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University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers, Hawkeyes Battle for Floyd Saturday
11/20/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
Minnesota Notes - at Iowa
GOPHERS, HAWKEYES BATTLE FOR FLOYD OF ROSEDALE SATURDAY
The bowl-bound Minnesota Golden Gophers wrap up the regular season with a trip to Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa Saturday. The Gophers will face off with the Iowa Hawkeyes in the schools’ annual battle for Floyd of Rosedale. Kickoff is slated for 11:02 a.m.
Saturday’s matchup will be the 103rd meeting between Iowa and Minnesota on the college gridiron. The only opponent the Gophers have a longer history with is Wisconsin.
Iowa enters the contest coming off a 27-24 overtime loss at Ohio State. The Gophers’ last outing resulted in a 16-13 win over South Dakota State.
ESPN will televise the game. Dave Pasch will call the play-by-play. Former college and NFL stars Bob Griese and Chris Spielman will serve as the analysts in the booth.
SCOUTING IOWA
Iowa comes into this week’s game with a 9-2 overall record and a 5-2 mark in Big Ten Conference action. The Hawkeyes are ranked No. 15 in both the Associated Press and USA Today Top 25 polls. The Hawkeyes’ two losses have come in their last two outings.
Iowa is coached by Kirk Ferentz, who is in his 11th season as the head coach in Iowa City. Ferentz holds a 79-55 record as the head coach of the Hawkeyes. He is 91-76 overall in 14 seasons as a head coach, having served for three years at Maine.
Offensively, Iowa averages 24.1 points per game to rank No. 84 in the nation. The Hawkeyes average 345.3 yards per game, ranking No. 87 in the country. Defensively, Iowa allows 16.9 points per game to rank No. 17 in Football Bowl Subdivision. Iowa allows just 294.5 yards per game to rank No. 11 in the nation. They rank No. 10 in the country against the pass.
THE IOWA SERIES
The Gopher-Iowa series is the second-most-played rivalry in the University of Minnesota annals. The Gophers and Hawkeyes will play their 103rd contest Saturday at Kinnick Stadium.
Minnesota leads the all-time series by a 59-41-2 count. But Iowa has been the dominant team during this decade. The Hawkeyes have won seven of the last eight. The Gophers’ lone win in that stretch was a 34-24 victory at the Metrodome during the 2006 season.
QUICK HITTERS
> Minnesota is bowl-eligible and will be taking part in a bowl game for the second consecutive season. This is just the seventh time the Gophers have been to bowl games in back-to-back seasons.
> Minnesota ranks No. 6 in the nation in punt return average, going for 15.7 yards per return. However, the Gophers have only been credited with six punt returns in 11 games this season.
> The Gophers are No. 9 in the nation in net punting, averaging 39.26 yards of field position per punt.
> Minnesota has 12 kickoff returns of 30 yards or more so far this season. The Gophers average 23.4 yards per kickoff return to rank No. 38 in the nation.
> Minnesota has come from behind in all six of its victories this season. The Gophers have trailed in the fourth quarter of four of those wins.
BACK-TO-BACK BOWLS
With last week’s victory, Minnesota picked up its sixth win of the 2009 season. The win over South Dakota State made the Gophers bowl-eligible and likely means that Minnesota will go to a bowl game for the second consecutive season.
That would make Gopher head coach Tim Brewster just the third coach in University of Minnesota history to take his team to consecutive bowl games. Only Murray Warmath and Glen Mason had accomplished that feat prior to Brewster.
It is just the seventh time in Gopher history that the program has gone to bowl games in consecutive seasons.
Minnesota has been to 13 bowl games in its long and storied history and has a 5-8 mark in posteseason play.
WEBER WIPES UP RECORDS
Gopher quarterback Adam Weber continues to re-write the Minnesota record book. Three weeks ago, Weber became Minnesota’s all-time passing yardage leader. He broke Bryan Cupito’s career mark of 7,446 yards midway through the fourth quarter when he hooked up with Da’Jon McKnight for a 14-yard gain. In Week 2, Weber set the Minnesota record for career completions (his total is now 672). The previous record of 539 completions was held by Cory Sauter (1994-97). He also set the Gopher career record for passing attempts this season. Weber set single-season records for passing yards (2,985), completions (258), attempts (449), touchdown passes (24) and total offensive yardage (3,512) in 2007.
LEE-DING THE WAY
Senior linebacker Lee Campbell has been among the nation’s leaders in solo tackles for much of the season. He recorded a team-high six stops last week, all of the solo variety. He now has 65 solo stops and 106 total tackles this season. Campbell ranks No. 1 in the Big Ten and No. 11 the nation in solo stops. He is No. 3 and No. 24, respectively, in total tackles.
FLOYD'S FRAY
Minnesota and Iowa battle it out every year in college football. The winner of the game earns the right to keep the bronze statue of a pig called “Floyd of Rosedale.” In 1935, Iowa Governor Clyde Herring was quoted as saying, “If the officials stand for any rough tactics like Minnesota used last year, I’m sure the crowd won’t.”
Minnesota Governor Floyd Olson tried to cool the hot heads on both sides of the border with his telegrammed answer to Herring. He bet a Herring a “prize hog.” The diplomatic tactic eased the tension, and the game was a hard-fought, but cleanly played, 13-6 Minnesota victory. The Golden Gophers brought home “Floyd of Rosedale,” an award-winning prize pig which had been donated by Allen Loomis, the owner of Rosedale Farms near Fort Dodge, Iowa, and named after the Minnesota governor.
The spirit of good sportsmanship embodied by Floyd lives on in the form of a 15 1/2-inch high, 21-inch long bronze statue of the prize hog. The sculpture was commissioned by Governor Olson and created by Charles Brioschi, a St. Paul artist.
Every year, since 1935, these two border-state rivals have fought for the right to pen the bronze pig in their own trophy case. Minnesota has won Floyd 38 times, Iowa has won 33, with two ties. Every college football season, Minnesota and Iowa fight for “Floyd of Rosedale,” a symbol of how interstate tension can be averted through athletic competition.
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