Fun Facts: Minnesota-Iowa, the Elvis Edition

Hey, there's only one thing more fun than a bronzed pig with a curly tail. That would be Fun Facts, and this week's are about Minnesota-Iowa.

1. Iowa has won the last seven games in this series that were played in Iowa City.

2. This will be the first 5:30 (OK, 5:35, to be exact) p.m. game in Kinnick Stadium history.

3. Iowa Athletic Director Gary Barta was born in Minneapolis. He was the quarterback on Burnsville's state-championship football team in 1980.

4. Minnesota Athletic Director Mark Coyle was born in Waterloo. He was a wide receiver on Waterloo Columbus' 1986 Class 3A state-championship football team.

5. Minnesota defensive coordinator Robb Smith played for Iowa quarterbacks coach Ken O'Keefe in the mid-1990s when O'Keefe was Allegheny College's head coach.

6. Smith was a defensive graduate assistant at Iowa from 1999-2001.

7. Iowa's Josh Jackson leads the Big Ten in passes broken up with 11.

8. The average score of a Minnesota game is Gophers 27, Opponents 19. The average score of an Iowa game is Hawkeyes 26, Opponents 18.

9. Minnesota is 8-of-9 in fourth-down conversions.

10. The Gophers' Rodney Smith has 2,373 career rushing yards. The Hawkeyes' Akrum Wadley has 2,336.

11. The largest crowd the Gophers have played before this season is 47,541.

12. Minnesota linebacker Thomas Barber is tied for second in the Big Ten in tackles behind Iowa's Josey Jewell. Barber's father, Marion Barber, rushed for 3,094 yards as a Gopher. Thomas' brother, Marion Barber III, rushed for 3,276 yards as a Gopher. Another brother, Dom Barber, was a defensive back with the Gophers. All three played in the NFL.

13. As for Jewell, he is from Decorah. Were Decorah another 10 miles or so north, it would be exactly halfway between Iowa City and Minneapolis.

14. P.J. Fleck became the first Minnesota coach to win his first game at the school since John Gutekunst in 1986.

15. Fleck's mantra is 'Row the Boat.' Minnesota's women's rowing team finished 31st in the Head of the Charles Regatta women's championship eights race last Sunday in Boston.

16. 'Michael Row the Boat Ashore' was a hit for Harry Belafonte.

17. The Floyd of Rosedale trophy and Iowa's own Sterzing's Potato Chips were both created in 1935.

18. Also born in 1935 were Elvis Presley, Julie Andrews, Woody Allen, and the Dalai Lama.

19. Elvis died 40 years ago. The other three are still around.

20. Minnesota is represented in the U.S. Senate by Al Franken, a former 'Saturday Night Live' writer and performer. Iowa is represented in the U.S. Senate by Chuck Grassley, who is not a former 'Saturday Night Live' writer and performer.