Game Report: Minnesota Golden Gophers 12, Iowa Hawkeyes 10

IOWA CITY — A closer look at the Minnesota Golden Gophers’ 12-10 win Saturday afternoon over the Iowa Hawkeyes at Kinnick Stadium.

Turning point

Well, duh?

Iowa forced a three-and-out from Minnesota in the final two minutes. Gophers punter Mark Crawford kicked a ball from his 5 short and to the right sideline.

Iowa’s Cooper DeJean fielded it at his own 46 on a bounce, immediately spun out of a tackle and sprinted past three more Minnesota defenders and into the open field. He got to the Minnesota 35 and cut back across the field to the right and past another Minnesota defender, running to the right corner of the end zone to complete a miraculous 54-yard return for touchdown.

But ...

The return was sent to instant replay. After a long look, the referee ruled DeJean gave a subtle but “invalid fair catch” signal by waving his left hand briefly, which made the play dead when he fielded the football at the 46.

Iowa quarterback Deacon Hill was then sacked, threw an incompletion and then an interception that gave Minnesota the victory.

By the numbers

Minus-8 — Is that an actual number? Guess so. It represented Iowa’s yardage total in the third quarter.

12 — Iowa’s yardage total in the second half.

30.5 — The over/under on this game was 30.5 points, the lowest total of any college football game since 1995.

64 — Hill passed for 64 yards on Iowa’s opening drive that resulted in a field goal. Hill threw for 37 yards in the Hawkeyes’ previous game, at Wisconsin.

2,898 — Consecutive days Floyd of Rosedale was in Iowa City.

Notebook

* Minnesota entered the game with the third-fewest penalties per game in the nation at 3.0. It had four on Iowa’s 46-yard touchdown drive in the second quarter that basically handed the Hawkeyes the score. The Gophers had six penalties in the first half.

* How important was field position with a stiff wind? Minnesota Coach P.J. Fleck called two timeouts in the final 30 seconds of the first quarter so that Dragan Kesich could kick a 43-yard field goal with the wind at his back.

The kick was good on a day in which three points looked critical.

* Iowa wore gold jerseys and black pants with gold stripes down the sides. This matters to some people.

* Iowa’s Karson Sharar was ejected from the game for targeting in the final minute of the first half for a tackle on Minnesota’s Quentin Redding on a kickoff return. The penalty was not called on the field but assessed after video review.

Sharar is a backup sophomore linebacker from Iowa Falls-Alden High School.

* Iowa recognized former Hawkeye offensive lineman Bryan Bulaga as its 2023 ANF Wall of Fame recipient.

Bulaga is from Barrington, Ill., a northwest suburb of Chicago.

Injury report

Before the game, no one was declared “out” for Iowa that was unexpected.

Iowa running back Jaziun Patterson returned after missing four games with a lower-body injury.

Minnesota freshman running back Darius Taylor, who entered the game averaging a Big Ten-best 133 rushing yards, returned after missing two games with a leg injury.

Next game

Iowa has the coming week off, then returns to play Nov. 4 against Northwestern at Chicago’s Wrigley Field. The game time and TV will be announced Monday.

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