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Minnesota was finishing the toughest three-game gauntlet of its season, but its first with Tracy Claeys as official -- and not interim -- head coach.
That might have helped fuel Minnesota's emotions against a tough opponent, but it has been an emotional few weeks -- with Jerry Kill stepping down, a nail-biting loss to Michigan and another loss to Ohio State in which the Gophers were in it in the fourth quarter. But no matter Claeys' label, the result was the same for Minnesota in its third consecutive game against a ranked opponent -- a loss, this time 40-34 against unbeaten Iowa, which kept alive its bid for a spot in the college football playoff.
Minnesota had one of the best offensive games against Iowa all season, and the 34 points certainly proves that. But the 40 points for Iowa also accurately represents the tough game the Gophers had trying to stop the Hawkeyes offense, mostly with little success, thanks in part to being without its two starting defensive tackles, but the problems went well beyond that.
The juggernauts are off the schedule, but there's only two games left to try and turn the season around.
A recap of Saturday's game:
-- Minnesota's defense struggled all game. Iowa converted its first six third-down conversions, had two 90-plus-yard drives and became the first team since 2011 to amass over 500 yards against the Gophers. On the Hawkeyes' first drive, which was 17 plays and 91 yards, they converted on 3rd-and-9, 3rd-and-5, 3rd-and-7 (due to a penalty) and 3rd-and-15.
-- After Minnesota finally forced a punt, which occurred in the third quarter, the Gophers couldn't take advantage as penalties pushed Minnesota back to 3rd-and-18.
-- The Gophers kept hurting themselves in their comeback attempt. After Rodrick Williams' 1-yard touchdown cut Iowa's lead to 27-21, Minnesota allowed a 58-yard kick return to Desmond King, which set up a Hawkeyes touchdown. Later, the Gophers went for it on 4th-and-1 from their own 39 and Williams got the first down, but a holding penalty on Brandon Lingren nullified it and Minnesota had to punt.
-- Poor time management has been an issue in the early part of Claeys' head coaching tenure. In this one, Minnesota used two of its three timeouts early in the fourth quarter -- once before Iowa's two-point attempt, which the Gophers stopped, and then again on a 3rd-and-3 play with 13:26 left before Mitch Leidner bounced a pass to K.J. Maye.
-- Leidner went over 2,000 yards passing on the season as he topped 250 yards for the fourth straight game and fifth time overall this season.
-- Williams' touchdown was his first of the season.
-- K.J. Maye had a number of big catches and was targeted often by Leidner. He finished with seven catches for 107 yards, giving him back-to-back games of 100-plus yards.
-- Lingen's 40-yard touchdown was the longest reception of his career. He finished with six receptions for 105 yards.
The good news is Minnesota's offense continues to do well and thrived against a very tough Iowa defense. The bad news? What happened to this defense? Injuries have not helped, but Minnesota has allowed 145 points during the current four-game losing streak. Minnesota better get it turned around -- and quick -- as the Gophers need to win their final two games to be bowl eligible.
With Rodney Smith out with an ankle injury, Shannon Brooks was the go-to running back and while his stats weren't over the top -- 14 carries for 86 yards -- he had some tough runs and some great cuts to get big gains. He also had a rushing touchdown and a highlight-making touchdown pass to Drew Wolitarsky.
Normally, we'd mention a player here, but kudos to Matt Limegrover who called some great plays to help Minnesota score 34 points on an Iowa defense which was allowing 16.6 points per game. Among the impressive plays which resulted in touchdowns were Leidner faking a handoff -- the Iowa defense biting -- and the quarterback marching into the end zone; another fake handoff with Leidner rolling right then throwing left to an open Lingren and the halfback option mentioned above.
So many possibilities, but the Gophers had a chance -- albeit the odds were heavily against them -- if they could just execute and recover an onside kick. But for the second straight game, Minnesota had no chance. Against Ohio State, the Gophers tried a heavily convoluted play, which just resulted in the kick going out of bounds. This time, Ryan Santoro's boot both went out of bounds and didn't go the necessary 10 yards. Game over.
10 -- the number of third downs Iowa converted, the most allowed by Minnesota since Oct. 13, 2013 against Michigan. The Hawkeyes converted 10 of 15 (66.7 percent) overall. The Gophers' defense just could never get off the field as Iowa punted only twice.
"It's the third game in a row where we've had a little bit of tough luck, but a tough atmosphere. I thought our kids just kept battling, and that's all we can ask for." -- Claeys
"They controlled the line of scrimmage in the middle and that was the difference in the game." -- Claeys
"It was just one of those games when both offenses operated at a high level." -- Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz
Minnesota (4-6, 1-5 Big Ten) has lost four in a row and five of its last six, although the Gophers will play its final two games at home. First up is Illinois (5-5, 2-4), which is coming off a 28-3 loss to Ohio State at home and has lost three of its last four, scoring 16 points combined in the three defeats.
