Mitch Leidner's pass sailed high toward the sideline. The crowd groaned.

His target, Maxx Williams, lunged and stretched his 6-4 body in a desperate attempt to grab the ball, but he landed out of bounds.

Incomplete pass, right? "Yeah, I thought I put a little too much on that one," Leidner said.

"To be honest, I said he's probably out of bounds," coach Jerry Kill said.

Everyone who witnessed it probably shared that same thought. At first glance, Leidner's pass looked way overthrown, a wasted chance at a big play.

But the replay official asked to take a closer look and ... wait a second, look at Williams' left foot dragging along the turf in slow motion.

Minnesota tight end Maxx Williams celebrated one of his two touchdown catches in the second quarter. Williams had three in all, on five catches.

He actually caught that ball?

And held on to it?

Goodness.

"I've coached this game for 31 years," Kill said, "coached a lot of great players, but I've never seen anybody catch a football like that kid."

Williams' circus catch provided the perfect snapshot on a day of surprise developments at TCF Bank Stadium. The Gophers football team made everything look spectacular in dismantling border rival Iowa 51-14 and, no, that final score is not a misprint.

A performance so one-sided takes a collective effort of superlatives from players and coaches, but the one Gopher who created the most buzz was their tight end, their X factor.

Or, in his case, their XX factor.

"I'm glad he's on our team," Kill said.

Williams caught a career-high three touchdown passes, and none of those was his best moment. That one will be replayed on highlight packages for a long time.

Leading 14-7 in the second quarter, the Gophers faced a third-and-7 from the Iowa 48. Leidner spotted an open Williams running toward the Hawkeyes sideline and fired a pass over a defender's head.

The ball sailed toward the sideline, but Williams extended for the catch. His left cleat kicked up a cloud of tiny rubber pellets from the turf as he dragged his toes.

"I thought I bobbled it when I hit the ground," he said. "That's why I thought he called it incomplete, because I thought I had my feet in."

It was ruled incomplete on the field, but replays confirmed that he got his foot down and maintained control for a 25-yard gain.

Four plays later, Williams caught a 9-yard touchdown pass for a 21-7 lead, and the rout was on.

"88 [Williams] is a heck of a player," Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said.

How good? Here's the opinion of two former Gophers tight ends who played that position at a high level:

"Maxx Williams has the ability and potential to be the best tight end in Minnesota Gopher history," said Ben Utecht, who won a Super Bowl ring with the Indianapolis Colts.

"He's incredible. He continues to impress me every time I watch him," said Matt Spaeth, who won the John Mackey Award as the nation's best tight end as a senior.

Williams will become the next Gophers tight end to play in the NFL. He's that talented as a receiver. Pass-catching tight ends have become valuable commodities, and Williams possesses a skill set that teams covet.

The assumption before the season was that Leidner would treat Williams like a security blanket and force the ball to him. That hasn't exactly been the case.

Williams caught only 17 passes for 280 yards in his first seven games. He leads the team in every receiving category, but the Gophers can't throw the ball to him enough.

"I guess they ought to fire me for not throwing to him eight or nine times a game," Kill joked.

Protection issues and Leidner's inconsistency have contributed to their struggles in getting Williams more touches. Defenses also are aware of his talent, so they scheme to stop him.

"Sometimes you design things for a young man and you can't get him open," Kill said. "But sure, I look back and we should've thrown it to him about 20 times a game the way he's playing."

Williams certainly has a flair for the dramatic. He jumped over an Eastern Illinois defender in the season opener and snagged a one-handed catch with a defender draped all over him vs. Michigan.

He added two more to his personal highlight reel Saturday: his 25-yard toe drag and a 4-yard touchdown catch while falling out of the back of the end zone.

"It's just instincts," Williams said. "It just kind of happens."

OK, but does the sideline catch trump them all?

"We'll see," he said. "I have a couple more years to play."

Chip Scoggins • chip.scoggins@startribune.com