'November at Kinnick': Hawkeyes Deliver a Hit to Gophers
Floyd of Rosedale stays.
Another team with big dreams came to Kinnick Stadium and left with a loss.
"It's November at Kinnick," Iowa safety Geno Stone said.
It's a month when the Hawkeyes deliver a chilling blow to someone's hopes. Saturday, it was Minnesota's turn, when Iowa handed the Gophers a 23-19 loss in a place where they haven't won in nine tries in the last 20 seasons.
It's a month when someone comes into Kinnick rolling and has the momentum sucked away.
It happened to Michigan in 2016. Ohio State a year later.
And now the Gophers, who came in at 9-0 and left with a loss, still in control of their Big Ten West Division title hopes, but with other dreams a little bruised. Minnesota came into the game at No. 7 in the national polls and at No. 8 in the College Football Playoff rankings, one of those remaining undefeateds that had survived the crucible of a season to this late point.
"Aw, man, we just tried to go out there and win the game," Iowa wide receiver Ihmir Smith-Marsette said. "We knew they were 9-0, and all of the hype around that. But we wanted to go out there and win our game.
"I guess we spoiled their season, and their playoff or whatever. But we did what we had to do."
"It's a great feeling," said defensive end A.J. Epenesa, who had 2 1/2 sacks, including one on Minnesota's final drive that knocked quarterback Tanner Morgan from the win. "We've lost some close games in the past and there were things we could have done better, but we came out ready to go. We started strong and finished strong."
Any serious West Division title hopes for the Hawkeyes were scuttled last week in the 24-22 loss at Wisconsin.
"When you lose, it's hard. It's just hard," Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. "I'm an older guy right now. I've been coaching a lot of games. Had my butt kicked plenty. But you feel bad for your players. It's hard. A lot of people have opinions about all this and that. Any time you lose, that's just the nature of what we do."
So this week, it was never about the pressure of the season. It had to be that way on game day as well.
This was going to have to be a free-wheeling game—the Hawkeyes' offense was stagnant, their defense was constantly under the heat to keep games close.
When quarterback Nate Stanley pitched to freshman Tyler Goodson running left, while everyone else was going right, on the opening drive of the game, it was clear that this was not going to be that straightforward Iowa offense from just last week.
"We had to open it up," said wide receiver Nico Ragaini, who had a 21-yard scoring reception in Iowa's three-drives-three-touchdowns opening to this game.
"You saw it from the beginning of the game," said Smith-Marsette.
He began swinging his arms like a boxer. A right, then a left.
"Swinging," Smith-Marsette said. "Go right down the field. That was the tempo of the week. Go out there and give everything you've got. Let loose."
"We got that thing going," Ragaini said. "And we got the (win).
"That was probably our best football of the year."
The first touchdown was the pass from Stanley to Ragaini. The second one was a 10-yard run from Goodson, a true freshman making his first start. Smith-Marsette scored the third, a 5-yard pass from Stanley.
It was 20-3. It would be 20-6 at halftime, and the Gophers were scrambling.
Iowa had just 290 yards of offense, but it was how the Hawkeyes got there that seemed to matter.
It also helped the defense. The Gophers had 431 yards of offense, but the Hawkeyes got to Morgan six times.
"I felt like we took control of the game as a defense at the end," Stone said.
"The second half," Ferentz said, "was a tremendous fight."
Kinnick was loud at the beginning, deafening at the end, especially with Morgan and the Gophers back up against the enclosed north end zone for that final drive that started at the Minnesota 20.
Morgan was sacked twice to start the drive—the first by Joe Evans, the second by Epenesa. He was "wobbly," Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck said, and had to come out of the game.
Backup Cole Kramer threw an incompletion, then on fourth down his pass down the left side was intercepted by Riley Moss.
Bedlam.
The Hawkeyes have won the last five in the series, seven of the last eight.
“This is one game,” Fleck said. “Everything else is sitting right in front of us."
What was in front of the Hawkeyes as time ran out was Floyd, the bronzed pig trophy that goes to the winner of the series.
"It was heavy," offensive lineman Tristan Wirfs said.
"Great to have Floyd staying in Iowa," Ferentz said. "One of our guys did a report on that, reported that Floyd is a hundred pounds. I think Tristan would dispute that, claiming he was a little bit heavier. Great to have him in the locker room with us, pictures, all those kinds of things."
Stone just smiled when he thought about the night.
"It was one of those fun moments here," he said.
Kinnick, he said, is always like that in November.
