Gophers fall to Iowa 31-14 with second-half collapse

Iowa players exchanged handshakes with the Gophers at midfield, then waited to gather in a tight formation. They half-jogged/half-marched as a group toward the end zone on the western side of Huntington Bank Stadium, closing in on their prize.

As the Hawkeyes started their revelry with Floyd of Rosedale, the bronze hog statue that goes to the winner of the Minnesota-Iowa football game, Gophers players headed in the opposite direction, knowing their one-season hold on Floyd was over.

It came after an emphatic second-half response by Iowa, which trailed by seven points at halftime but outscored the Gophers 24-0 after intermission for a 31-14 victory. The loss left a sting with the Gophers, who felt the game was theirs to win if they just continued to play the way they did in forging a lead.

“They came and took it in the second half,” Gophers coach P.J. Fleck said of the Hawkeyes (3-1, 1-0 Big Ten). “It’s a 60-minute game. I told our team, ‘We played for 30 minutes.’ That’s the simple facts about it.”

Doing the bulk of the taking for the Hawkeyes was junior running back Kaleb Johnson, who rushed 21 times for 206 yards and three touchdowns. He was at his best in the second half, rushing eight times for 85 yards and TDs of 15 and 40 yards in the third quarter alone as Iowa turned the 14-7 halftime deficit into a 24-14 lead.

“In the first half, we got them into situations that we liked,” Gophers linebacker Cody Lindenberg said. “We got them into third-and-manageables and we were able to execute. After that, we didn’t play a full game.”

And as the Gophers defense failed to contain Johnson, the nation’s third-leading rusher, in the second half, their offense couldn’t stay on the field. In the third quarter, Iowa outgained Minnesota 159-14 and held the Gophers to one first down.

The situation was similar to what happened in the Gophers’ 19-17 season-opening loss to North Carolina. In that game, Tar Heels running back Omarion Hampton, the nation’s fifth-leading rusher, gained 74 of his 129 yards after halftime.

“Just way too much space,” Fleck said. “Simple as that.”

Things didn’t start out that way for the Gophers, who were trying to beat Iowa in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2010 and ’11. After Johnson’s 1-yard run put the Hawkeyes up 7-0 in the first quarter following linebacker Jay Higgins’ interception of a Max Brosmer pass at the Minnesota 35, the Gophers defense strung together three three-and-outs in four Iowa possessions.

Brosmer engineered a seven-play, 64-yard drive that tied the score 7-7 on his 3-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jameson Geers in the back of the end zone with 4:20 left in the second quarter. Geers made a leaping catch over a defender for his first career TD.

On the drive, Brosmer hit wideout Daniel Jackson (12 catches, 112 yards) for gains of 16, 9 and 7 yards. Le’Meke Brockington also made a spectacular, one-handed catch and got a foot inbounds for a 28-yard gain to the 3.

“[Iowa] did a really good job stopping the run and putting us in some tough positions,” Fleck said. “So, we thought we had to be able to throw the ball a little bit more. And I thought we threw it to run it pretty well.”

When the Gophers defense forced its fourth three-and-out of the first half, Minnesota took over at its 32 with 2:36 left. The Gophers came out aggressively and drove down the field. They took a 14-7 lead with 21 seconds left in the half when Brosmer threw a screen to receiver Elijah Spencer, who leaped at the 5-yard line, got hit in mid-air, landed at the 2 and extended himself into the end zone for an 11-yard scoring play.

“I love the way he fought to get into the end zone,’’ said Brosmer, who completed 22 of 37 passes for 209 yards. “The blocking on the perimeter was absolutely elite.”

BOXSCORE: Iowa 31, Gophers 14

That, however, turned out to be the high point for the Gophers. After halftime, Iowa took hold of the game and didn’t let go.

It started with quarterback Cade McNamara hitting tight end Addison Ostrenga for a 20-yard gain on the first play of the third quarter. A 17-yard run by Johnson, with 15 yards tacked on for Lindenberg’s late hit, moved the ball to the Minnesota 15. Two plays later, Johnson tied the score 14-14.

The Gophers gained their one first down of the third quarter when Darius Taylor (10 carries, 34 yards) converted a fourth-and-1, but they couldn’t gain traction. After a Minnesota punt, Johnson gashed the Gophers defense for a 40-yard touchdown run and 21-14 lead.

Drew Stevens’ 46-yard field goal completed the 17-point Hawkeyes third quarter, and backup QB Brendan Sullivan added a 1-yard TD run in the fourth.

“At the end of the day,” Gophers defensive tackle Jalen Logan-Redding said, “they did what they did better than what we did.”

The loss left the Gophers with a lot of work to do in their final eight games to at least reach six wins and bowl eligibility. They travel to No. 18 Michigan next week and play host to No. 11 Southern California on Oct. 5.

Fleck emphasized that he thought his players played hard but just didn’t execute. He took the blame for that.

“It hurts, but there’s a valuable lesson that when you don’t play well in the Big Ten, period, you’re gonna get beat,” he said. “You better recover pretty quick or you’re gonna get beat again. And especially when you’re playing the teams we’re playing.”