Leidner takes his game to another level against Iowa

Gophers coach Jerry Kill thought quarterback Mitch Leidner "absolutely" had the best game of his college career Saturday, and the sophomore even did a little of his own play calling.

With the score tied 7-7, the Gophers got the ball at Iowa's 44-yard line after Eric Murray deflected a punt. The next play was a play-action pass, and Leidner hit Donovahn Jones on a seam route for a touchdown.

It was an aggressive play call involving offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover, quarterbacks coach Jim Zebrowski — and Leidner.

"I don't know if that was all Limegrover," Leidner said, smiling. "I had told Coach Z that we could take a shot. Luckily they listened to me."

Leidner said there were "quite a few instances" where Limegrover and Zebrowski took his play-calling suggestions into account.

"It's really cool to see," Leidner said.

The Gophers were just thrilled to see Leidner bounce back from a 12-for-30 passing performance against Illinois. Leidner completed 10 of 13 passes against Iowa for 138 yards and four touchdowns. He also rushed 11 times for 77 yards.

Two of Leidner's incompletions were smart decisions to throw the ball away, and on the other he overthrew Maxx Williams deep.

"There's no doubt that this was Mitch's best game," Kill said. "He's getting more confidence throwing the deep ball. He'll be mad because he missed Maxx there at the end."

Streveler sees action

The Gophers used backup quarterback Chris Streveler for a handful of plays. He didn't throw a pass but had five rushes for 18 yards.

"We said, 'Hey, we can't be afraid to do that,' " Kill said. "We've got to take some hits off Mitch. [Streveler] went in and played physical. It's a little bit like having Chandler [Harnish] and Jordan Lynch at one time [when Kill's staff was at Northern Illinois]. We kind of figured out what to do in those situations, and weren't afraid to do it."

Wilson starts on bench

Damien Wilson, the Big Ten's second-leading tackler, opened the game on the bench, as true freshman Everett Williams played the first two drives at middle linebacker for the Gophers.

Wilson took the field with 10 seconds remaining in the first quarter. He and Williams both finished with two tackles.

"Damien's a good player, and it wasn't a major thing or anything like that, but I'm a pretty disciplined guy," Kill said. "Gotta be on time, gotta do some things. So you always send a little message.

"And [Wilson's] a great kid. He didn't do anything bad. Just making sure we sent a message. He's a great player. He did a great job, and I think it also helps us later on down the road. Everett Williams played his tail end off today, too. He'll hit you. But it's no big deal, that's just how we run our program."

Etc.

•The Fiesta Bowl and Holiday Bowl each had a representative at the game, as it matched two of four teams fighting for the Big Ten West title. The Gophers (4-1 Big Ten) kept those hopes alive, but the Hawkeyes (3-2) are probably out.

•The race to grab Floyd of Rosedale looked like a dead heat between three of the Gophers' fastest players — Jalen Myrick, Berkley Edwards and KJ Maye. "There were some guys coming out of everywhere, so I don't know who won," said Maye, who had 10 carries for 66 yards on the jet sweep.