University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
6-4 , 4-3
Iowa
8-2 , 5-2
Golden Gophers Fall at Iowa 27-22
11/13/2021 6:37:00 PM | Football
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Alex Padilla threw for two touchdowns and ran for another in his first career start, and No. 19 Iowa withstood three fourth-quarter comeback attempts to beat Minnesota 27-22 on Saturday.
The Hawkeyes (8-2, 5-2 Big Ten) led 24-16 before Minnesota's Tanner Morgan threw a 68-yard touchdown pass to Chris Autman-Bell with 5:28 to play. The Gophers (6-4, 4-3) went for the two-point conversion, but Morgan's pass was tipped by Iowa safety Dane Belton and fell incomplete.
The Gophers got the ball back at their own 10-yard line with 3:08 left. Morgan was sacked for a 7-yard loss on second down, and his fourth-down pass was broken up by Iowa's Matt Hankins.
Caleb Shudak's 29-yard field goal provided the final margin, and then the Hawkeyes' defense bowed up one more time when Minnesota drove to the Iowa 39. The game ended with Joe Evans sacking Morgan.
Padilla's 1-yard touchdown dive in the second quarter put Iowa up 10-3. He threw a 72-yard touchdown pass to Charlie Jones early in the third quarter to give the Hawkeyes a 17-13 lead.
Minnesota had a chance to take the lead down 17-16 to start the fourth quarter, but Dragan Kesich's 53-yard field-goal attempt was blocked by Logan Lee. Five plays later, Keagan Johnson took a short pass from Padilla and turned it into a 27-yard touchdown.
Padilla, who took over for injured quarterback Spencer Petras in last week's 17-12 win at Northwestern, completed 11 of 24 passes for 206 yards.
The Gophers had 189 rushing yards. That was the most this season against the Hawkeyes, who came into the game ranked eighth nationally in rushing defense at 98.6 yards per game. Ky Thomas rushed for 126 yards to lead the Gophers.
Matthew Trickett had three field goals for the Gophers. Minnesota's other touchdown came in the second quarter on backup quarterback Cole Kramer's 37-yard pass to tight end Ko Kieft.
BIG PICTURE
The Hawkeyes are tied with Wisconsin for first in the Big Ten West, but the Badgers own the tiebreaker because of their 27-7 win over the Hawkeyes on Oct. 30. The Gophers dropped out of what was a four-way tie at the start of the day.
UP NEXT
Minnesota: At Indiana next Saturday.
Iowa: Hosts Illinois next Saturday.
Team Stats
MIN 0, IOW 3
IOW - Shudak,Caleb 50 yd field goal 10 plays, 39 yards, TOP 03:47
MIN 3, IOW 3
MIN - Trickett,Matthew 20 yd field goal 15 plays, 73 yards, TOP 07:42
MIN 3, IOW 10
IOW - Padilla,Alex 1 yd run (Shudak,Caleb kick), 9 plays, 73 yards, TOP 03:34
MIN 10, IOW 10
MIN - Kieft,Ko 37 yd pass from Kramer,Cole (Trickett,Matthew kick) 6 plays, 59 yards, TOP 03:16
MIN 13, IOW 10
MIN - Trickett,Matthew 31 yd field goal 9 plays, 32 yards, TOP 04:17
MIN 13, IOW 17
IOW - Jones,Charlie 72 yd pass from Padilla,Alex (Shudak,Caleb kick) 1 plays, 72 yards, TOP 00:11
MIN 16, IOW 17
MIN - Trickett,Matthew 29 yd field goal 11 plays, 64 yards, TOP 05:37
MIN 16, IOW 24
IOW - Johnson,Keagan 27 yd pass from Padilla,Alex (Shudak,Caleb kick) 5 plays, 58 yards, TOP 02:05
MIN 22, IOW 24
MIN - Autman-Bell,Chris 68 yd pass from Morgan,Tanner () 5 plays, 82 yards, TOP 03:00
MIN 22, IOW 27
IOW - Shudak,Caleb 29 yd field goal 4 plays, -8 yards, TOP 01:37
