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University of Minnesota Athletics
Turnovers Costly In Gophers' 40-22 Loss To Iowa
11/16/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
The Golden Gophers offense was dominating but untimely turnovers, including two in the red zone killed Minnesota's momentum. The Gophers outgained the Hawkeyes 537-334 and dominated the time of possession battle, holding the ball for almost 36 minutes. Minnesota had more first downs (29-15), rushing yards (175-134) and passing yards (388-210). Asad Abdul-Khaliq, who became the Gophers' all-time leader in total offense in the game, threw for a career-best 388 yards on 28-of-46 passing attempts.
Iowa started on the right foot as Fred Russell returned the opening kickoff 46 yards. After a 42-yard completion from Nathan Chandler to Ramon Ochoa, Iowa got on the board three plays later with a Nate Kaeding 27-yard field goal. Minnesota responded with a drive of its own, reaching the Iowa 37, but Rhys Lloyd's 54-yard field goal came up just short.
On Iowa's ensuing drive, Eli Ward picked off Chandler at the Iowa 21, eventually leading to a Lloyd 35-yard field goal to tie the game at 3-3.
After an Iowa punt, Minnesota went on a 14-play, 63-yard drive that ended in a Lloyd 44-yard field goal to give the Gophers their only lead of the day at 6-3 after the first quarter. However, Iowa quickly responded with a quick scoring drive that featured three completions from Chandler to Ochoa. Chandler capped the drive with a 2-yard touchdown run to take a 10-6 lead.
On Minnesota's next drive, it drove nine plays to the Iowa 12-yard line, highlighted by an Abdul-Khaliq 26-yard pass to Aaron Hosack. On second down from the 12, Tyler Luebke came untouched, sacking Abdul-Khaliq and forcing a fumble that was recovered by Matt Roth.
Two possessions later, Jermelle Lewis went in from 34 yards out to give Iowa a 17-6 lead with 3:40 remaining in the first half. However, the Gophers quickly marched down the field again after a 66-yard pass from Abdul-Khaliq to Jared Ellerson to the Iowa 2-yard line. On second down, Laurence Maroney took a handoff up the middle and appeared to plunge into the endzone but Iowa's Bob Sanders popped the ball loose and recovered on the 1-yard line, marking Minnesota's second red zone turnover of the day.
After a short Minnesota punt with seven seconds left in the half, Kaeding connected on a 55-yard field goal to give the Hawkeyes a 20-6 lead at the half.
The miscues continued to start the second half. Abdul-Khaliq was sacked by Sanders who forced his second fumble of the day and recovered on the Minnesota 19. Four plays later, Kaeding added another field goal to give Iowa a 23-6 edge. Another Kaeding field goal gave Iowa a 26-6 lead with 9:46 left in the third quarter.
Minnesota's fourth turnover came on its next possession when Abdul-Khaliq was intercepted by Jovon Johnson at the Minnesota 41. That led to a Chandler 6-yard scoring pass to Ochoa and a 30-6 lead.
Minnesota continued to move the ball in the fourth quarter but a turnover on downs and an Abdul-Khaliq fumble on a sack killed two Gopher drives. Edgar Cervantes capped 37 straight Iowa points with a 1-yard run with 11:37 left in the game.
The Gophers finally got into the endzone on a Thomas Tapeh 2-yard touchdown run with 4:52 left. His score capped a 10-play, 67-yard drive. Abdul-Khaliq was 7-of-8 on the drive. Matt Spaeth caught the 2-point conversion to make the score 40-14. Tapeh added a 5-yard touchdown run with 1:08 left in the game and Hosack added the two-point conversion to make the final score 40-22.
Minnesota had several other stars on offense. Ellerson caught a career-high 10 passes for 159 yards while Hosack added a career-best nine snags for 124 yards. Tony Patterson had six catches for 84 yards. Laurence Maroney led Minnesota on the ground with 69 yards on 24 carries. Tapeh had 58 yards on nine rushes and two scores. Ben West led Minnesota with 10 tackles.
Chandler finished the day 17-of-28 for 210 yards. Ochoa had eight receptions for 92 yards to lead the Hawkeyes.
