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University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
4-6 , 1-5
Iowa
10-0 , 6-0
Gophers Fall Short at Iowa 40-35
11/14/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
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Final Stats | Photo Gallery 
IOWA CITY, Iowa -- LeShun Daniels rushed for a career-high 195 yards and three touchdowns and No. 5 Iowa held off Minnesota 40-35 on Saturday night to start 10-0 for the first time in school history.
C.J. Beathard threw for 213 yards and ran for two touchdowns for the Hawkeyes (10-0, 6-0 Big Ten, No. 8 AP).
Gophers running back Shannon Brooks threw a 42-yard TD pass to Drew Wolitarsky and ran one in from 3 yards out in the final 5:32.
But Daniels scored from 51 yards out with 2:01 left, and Minnesota's onside kick with 1:16 to go squirted out of bounds.
Mitch Leidner had 259 yards passing and a touchdown for Minnesota (4-6, 1-5), losers of four straight. The Gophers were playing for the first time since Tracy Claeys was named the permanent head coach Wednesday.
Iowa last opened a season 9-0 six years ago. But quarterback Ricky Stanzi sprained his ankle and the Hawkeyes lost at home against Northwestern, ruining their national title hopes.
The Hawkeyes are still alive in 2015 after surviving quite the scare from Minnesota.
But every time the Gophers got close, Daniels, Beathard and the Hawkeyes pushed them back.
Rodrick Williams' 1-yard run made it a six-point game late in the third quarter. But Beathard answered by finding Tevaun Smith for 29 yards on third down to set up his 1-yard TD plunge.
It gave Iowa a 33-21 lead -- marking the first time it had ever scored more than 30 points in four straight Big Ten games.
Brooks' TD pass caught the Hawkeyes defense flat-footed. Daniels made up for it though, slicing through the Minnesota front for the longest run of his career.
The Gophers then marched 75 yards in 45 seconds to score -- but Ryan Santoso shot his onside-kick attempt out of bounds.
KJ Maye caught seven passes for 106 yards for Minnesota.
Beathard had been battling an undisclosed hip/groin injury for a month. But he looked perfectly healthy on a 1-yard naked bootleg that put Iowa in front 14-7 early in the second half.
Leidner matched Beathard again though, with a 40-yard TD pass to Brandon Lingen.
Up 17-14 late in the first half, Beathard beat about half the defense on a 26-yard run that set up Daniels for a 2-yard touchdown run that put Iowa up 24-14 at the break.
The Hawkeyes nearly let that lead slip away.
But they made just enough plays to preserve their best start -- and more importantly, their playoff hopes.
Team Stats
MINN 0, IOWA 7
IOWA - Daniels, LeShun 3 yd run (Koehn, Marshall kick), 17 plays, 91 yards, TOP 8:38
MINN 7, IOWA 7
MINN - Leidner, Mitch 2 yd run (Santoso, Ryan kick), 6 plays, 75 yards, TOP 2:29
MINN 7, IOWA 14
IOWA - Beathard, C.J. 1 yd run (Koehn, Marshall kick), 6 plays, 78 yards, TOP 2:30
MINN 14, IOWA 14
MINN - Lingen, Brandon 40 yd pass from Leidner, Mitch (Santoso, Ryan kick) 7 plays, 75 yards, TOP 2:18
MINN 14, IOWA 17
IOWA - Koehn, Marshall 47 yd field goal 11 plays, 46 yards, TOP 4:19
MINN 14, IOWA 24
IOWA - Daniels, LeShun 2 yd run (Koehn, Marshall kick), 9 plays, 97 yards, TOP 3:08
MINN 14, IOWA 27
IOWA - Koehn, Marshall 38 yd field goal 7 plays, 30 yards, TOP 3:28
MINN 21, IOWA 27
MINN - Williams, R. 1 yd run (Santoso, Ryan kick), 14 plays, 75 yards, TOP 6:59
MINN 21, IOWA 33
IOWA - Beathard, C.J. 1 yd run (Beathard, C.J. rushfailed), 4 plays, 37 yards, TOP 1:35
MINN 28, IOWA 33
MINN - Wolitarsky,Drew 42 yd pass from Brooks, Shannon (Santoso, Ryan kick) 2 plays, 60 yards, TOP 0:36
MINN 28, IOWA 40
IOWA - Daniels, LeShun 51 yd run (Koehn, Marshall kick), 8 plays, 75 yards, TOP 3:31
MINN 35, IOWA 40
MINN - Brooks, Shannon 3 yd run (Santoso, Ryan kick), 6 plays, 75 yards, TOP 0:45
