The Gophers' best games against Iowa in recent years have come when Minnesota fans least expected them.

Minnesota was 2-9 when it upset Iowa under interim coach Jeff Horton in 2010, and 1-6 when Jerry Kill's first Gophers squad shocked the Hawkeyes in 2011.

Maybe that led to overconfidence the past two years, when the Gophers were 4-0 and got humbled both times by Iowa in their Big Ten opener — losing by 18 and 16 points, respectively.

So maybe Saturday's home showdown against Iowa comes at the perfect time for the Gophers. This team already got knocked from its perch at last-place Illinois in its previous game.

"It was a tough pill to swallow because, out of all the teams, we didn't expect to lose to those guys," Gophers junior receiver KJ Maye said Tuesday. "But with the bye week, it gave us some time to digest it a little bit and get back on our feet and re-evaluate what we need to do."

The Gophers (6-2, 3-1 Big Ten) always knew their season would be defined by this November stretch, with home games against Iowa and Ohio State followed by road games at Nebraska and Wisconsin.

Dml - Star Tribune, Star Tribune
Floyd of Rosedale presided over a morning breakfast with Gophers supporters in 2011.

As deflating as the Illinois loss was, the Gophers could quickly restore faith by reclaiming Floyd of Rosedale from the Hawkeyes.

"This football game against the University of Iowa is a big one," Gophers senior Cameron Botticelli said. "Some would say it's the biggest game we play all year."

Each team gets two bye weeks this season, and the second one was certainly different from the first for the Gophers. They had a bye after the Michigan victory and spent their off day, Oct. 4, watching Northwestern defeat Wisconsin. Players spoke openly about how that Wisconsin loss buoyed their hopes of winning the Big Ten title.

Last Saturday, while icing their wounds from Illinois, the Gophers watched their next four opponents combine to outscore their opponents 175-35. That included Ohio State's 55-14 victory over Illinois, Nebraska's 35-14 win over Purdue and Wisconsin's 37-0 rout of Rutgers. Iowa (6-2, 3-1) had done little to impress all season before defeating Northwestern 48-7.

Gophers defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys hopes his players paid attention.

"That's how good they can be," Claeys said. "If you don't play well, and do what you're supposed to do, they can embarrass you. So I think that's good. We should be ready to go and take them seriously because they can do the same thing to us if we're not ready to play."

Slow starts have been a problem for the Gophers. They needed a big second half to avoid an upset against Purdue and then quickly fell behind 14-0 at Illinois, getting outgained in yards 157-1 at one point.

Iowa, meanwhile, has outscored its past three opponents — Indiana, Maryland and Northwestern — 66-14 in the first quarter. The Hawkeyes jumped to a 24-0 lead against Northwestern, which had fought tough in a seven-point loss to the Gophers three weeks earlier.

"Northwestern had special teams breakdowns [at Iowa]," Gophers offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover said. "They were in third-and-long, I think, each of their first four possessions, and that's not where you want to be against Iowa.

"So they just didn't get anything going, and it was one of those [games] where before they could even take a breath they were down 24-nothing."

Gophers coach Jerry Kill made starting fast a point of emphasis against Iowa.

"I think our kids understand," he said. "The last two games we played against them, they whipped our tail end.

''Just like against Northwestern, they got after us, so our kids are well aware of what Iowa brings to the table. So I don't think that's going to be an issue."