Minnesota Golden Gophers vs Iowa Hawkeyes Match Player Stats On Nov 14, 2015

The Sports Xchange
Nov 14, 2015

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Earlier in the week, the Iowa Hawkeyes moved up four spots to No. 5 in the College Football Playoff rankings. Not only did they back up their ranking on Saturday night. They made history doing so.

Iowa moved to 10-0 for the first time as it defeated Minnesota 40-35 to reclaim Floyd of Rosedale. As a result of this victory, the Hawkeyes can now claim the Big Ten West Division as early as next weekend.

The Hawkeyes can secure their spot in the Big Ten Championship Game with either a victory in their home finale over Purdue or if No. 18 Northwestern is able to win at No. 25 Wisconsin.

As for Minnesota (4-6), it must now win out in order to reach bowl eligibility. The Golden Gophers play both of their final two regular season games at home, with Illinois visiting TCF Bank Stadium on Nov. 21.

Trailing 33-21 in the fourth quarter, Minnesota used some trickery to get within five points when freshman running back Shannon Brooks -- who started for an injured Rodney Smith -- threw a 42-yard touchdown pass to junior wideout Drew Wolitarsky.

But Iowa struck late when junior LeShun Daniels scampered 51 yards for his third touchdown with 2:01 left. Daniels finished with 195 yards rushing on 26 carries.

A touchdown by Brooks with 1:16 remaining got the Golden Gophers back within five points again, but the ensuing onside kick attempt sailed out of bounds.

Iowa held a 24-14 lead at halftime.

After forcing Minnesota to punt, Iowa's offense made a statement on its opening drive. Going 91 yards over 17 plays, the Hawkeyes struck when Daniels scored from 3 yards out to give Iowa a 7-0 lead. The nearly nine-minute possession was highlighted by three third-down conversions and Iowa converted on its first five third-down attempts.

The Golden Gophers would have a quick response as junior quarterback Mitch Leidner completed a 37-yard pass to senior wide receiver K.J. Maye that set up a Leidner's 2-yard touchdown run to tie the game.

Both teams continued to trade punches early in the second quarter. Iowa moved back ahead 14-7 with a 1-yard touchdown run by junior quarterback C.J. Beathard on a designed bootleg.

Minutes later, Leidner found a wide-open Brandon Lingen and the sophomore tight end scored from 40 yards out to tie it at 14.

The Hawkeyes moved back ahead with a 47-yard field goal by senior kicker Marshall Koehn when Minnesota recorded its first third-down stop of the game. Just before halftime, Daniels scored his second touchdown on the ground from 2 yards out to extend the lead to 24-14.

NOTES: Saturday's game between Minnesota and No. 5 Iowa was part of a two-sport doubleheader at Kinnick Stadium. Earlier in the day, the Iowa wrestling team defeated Oklahoma State 18-16 in front of a crowd of 42,287 fans -- the largest crowd ever for a wrestling meet. ... Iowa debuted alternate all-black uniforms designed by Nike for Saturday's contest. The Hawkeyes wore black pants in place of their traditional gold pants, the jerseys featured gold numbering and were without names on the back, and the helmet featured a new ANF decal with the state of Iowa outlined around the letters on the back of the helmet. ... Saturday marked the first time Minnesota played after Tracy Claeys had the interim tag removed from his title on Nov. 11. Claeys, who had previously served as the Golden Gophers' defensive coordinator, took over the program last month following the sudden retirement of Jerry Kill for health reasons.