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Fun Facts, Minnesota-Iowa: Not a single mention of Floyd of Rosedale
Only one of the two head coaches in this game have ever been seen covered in mayonnaise
Oct. 23, 2025 11:39 am, Updated: Oct. 23, 2025 12:55 pm
- Minnesota has won just one of its last 11 games in Iowa City. That was the most-recent one, in 2023.
- The Gophers haven’t won two straight games at Iowa since 1979 and 1981.
- Minnesota and Iowa are two of the Big Ten’s eight teams that are 5-2 overall, and two of the league’s seven clubs that are 3-1 and tied for third-place in conference play.
- With 10 rushing touchdowns, Mark Gronowski is one shy of tying Wilburn Hollis’ 65-year-old record for the most by an Iowa quarterback in a season.
- Gronowski is the first Big Ten quarterback with a rushing touchdown in seven straight games since Michigan’s Denard Robinson in 2011. His 130-yard rushing performance last Saturday made him the first Iowa quarterback to rush for 100 yards in a game since Butch Caldwell in 1973.
- Gronowski is tied for third in the nation in rushing TDs, two behind leader Jonah Coleman of Washington.
- Gary Danielson will be CBS’ color commentator for this game. At Purdue, quarterback Danielson rushed for 213 yards in a game against Washington in 1972.
- Iowa’s first appearance on CBS was a 26-0 win over Minnesota in 1955. Running back Eddie Vincent rushed for two touchdowns and passed for another. He later was the mayor of Inglewood, Calif., for 12 years.
- Minnesota redshirt freshman starting quarterback Drake Lindsey is from Arkansas. His father played football at Arkansas. So did his grandfather. And two of his uncles. And a cousin. His sister played basketball there. But the Razorbacks didn’t offer Lindsey a scholarship.
- The Gophers had a school-record nine sacks in its 24-6 win over Nebraska last Friday. Iowa has allowed nine sacks all season.
- Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz (27 seasons) and Minnesota’s P.J. Fleck (9) are the two longest-tenured Big Ten coaches at their schools. Fleck moved up to No. 2 when Penn State’s James Franklin was fired last week.
- Last year, Fleck became the fourth coach to get the winner’s mayonnaise bath at the Duke’s Mayo Bowl.
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13. In 1998, Fleck set the Illinois high school record for catches in a season with 95. In 2009, Mark McDonagh of Riverside-Brookfield High in Riverside, Ill., set the national high school record with 165 catches.
14. The Iowa high school record for catches in a season is 102, set by Connor Herrmann of Mount Vernon in 2015.
15. Iowa is fourth in the nation in fewest points allowed per second-half, with 5.0 per game.
16. The Hawkeyes’ 25-24 win over Penn State last Saturday was the first 25-24 score in Iowa’s 1,328-game history.
17. Former Gophers coach Jerry Kill is chief consultant and senior offensive coordinator for Vanderbiilt’s football team. This week, the Commodores were voted into Associated Press’ Top Ten for the first time since 1947.
18. Neither Minnesota or Iowa are among the nation’s top 10 snowiest states. Minnesota is 11th, Iowa 20th.
19. Iowa and Minnesota are Nos. 1 and 2 in hog production by U.S. state, so a pig would seem be the most-representative animal for a trophy when the two schools meet.
20. Bob Dylan was born and raised in Minnesota under the name Robert Zimmerman. "You're born, you know, the wrong names, wrong parents,“ Dylan said in 2004. ”I mean, that happens. You call yourself what you want to call yourself. This is the land of the free."
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