IOWA CITY – During a pregame radio interview, Gophers football coach P.J. Fleck was asked about his team’s last trip to Iowa, which resulted in a 12-10 Minnesota victory in 2023.
“That was a really memorable day two years ago,” he told KFXN-FM. “Seems like it was 20 years ago.”
Less than 15 minutes into Saturday’s game at Kinnick Stadium, Gophers fans might have argued that it seems a heck of a lot longer than that.
Thoroughly beaten from the opening kickoff, the Gophers absorbed a 41-3 thrashing at the hands of the Hawkeyes.
Iowa raced to a 31-0 lead by scoring on their first three possessions and finding the end zone on an interception return and punt return. This all came in the game’s first 17 minutes, 37 seconds — before Minnesota even had gained a first down.
“They absolutely dominated the football game from start to finish,” Fleck said of the Hawkeyes. “I told our football team that those were three hours of not very good football. … It doesn’t mean we’re a bad football team. Doesn’t mean it’s a bad program. We did not play our best when we needed to play our absolute best, period."
Iowa (6-2, 4-1 Big Ten) retained the Floyd of Rosedale Trophy and have won it eight times in nine years against Fleck-coached Gophers teams. The result gave Hawkeyes fans a measure of revenge for 2023 when Cooper DeJean’s late punt return for a touchdown and 16-10 lead was wiped out by his invalid fair catch signal.
Quarterback Mark Gronowski, a graduate transfer from South Dakota State, bedeviled the Gophers (5-3, 3-2) with his right arm and his legs. He rushed nine times for 24 yards, skipping 2 yards into the end zone on a draw for Iowa’s first TD. He also completed 12 of 19 passes for 135 yards and a TD.
