Tony Liebert Sat, October 24, 2026 at 11:03 PM UTC · 2 min read About Our Ads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Gophers finally landed on the right side of a classic Iowa-Minnesota slopfest on Saturday afternoon, and they won Floyd of Rosedale at home for the first time since 2014, in a 13-10 thriller.
Kirk Ferentz has built the Iowa program on playing mistake-free football, but that wasn't the case in the first half. Minnesota blocked the first Hawkeyes' punt of the game, which set up an early 31-yard field goal from Luke Drzewiecki.
Joey Gerlach's first interception of his Gophers' career stopped Iowa's best offensive drive of the game, but Minnesota's offense failed to capitalize on the momentum. Drake Lindsey looked completely overwhelmed by Phil Parker's Iowa defense and threw his sixth interception of the season. Minnesota forced one more turnover itself, but a 3-3 tie on the scoreboard was all they had to show for a dominant defensive showing heading into the halftime locker room.
After an abysmal first half, the Gophers began the second half with something to prove. It took 10 plays and 6:46 to go 71 yards for their first touchdown of the game. The offense wasn't able to build on the momentum, but they didn't need to.
The Gophers' defense continued to dominate the game in their most complete performance of the season. Aidan Gousby forced a key turnover early in the fourth quarter, and Matt Kingsbury reeled in an interception two drives later, giving them five turnovers for the game. They couldn't capitalize on any of them, with just nine total yards on the five proceeding offensive drives combined, but it didn't matter.
Minnesota kept asking its defense to come up with a stop, and it caught up to them. It took Iowa four players and less than two minutes to go 98 yards for its first touchdown drive of the game, and things were tied at 10.
Right when it looked like Iowa had its first momentum of the game, the Gophers had one last chance. Lindsey found Jalen Smith on a 39-yard reception, which set up a game-winning 46-yard field goal, and Minnesota won 13-10.
Now 4-3, the Gophers have to go on the road to face No. 6 Indiana next Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT, as they look to build on their monumental win over the Hawkeyes.
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This story was originally published by Bring Me The Sports on Oct 24, 2026, where it first appeared in the MN Gophers section. Add Bring Me The Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Source: Sports
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