By Brendan Stiles
brendan-stiles@uiowa.edu
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Click here to view an exclusive photo slideshow from the game. |
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In the 12th game of the season, all that was needed for the No. 15 Iowa Hawkeyes to keep Floyd of Rosedale in Iowa City was 12 points.
By beating Minnesota 12-0 on Saturday at Kinnick Stadium, Iowa sealed up its fourth 10-win season in this decade. As a result, there will be a 13th game in early January somewhere warm.
This also marks the second consecutive year that the Hawkeyes have pitched a shutout against the Golden Gophers after Iowa beat Minnesota last year in Minneapolis, 55-0.
“It’s awesome,” senior tight end Tony Moeaki said about winning what will be the last game inside Kinnick Stadium for him and 16 other seniors. “I know a couple years ago, we didn’t send our seniors out the right way, and it was kind of disappointing. I’m just proud of our team. It was a team win.”
The Hawkeyes went ahead on their opening drive after junior kicker Daniel Murray connected on a 30-yard field goal to put Iowa up 3-0.
Then came a second quarter that was plagued with turnovers, mainly from Minnesota.
The Golden Gophers lost two fumbles on consecutive possessions, both of which were recovered by Iowa linebackers Bruce Davis and Troy Johnson. Although Iowa was unable to capitalize on those turnovers, the third time would be a charm.
On Senior Day, it would be senior linebacker A.J. Edds making a critical play in the second quarter when he intercepted a pass from Golden Gopher quarterback MarQueis Gray with 3:44 remaining.
“It set up some field position for [the Iowa offense] and any momentum that Minnesota might have had with moving the ball might have been stopped right there,” Edds said. “It was a field position game, so to kind of get the ball deep in their territory like that, give our offense a chance, really helped.”
The Hawkeyes responded with a six-play, 39-yard drive capped by a one-yard touchdown run from true freshman running back Brandon Wegher. Minnesota would catch a break, however, when it managed to block the extra point attempt by Murray, keeping the score 9-0 at halftime.
Murray would put the finishing touches on Iowa’s scoring in the third quarter when he nailed a 45-yard field goal to put the Hawkeyes up by 12 points.
From there, it was the play of the Iowa defense that made the biggest statement of the afternoon.
Led by senior linebacker Pat Angerer, who finished with a game-high 16 tackles, the Hawkeyes came away with a fourth-quarter goal-line stand that practically sealed the Golden Gophers’ fate.
It was created after redshirt freshman quarterback James Vandenberg lost a fumble on a center-quarterback snap exchange in the fourth quarter. A pass interference penalty on cornerback Shaun Prater enabled Minnesota to move the ball down to the Iowa 2-yard line.
But from there, not only were the Golden Gophers unable to score, but they didn’t even move the ball forward.
The goal-line stand was capped when Minnesota quarterback Adam Weber was hit for a five-yard loss on a 4th-and-Goal play.
“We just had to go out there and we had to fight,” Angerer said. “I think we were all jacked up, and we knew we couldn’t give an inch because they would take it. Our D-Line got such a good push off of the line of scrimmage, and that was the key to that push right here.”
While the offense didn’t do much in victory, the Hawkeyes got solid performances from both Wegher and redshirt freshman running back Adam Robinson on the ground. The two backs combined for 98 yards rushing.
Robinson, however, left the game during Iowa’s touchdown drive in the second quarter after re-aggravating the ankle injury he suffered back in October against Michigan State. Considering the amount of time between now and Iowa’s impending bowl game, his return will be likely.
“It wasn’t as serious as the first time I did it, so the coaches and training staff kept me out the second half,” Robinson said. “We have a break now, so I’m just going to stay off of it and rest it, and when we get back, I’ll continue to get treatments on it and get it ready for the bowl game.”
Iowa will likely not know where it will be heading until Dec. 6, when all the bowl match-ups will be officially announced. Among the games in play for the Hawkeyes are the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, the FedEx Orange Bowl, and the Capital One Bowl, all of which will be played in January 2010.
