IOWA CITY, Iowa – Floyd is staying in the Hawkeye State.

The 19th-ranked University of Iowa football team downed Minnesota, 27-22, on Saturday afternoon inside a sold-out Kinnick Stadium to retain the traveling trophy Floyd of Rosedale for a seventh straight year.

The victory moves Iowa to 8-2 overall and 5-2 in Big Ten play.

Minnesota scored a touchdown with 5 1/2 minutes left to close to within 24-22, but the Hawkeye defense got the stop on the two-point conversion attempt when junior Dane Belton batted down Minnesota quarterback Tanner Morgan’s attempt at the line of scrimmage.

Iowa’s defense stopped the Gophers twice in the final three minutes to seal the victory. A Zach VanValkenburg sack keyed a turnover on downs with 2:18 left and Joe Evans’ sack and forced fumble in the waning seconds saw the clock tick to zeros.

The Floyd of Rosedale belongs to @HawkeyeFootball 🏆🙌 pic.twitter.com/rH8swGchPN

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 14, 2021

The Hawkeyes allowed 409 yards of total offense, including 189 yards on the ground, as Minnesota possessed the ball for more than 40 minutes (40:19) to Iowa’s 19:41 in the game. The Gophers had 34 more offensive plays in the contest.

“We have to get off the field quicker than that,” said junior Jack Campbell. “We fought and didn’t make anything easy.  I am proud of those guys… we kept fighting.”

Morgan finished 14-of-30 for 183 yards and one touchdown.  Ky Thomas (126 yards) and Mar’Keise Irving (80) combined for 206 yards to key the Gopher rushing attack.

Campbell led a trio of Hawkeyes with 10 or more tackles. Campbell had 17 tackles (six solo), while senior Matt Hankins and VanValkenburg had 10 stops apiece. Hankins also had two pass break-ups, while VanValkenburg had a sack and three tackles for loss.

“We want Jack to make the tackle,” said sophomore Logan Lee, who blocked a field goal in the game. “I don’t know what to say… Jack’s a freak.”

Iowa finished with 277 yards of total offense with sophomore Alex Padilla completing 11-of-24 attempts for 206 yards and two touchdowns in his first career start. Padilla also found the end zone on the ground for his first career touchdown.

“I felt that this was our best game offensively in terms of moving the ball,” said freshman Keagan Johnson, who had two catches for 34 yards, including a 26-yard touchdown.  “We didn’t have the ball long, but we produced when we needed to.”

Senior Charlie Jones had two catches for 106 yards for his first career 100-yard game, including a 72-yard touchdown reception in the third quarter. Junior Tyler Goodson finished with 59 yards on 18 attempts.

PHOTOS

QUOTING COACH FERENTZ

Certainly welcome, everybody. Just sitting here thinking, the ’81 team, it’s so good to have them here, the Fry family, have them here with us, and it’s been great to have a chance to interact a little bit. Thinking about having a guy like Andre Tippett with us yesterday. He was kind enough to come out to practice and visit with the team.

First of all, one of the things I explained to our players, we throw these terms around so easily. Hall of Fame or All-conference and all that stuff. This guy is a two-time Hall of Fame player. Both levels, college and the NFL. There’s so many outstanding players that never make that mark, so it’s fantastic. He is a Hall of Fame person, too.

Where I’m going with this whole thing, the one thing he shared with our team yesterday was just about the grit and resilience of the ’81 ball club, and that’s how I feel about tonight. Today the guys did a heck of a job. Obviously, we’re really happy to get the win, but we had to earn this. The guys worked hard. Each and every week it’s all about improvement, trying to get better and moving forward, and our guys did a great job of that this week. We had a good week of practice, preparation. Got back late last Saturday night, and the guys pushed forward and did a heck of a job. Really proud of them that way.

They prepared, competed, and Minnesota is a veteran football team. I didn’t really emphasize that on Tuesday. I didn’t want to psych any of our guys out, but if you look at how many starts they have offensively up front, the quarterback, that one receiver is a very experienced guy. They have a loot of guys on defense that have played, too. We have great respect for them.

We knew it would be a tough game, tough assignment, and they did a good job of controlling the football. They ran it what felt like was 400 yards. When we had opportunities, we capitalized and made some big plays. Protected the ball for the most part pretty well, and offensively drove it, hit a big pass play to Charlie. Keagan did just a fantastic job of making more than something out of more than nothing really. Then the blocked field goal was huge. Certainly a big play, and then Tory at the end with two punts to put them — gave them the start on the 90-yard field to go.

All those things are important if you are going to win, and these games are physical, they’re tough. That’s what you would expect in this conference. You expect it in November. Again, just proud of our guys. Great to move to eight wins, and it’s the best we could do this week, and the guys did a great job of that, and certainly great to have Floyd back in our building for another year.

Just happy about all those things. We’re going to enjoy this win for sure. We’ll go back and look at it tomorrow, learn from it tomorrow and hopefully have a better week of practice than last week. Last but not least, certainly just want to thank our fans. It was another great environment in Kinnick, and they really help bring us home, so appreciate that.

A special thanks to the military, all the military folks that were here, those that follow our team and certainly great to have the F-35 pilots here, too. That was a special treat for us, and they got to visit with the team. Appreciate them taking time and having an interest, too. Those guys are Iowa natives. That helps.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• After Iowa’s defense forced a three-and-out on the opening possession of the game, the Hawkeye offense used a 10-play, 39-yard drive to put points on the board. Goodson ran for 12 yards on the first play and Padilla connected with Sam LaPorta for six yards to convert a third-and-6.  After moving to the Gopher 32, senior Caleb Shudak connected from 50-yards out to give Iowa the early advantage.
• Minnesota answered, driving 73 yards over 15 plays to tie the game at three. The Gophers attempted just two passes on the drive (both incomplete), but the duo of Irving and Thomas rushed Minnesota to the Iowa 2 before Matthew Trickett kicked a 20-yard field goal to even the contest at three.
• The Hawkeyes scored on their second consecutive possession, going 73 yards over nine plays to take a 10-3 lead. Padilla threw on the run, finding LaPorta for 17 yards on third-and-12 and Jones made a diving 34-yard catch off play action to the Minnesota 5.  Two plays later Padilla scored on a quarterback sneak for his first career touchdown with 13:32 left in the second quarter.
• Minnesota tied the game with a six-play, 59-yard scoring drive midway through the second quarter. After taking over at their own 47, the Gophers ran for 6, 8 and 6 yards to the Iowa 39.  Minnesota went for it on fourth-and-2 with running quarterback Cole Kramer under center and the Hawkeye defense sucked in on the fake, allowing Kramer to find Ko Kieft streaking in the seam for a 37-yard catch-and-run touchdown, tying the game at 10 with 5:27 left in the first half.
• The Gophers forced the game’s first turnover on the ensuing possession when Justin Walley striped Nico Ragaini following a 13-yard gain at midfield with 4:17 left in the half. Minnesota followed with a nine-play, 32-yard drive – all coming in the running game – to move to the Iowa 14.  Trickett kicked a 31-yard field goal to give the Gophers a 13-10 halftime lead – their first lead against Iowa since 2016.
• The Hawkeyes hit paydirt on their second possession of the third quarter. After a kick-catch interference penalty on a Gopher punt, the Hawkeyes went deep on the first play.  Jones put a double move on Walley, faking an out route before turning on the jets and Padilla hit him in stride for a 72-yard touchdown strike to give Iowa a 17-13 lead with 11:51 left in the third quarter.

Padilla ➡️ Jones for a 72 yard TD! 🤩 @HawkeyeFootball takes the lead 😤 pic.twitter.com/pO5N7GQ6g6

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 13, 2021

• Minnesota closed the gap to 17-16 with an 11-play, 64-yard scoring drive. Morgan connected with Chris Autman-Bell for 16 yards – one of three completions in the series – as the Gophers moved the ball to the Iowa 11.  On fourth-and-2, Trickett hit a 29-yard field goal, pulling Minnesota within a point.
• The Gophers moved into Iowa territory with a chance to take the lead, moving to the Iowa 33 as the third quarter came to an end. Minnesota brought in Dragan Kesich for the 53-yard attempt, but Iowa’s Logan Lee blocked the kick, giving Iowa starting field position at its own 42.
• The Hawkeyes used the strong field position and went 58 yards over five plays. Iowa got a pass interference penalty to get to the Gopher 39 and converted a third-and-10 with a 12-yard run by Goodson.  On the next play, Iowa went to Keagan Johnson on a bubble screen, and he spun out of a pair of tackles and went 27 yards to the house to push Iowa’s lead to 24-16 with 12:49 to play.
• After taking over at its own 18, the Gophers needed just five plays to go 82 yards. Minnesota converted a third-and-7 with an 11-yard pass to Autman-Bell and two plays later, Morgan connected with Autman-Bell on a deep ball — a 68-yard touchdown pass — to pull the Gophers to within 24-22 with 5:28 to play.   Minnesota went for two and the tie, but junior Dane Belton got a hand on Morgan’s conversion attempt pass at the line of scrimmage to keep Iowa on top.
• After getting a turnover on downs at the Minnesota 3, Iowa ran a pair of quarterback sneaks and Goodson was stuffed for a 4-yard loss on third down. Shudak connected from 29 yards out to push Iowa’s lead to 27-22 with 41 seconds to play.

POSTGAME NOTES

• The Hawkeyes have won seven straight in the series and grabbed a 43-42-2 series lead with Floyd of Rosedale on the line. Iowa has won 17 of the last 21 meetings.
• The Hawkeyes are 21-5 in their last 26 rivalry trophy games (Iowa State, Minnesota, Nebraska, Wisconsin).
• Iowa has won at least five conference games in each of the last four years and in six of the last seven seasons.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

• VanValkenburg had a career-high 10 tackles. With Iowa leading 24-22 and under four minutes left in the fourth quarter, VanValkenburg had a sack on second down and added quarterback hurry on third down, forcing a fourth-and-17. The sack was his third tackle-for-loss. His 3.0 TFL tied a career high set last year at Minnesota.
•  Padilla made his first career start and finished the game with a career-high 206 passing yards. He ran for one touchdown (1) and threw for two (72, 27), both career firsts.
• Quarterback Spencer Petras did not start, snapping a streak of 17 consecutive starts.
• Jones had a career-high 106 receiving yards, his first career 100-yard receiving game. Jones’ 72-yard touchdown reception in the third quarter was a career long and the longest play of the season for Iowa.
• Senior defensive back Riley Moss returned to the starting lineup after missing the last three weeks due to injury. He had two tackles.
• Defensive tackle Logan Lee blocked Minnesota’s 53-yard field goal attempt on the first play of the fourth quarter. The last time Iowa blocked an opponent field goal was at Minnesota in 2020 (Jack Koerner).
• Johnson’s 27-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter was his second career touchdown reception.
• Goodson rushed 18 times for 59 yards. Goodson has been Iowa’s leading rusher for 13 straight games, the longest streak by a Hawkeye since Shonn Greene led Iowa in rushing yards in 13 straight games in 2008. Goodson has 2,213 career rushing yards, 12th all-time in program history. He passed Eddie Phillips (2,177) on Iowa’s all-time career rushing list.
• Junior Kaevon Merriweather had a career-high six tackles. Campbell (17) and Hankins (10) were one shy of matching their career bests.

UP NEXT

The Hawkeyes return to action hosting Illinois on Nov. 20 at Kinnick Stadium. Kickoff for that game is at 1 p.m. (CT) on FS1.