Minnesota 51, Iowa 14: PWNED

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - The first drive was great. And then it was a tumble ... down a bottomless hole ... a deep abyss ... like the bottom of the ocean ... or space, where no one can hear you scream.

Iowa took a 7-0 lead on its first drive against Minnesota and then it was an avalanche of epic proportions. That wasn't Ben Roethlisberger at quarterback. That was 6-4, 237-pound Mitch Leidner doing his best Roethlisberger, throwing four TD passes, including three to tight end Maxx Williams, whose tiptoe 25-yard sideline catch fueled a Gophers scoring drive that wrapped this up in the middle of the second quarter.

In a game that pitted two teams fighting for a share of the Big Ten West Division lead, the Gophers (7-2, 4-1 Big Ten) were the ones fighting and the Hawkeyes (6-3, 3-2) were the ones turtling, allowing 51 unanswered points in a 51-14 defeat Saturday before 49,680 fans at TCF Bank Stadium.

'It was cool to see that scoreboard at the end of the game,” said Leidner Roethlisberger, who finished with 215 total yards.

Minnesota players had the better part of the second half to eye the Floyd of Rosedale bronze pig on the Iowa sideline and plan their sprint to the traveling trophy. It was the most work they had to put into anything all day.

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz was livid, with the effort, the line play, the defense and himself.

Let's run down a 'best of.”

Ferentz opened with 'We were outplayed and outcoached in all three phases. They were the aggressors today and we were the acceptors. That's a bad combination.”

Yes, it was a trophy game and it was a 'control your own destiny” opportunity and the Hawkeyes played like they were trying to remember a phone number. Ferentz made the point several times that he considers all 12 games important, not just the rivalry, 'destiny” games. Finally, he got tired of repeating himself.

'Any game, any game,” he said to a question about Iowa's effort on this stage, 'they all count. This is a Big Ten game. [Bleep], they're all important. Big Ten games are important, every game on our schedule is important. We only have 12 of them, there's no degree of difficulty there.”

Iowa throttled Northwestern 48-7 last week and went fetal position, allowing Minnesota 291 yards rushing on 59 carries.

'Maybe we fell victim to believing our own bullcrap or the bullcrap that's out there, ‘boy, those guys really looked good' ... and we did last Saturday, but the game is about playing week to week,” Ferentz said. 'You have to show up every Saturday and play and compete and we didn't do that today.”

The 205 yards total offense Iowa generated was its lowest output since just 200 against Nebraska in the 2012 season finale. It was the most points the Gophers scored against Iowa since a 55-7 in 1949.

That's aggressors and that's acceptors. And that especially played out with Iowa's offensive line against Minnesota's defensive front. That was a no-contest knockout. Iowa allowed four sacks and averaged just 2.8 yards a carry on just 30 carries (84 yards).

'They controlled both lines and pretty much dictated the tempo of the game,” Ferentz said. 'When you let that happen or that happens to you, it's going to be tough to win.”

Iowa running back Mark Weisman averaged 7.2 yards on 45 carries in two games against the Gophers. Saturday he finished with 21 yards on 14 carries, a 1.5 yards per.

'The last three years they've run it up our tail end,” Gophers coach Jerry Kill said. 'I think after the first series, the kids settled down and we just went and played.”

After that first drive, Iowa didn't have another offensive play that advanced its cause in a meaningful way. None. Zero. In fact, taking a knee would've served them better.

Quarterback Jake Rudock, who finished 10 of 19 for 89 yards and an interception, fumbled after a sack and six plays later, running back David Cobb scored on a 6-yard run for a 28-7 lead with 3:51 left in the first half.

Minnesota made a living off the jet sweep, a novelty play that should only work once or maybe twice a game. Wide receiver K.J. Maye ran 10 jet sweeps for 66 yards and a TD.

'Basically, they just shoved it down our throats,” Ferentz said. That or they just ran around you.

Before the Cobb score, Minnesota corner Eric Murray got a hand on a Connor Kornbrath punt to set up the Gophers at Iowa's 44. On first down, Leidner ran a play-action fake and dropped a perfect pass to wide receiver Donovahn Jones, who beat corner Desmond King for a 44-yard TD.

Iowa's perimeter defense was torched by the zone read play. Leidner led Minnesota with 77 yards on 11 carries. The Gophers would tell you their passing game is limited, but with the running game clicking so perfectly, play-action opened up. Williams finished with five catches for 46 yards and three TDs, two of those catches were tiptoe reviews that were clearly catches.

'We knew it was going to be a physical game and that it was about who's going to dominate the line of scrimmage,” Williams said. 'Knowing that they still are a big defensive line, you get that motivation and say, ‘Hey, let's prove we're better.' You just go into the game and hit them as hard as you can and keep rolling with it.”

Minnesota hit Iowa all over the place and rolled out with Floyd and its B1G West destiny intact.

The Hawkeyes go to Illinois next weekend and, yes, they're just a curious as you are as to which Hawkeyes show up.

'One week, we're all the way on the top,” linebacker Quinton Alston said. 'The next week ... you never know. We've got to find that consistency and we've got to find it now.”

l Comments: (319) 398-8256; marc.morehouse@thegazette.com