Iowa football pummels Minnesota in dominant first half for 41-3 win

IOWA CITY — Floyd of Rosedale is going right back to its spot in Hansen Football Performance Center.

Complementary football — Iowa football head coach Kirk Ferentz said he’d seen it from his program since returning from the bye week, but it hadn’t been nearly as effective until facing Minnesota.

The 98-pound bronze pig trophy was destined to remain in Iowa City before the Hawkeyes and Golden Gophers blinked — let alone played 60 minutes of football.

The deafening crowd gobbled up every positive Hawkeye play there was — and there were quite a few — before capping off the latest chapter in the 119-year rivalry with a 41-3 win over Minnesota.

“It’s just a complete team performance,” Ferentz said. “All three phases really did a great job, especially in that first half.”

Everything Iowa wanted to execute against Minnesota on Saturday afternoon, it did in the first half.

A quick start? The Hawkeyes scored on their opening drive. A passing touchdown? Caught by wide receiver Reece Vander Zee. A pick-six? Defensive back Zach Lutmer secured the Hawkeyes’ first of the season, and the first of his career, on Minnesota’s second drive of the game.

A successful punt return? Yes, that too. Kaden Wetjen’s 50-yard return included a “row the boat” celebration in the north end zone. Former Hawkeye Cooper DeJean joined in on the fun on social media, poking fun at the irony from just two years ago.

“I was really close to fair-catching that, too,” Wetjen said, laughing. “Thankfully it ended up being a touchdown.”

That all happened before the Golden Gophers could go to the locker room and regroup or even process what was going on inside the sold-out Kinnick Stadium.

The Hawkeyes were, however, trending upward with their complementary playing style each week. Saturday’s game was just the new summit. It was the first time Iowa scored in all three phases since its win over Northwestern 364 days ago.

Through 30 minutes of football, the Hawkeyes had accumulated 186 yards, including 102 passing yards, to Minnesota’s 44 total yards. By the end of the game, Iowa had 274 total yards to the Golden Gophers’ 133.

Iowa scored four touchdowns in four different ways in less than 20 minutes of game time. Quarterback Mark Gronowski recorded his 11th rushing touchdown of the season — now tied for most in a single season in Iowa history — on the first drive of the game.

The Hawkeyes said leading up to their game against Minnesota they wanted to score first. Iowa’s had the ball to start every game this season, but hadn’t scored in its opening against a Power Four opponent. Then after a nearly five-minute long drive, Gronowski walked into the end zone for the score. Kicker Drew Stevens drilled a short field goal in Iowa’s second drive of the game minutes later.

It all snowballed in the Hawkeyes’ favor from there.

Lutmer’s first career pick-six came on a 34-yard return, breaking three tackles along the way before crossing into the end zone for the score. Iowa’s pick-six streak extends to 18 seasons, making it the second-longest active streak in Division I college football behind Utah (22 straight seasons).

“We were talking about it with (defensive coordinator Phil Parker) last night,” defensive back Xavier Nwankpa said. “Who's going to do it, and Lutmer got it.”

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Vander Zee connected with Gronowski for a 29-yard passing touchdown — Gronowski’s first Big Ten passing score and the longest TD pass of the season. Gronowski finished the game 12-for-19 with 135 passing yards and 24 rushing to go with his two touchdowns.

“Kind of just get the monkey off the back a little bit,” Gronowski said. “It was great opportunity to give it to Reece, got him against one of our former teammates out there.”

Then of course, just to make it all full circle, Wetjen burst through the midfield for a 50-yard punt return with 11:43 to play in the second quarter. Not only did the play cap the first-half scoring onslaught that secured Floyd’s ticket back across the parking lot, it also tied Wetjen for fifth place in Big Ten history with two punt-return touchdowns in a single season.

Cornerback TJ Hall picked off Minnesota to start the second half — securing a third-straight game with Iowa’s defense forcing at least two turnovers — and Stevens kicked a 46-yard field goal.

Minnesota’s only points of the game came just before the end of the third quarter — a 33-yard field goal after the Hawkeyes forced a tackle-for-loss on third down. Finally, with eight minutes to play, redshirt freshman Cam Buffington secured his first career interception, and backup quarterback Jeremy Hecklinski added the exclamation point with a 6-yard rushing touchdown.

Iowa is now bowl eligible for the 24th time in 25 seasons. The Hawkeyes have a bye week before facing No. 6 Oregon on Nov. 8 at Kinnick Stadium, closing out the three-game, midseason homestand.

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