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University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Drops Dome Finale to Iowa
11/23/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
The University of Minnesota football team lost its final game at the Metrodome to Iowa 55-0 on Saturday, Nov. 22.
With the loss, the Golden Gophers finished the regular-season 7-5 overall and 3-5 in the Big Ten, while Iowa finished 8-4 overall and 5-3 in Big Ten play. Both teams are bowl-eligible, and will wait to find out where they will play.
On the night, the Golden Gophers were outgained 483 to 134. Iowa also had the ball for 37 minutes and 37 seconds in the game and ran 77 plays, while Minnesota ran 51 plays and only had the ball for 22 minutes and 23 seconds.
One of the lone bright spots for Minnesota was Troy Stoudermire who had a Minnesota single-game record 283 return yards on nine returns. Stoudermire also has a school-record 909 return yards for the season.
Senior Deon Hightower had 10 tackles and a half-sack in the game, while Kyle Theret finished with 10 tackles and a pass breakup.
Adam Weber was 14-for-28 with 127 yards and threw two interceptions on the game. Jack Simmons had a team-high four catches for 26 yards, while Eric Decker had a team-high 33 yards receiving on two catches. David Pittman also caught his first two career passes of his for 19 yards.
Minnesota had only 21 rushing yards in the game. The Golden Gophers were led by senior Mike Maciejowski on the ground, when he came in and ran for 13 yards on two carries late in the game.
Iowa got on the board first on a 35-yard field goal Daniel Murray at the 7:10 mark of the first quarter. The Hawkeyes started the possession at the Golden Gophers 40-yard line. Shonn Greene accounted for 16 of the 23 yards on the ground during the drive to help Iowa get to the 18-yard line where it eventually kicked the field goal.
Murray pushed the Hawkeye lead to 6-0 with a 29-yard field goal at the 12:50 mark of the second quarter. During the drive, Iowa converted on four third downs. The first conversion came when Ricky Stanzi avoided a sack, and scrambled 12 yards for a first down on third-and-five from Iowa’s 30-yard line. Stanzi kept the drive alive again on third-and-10 when he completed a 20-yard to Brandon Myers to get to the Minnesota 38-yard line.
The Golden Gophers defense stopped the Iowa drive at the 12-yard line to force the second Hawkeye field goal of the night.
Iowa moved the lead out to 13-0 at the 9:57 mark of the second quarter on a nine-yard rushing touchdown by Greene. The touchdown capped a quick three-play drive in which the Hawkeyes gained 73 yards in one minute and eight seconds. The key play of the drive was a 48-yard reception by Derrell Johnson-Koulianos on the second play of the drive.
The Hawkeyes scored 14 points in a 46-second span to move the score to 27-0 going into halftime. Iowa’s first touchdown came on Stanzi touchdown pass to Myers with 1:13 remaining in the first half to make the score 20-0. The touchdown capped off a 12-play, 91-yard drive that took up six minutes and 56 seconds.
Iowa expanded on the lead when Amari Spivey picked off a Weber pass and took it 57 yards for a touchdown to put the Hawkeyes up 27-0 with 27 seconds remaining in the half. The Hawkeyes ran 43 plays and had the ball for 20 minutes and 46 of the first half.
The Hawkeyes moved ahead 34-0 when Johnson-Koulianos caught a 29-yard touchdown pass from Stanzi with 10:02 remaining in the third quarter. Greene scored his second touchdown of the night on a 15-yard touchdown run at the 4:58 mark of the third quarter to put Iowa ahead 41-0.
Iowa added two touchdowns in the fourth quarter for the final deficit. Tony Moeaki made it 48-0 when he caught a 13-yard touchdown pass with 14:54 remaining in the game. Jewel Hampton finished the scoring with an 18-yard touchdown run to make it 55-0.
Johnson-Koulianos led Iowa with 181 yards and a touchdown on seven receptions. Stanzi was 15-for-28 for 255 yards and had three touchdown passes on the game. Greene also rushed for 146 yards on 22 carries and had two rushing touchdowns.
Myers and Moeaki each caught touchdown passes for the Hawkeyes, while Hampton ran for 50 yards and a touchdown.
