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Pregame: Hawkeyes draw record wrestling crowd; Boddy-Calhoun recalls heckling at Kinnick

The Gophers play at Iowa tonight at 7 p.m., on Big Ten Network. Minnesota's Briean Boddy-Calhoun, for one, has some extra motivation for the game.

November 14, 2015 at 10:28PM
(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

IOWA CITY, IOWA -- This is my first trip to Kinnick Stadium since 1995. Impressive place. I love the blend of old and new. This place opened in 1929 and went through a major renovation a decade ago.

It should be electric in here tonight, with the battle for Floyd of Rosedale, and Iowa seeking its first 10-0 start in school history. It's already a sellout (70,585). The Hawkeyes encouraged everyone to wear black for a "Blackout," and the team will be wearing new all-black alternate uniforms.

(The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Earlier today, Iowa wrestled No. 1 Oklahoma State here at the stadium and drew an NCAA record crowd of 42,287. The Hawkeyes won that one 18-16. Gophers play-by-play man Mike Grimm snapped this picture.

The Gophers will try to play spoilers and keep the bronze pig after winning last year's game 51-14 at TCF Bank Stadium.

Here, the Iowa students are right on top of the visiting team. Last summer, Briean Boddy-Calhoun was describing why he's so motivated to win one here at Kinnick.

"That is the game I look forward to most every year because the fans said some not nice things to me when I was a sophomore," he said. "That was the year I wasn't playing, but they made fun of me."

What did the fans say?

"They kept calling me 'Booty Call' on the sideline," he said, smiling. "'Put Booty in the game! Put Booty in the game!' And I was not playing. I was so frustrated, and I held onto that for two years. Last year, the interception [against Iowa] was not enough. I still got more in the tank."

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Anyway, check back here later for other pregame notes.

Follow us on Twitter: @JoeCStrib and @ChipScoggins

about the writer

about the writer

Joe Christensen

Sports team leader

Joe Christensen, a Minnesota Star Tribune sports team leader, graduated from the University of Minnesota and spent 15 years covering Major League Baseball, including stops at the Riverside Press-Enterprise and Baltimore Sun. He joined the Minnesota Star Tribune in 2005 and spent four years covering Gophers football.

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