Gophers rivals Wisconsin, Iowa stand in way of division dreams

They've played 10 games and have been knocking heads and bodies against each other and opponents since early August. Yet for the Gophers, the football season finally hits its most important stretch during the next two weeks.

Starting with Saturday's home game against Iowa and continuing through the Nov. 26 contest at Wisconsin, coach P.J. Fleck's team has the opportunity to put a lasting stamp on a 2022 season that includes seven victories, but none that could be considered a signature win, ala Penn State in 2019.

"What about the 34-7 rout of Michigan State in East Lansing?'' some might ask. A dominant road win, for sure, but it came against a team that's now 5-5. That doesn't exactly pop off the page like John Hancock's signature on the Declaration of Independence.

The Gophers have played opponents who have a combined 39-60 record, and Minnesota's seven wins are against teams that are a combined 18-51.

Beat Iowa to secure Floyd of Rosedale for the first time since 2014 and defeat Wisconsin to own Paul Bunyan's Axe for a second consecutive year, and then the Gophers and their fan base will have a season to cherish. Should that happen, the Gophers would win at least a share of the Big Ten West Division title. At 4-3 in the conference, they're tied with Illinois, Purdue and Iowa for first place in the division. To earn the West's spot in the Big Ten Championship Game on Dec. 3 in Indianapolis, the Gophers need to win their last two games and have Illinois (which plays at Michigan and at Northwestern) and Purdue (which plays Northwestern and at Indiana) lose one game each.

Of course, beating both the Hawkeyes and Badgers in the same year is much easier said than done for Minnesota. It hasn't happened since 1990, when the John Gutekunst-coached Gophers upset Rose Bowl-bound Iowa 31-24 in the finale at the Metrodome after a 21-3 victory over a 1-10 Wisconsin team led by first-year coach Barry Alvarez.

Under Fleck, the Gophers are 0-5 against Iowa, and the losses in 2019 and last year prevented the team from reaching Indianapolis. After the Gophers' 31-3 victory over Northwestern on Saturday, safety Tyler Nubin left talk of the past in the past.

The first step toward a strong finish comes against a Hawkeyes team that has won three consecutive games, including 24-3 at Purdue last week and 24-10 over visiting Wisconsin on Saturday. Iowa has a marvelous defense and special teams, which keyed the victory over the Badgers. The Hawkeyes offense, however, ranks 130^th of 131 FBS teams, generating only 251.1 yards per game.

While the Gophers showed they can rely on Mohamed Ibrahim and the running game to dominate overmatched opponents, they likely will need more from their passing attack in the next two games. Redshirt freshman Athan Kaliakmanis led the Gophers to 20 second-half points in the win at Nebraska after taking over for the injured Tanner Morgan, but he wasn't as sharp against Northwestern, going 7-for-13 for 64 yards. In Big Ten games, the Gophers are averaging 157 passing yards per game, last in the conference.

"Would I like to be more balanced [between the run and pass]? I'll answer that question for you: Absolutely," Fleck said Saturday after the Gophers rushed 58 times and passed 13 times. "But we've got to make the routine plays. We've got to make the routine throws."

Through mid-November, the Gophers have handled the routine opponents — underdogs such as Colorado, Rutgers, Nebraska, Northwestern, etc. — to secure seven wins. Over the next two weeks, they'll see if they can finish strong against opponents that carry the most importance — annually for rivalry reasons and this year for an opportunity to win the West and hope for help, too.

"You can't call it the Wild, Wild West and expect it not to be wild," Fleck said.