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University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Take Down Iowa in Season Finale
11/28/2010 12:00:00 AM | Football
The University of Minnesota football team walked off the field with their heads held high following its 27-24 win over Iowa on Saturday at TCF Bank Stadium.
The Golden Gophers put in a truly inspired effort to claim the Floyd of Rosedale trophy as they led for a majority of the game and won with several key plays late in the fourth quarter.
With 7:36 remaining and Minnesota trailing 24-20, Adam Weber led the Gophers on a six-play, 77-yard scoring drive that featured a 19-yard completion to Gray and a 40-yard connection with Da'Jon McKnight. The game-winning drive was capped off by a six-yard touchdown run by Bennett.
Troy Stoudermire helped seal the Minnesota victory as he forced a Marcus Coker fumble that was recovered by Ryan Collado with 4:14 remaining. The Gophers picked up a pair of first downs to run out the clock against the Hawkeyes.
Offensively, Minnesota outgained Iowa 382 to 218 and held the ball for 36:06 compared to 23:54. The Gophers also picked up a total of 22 first downs on the day, and were 9-16 on third down conversions.
On the ground, the Gophers were able to rush for a total of 216 yards, the most the Hawkeyes have given up all season, despite not having a single rusher break the 100 yard mark. Instead it was a cumulative effort as DeLeon Eskridge rushed for 95 yards, Duane Bennett had 63 and MarQueis Gray gained 39 yards. All three had a touchdown.
Weber, in his 50th-consecutive, and final career start for the Gophers, threw for 164 yards on 13 of 25 passing. He was not only effective in moving the chains through the air, but also with his feet as he chipped in 23 yards rushing as well.
The game began with the Gophers clearly intent on making this a competitive game. After marching down field on its opening drive, the Minnesota offense stalled and had to settle for and Eric Ellestad 26-yard field goal.
However, interim head coach Jeff Horton wasted no time in bringing out the tricks plays that he hinted at earlier in the week when Ellestad kicked off onsides, followed his own kick and recovered for the ball himself for Minnesota.
The Minnesota offense once again made its way down the field, but this time punched it into the end zone on a 14-yard run by Gray.
The Gophers already had a 10-0 lead before the Hawkeyes offense ever got a chance to take the field.
The two teams traded touchdowns before Iowa's Derrell Johnson-Koulianos returned a kickoff 88 yards for a touchdown. Each team hit a field goal and went into the half with Minnesota leading 20-17.
After a scoreless third quarter, Iowa came out and grabbed a 24-20 lead when Ricky Stanzi connected with Marvin McNutt for a touchdown.
It was at this point that the late game heroics came through for the Gophers as Weber, Bennett and Stoudermire each came through in a pivotal way to win the game for the maroon and gold.
The win made the Gophers 40-34-2 all time in the battle for Floyd, which began back in 1935. This will be the first time the pig will reside in Minneapolis for the first time since 2006 when the Gophers beat 34-24 at the Metrodome, which was the last trophy game win for Minnesota.
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