
Look, someone has to get this. Gordon had the interception, which appeared to be key at the time (for a few seconds at least). The penalties weren’t his fault. Let’s move on.
THAT MOMENT
In a 35-0 game, this actually happened. Minnesota had a completion to the Iowa 35-yard line with about 1:20 remaining. Iowa was going to challenge the call – on TV, you can read head coach Kirk Ferentz’s lips of him saying exactly this – but the referee got buzzed from up top and it was an official challenge (and a completed pass). The Gophers got down to the four-yard line and called timeout. Ferentz then called three consecutive timeouts – hey, can’t take them with you I guess. Alas, for Iowa’s sake, Minnesota scored, eluding a shutout. Can’t wait to see if there’s any carryover from this in the 2021 game.
THIS NUMBER
4.4 – yards per carry for Ibrahim. That might seem like a decent number but it was his worst rushing average with more than 15 carries since Oct. 20, 2018, when he ran for 49 yards on 18 carries (2.72). However, he had a touchdown in that game. He didn’t get one against Iowa, after scoring 10 in Minnesota’s first three games. Ibrahim had only three rushes of 10+ yards in this game with a long of just 13.
THEY SAID IT
“I think our whole team was inconsistent. Offense, defense, special teams. … Take a pick. Whatever player you want to pick, whatever coach you want to pick, offense, defense, special teams. We were just really inconsistent.” — Fleck
“We didn’t earn the right to get the pig back, Floyd of Rosedale. Didn’t deserve to bring it back here. Didn’t play well enough to get it. I said this is another scar. And scars remind us where we’ve been and where we want to go.” – Fleck
“Going into this game you knew Iowa was going to be a gapped-out defense. They were going to cover every hole that was out there. It came down to breaking tackles. That’s on me. I’ll take that one. I didn’t break as many tackles as I was supposed to, so I’ll work on that next week.” — Ibrahim
“No, I have not experienced anything like that. I don’t really have an opinion on it. They did what they needed to do for whatever reason … I don’t really know exactly why it happened.” — Morgan on the timeout sequence at the end of the game
“I don’t know why they called three timeouts. … We were going to finish the game, regardless. I really don’t know why they called three timeouts. I don’t know if it was disrespect or anything. But we were going to finish the game. We didn’t think much of it.” — Ibrahim
“Figured we’d take Floyd with us and leave the timeouts here.” – Ferentz
WHAT’S NEXT
It doesn’t get any easier for Minnesota which hosts Purdue in another Friday night affair. The Boilermakers are 2-0 entering Saturday afternoon’s game with Northwestern. Quarterback Aidan O’Connell threw for 653 yards and five touchdowns in Purdue’s first two wins. The Boilermakers will be even stronger once wide receiver/returner Rondale Moore returns.
