No. 15 Iowa heads to Minneapolis on Saturday with momentum from a convincing road win and a rivalry matchup that has been tilted in its favor for years.
The Hawkeyes are coming off a bye after knocking off Washington in Seattle, and the offense finally looked sharp with backup quarterback Jeremy Hecklinski running the show. Iowa’s ground game did the heavy lifting in that one, with Kamari Moulton piling up 208 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Hecklinski added three touchdown passes as the Hawkeyes put together a strong performance away from home.
Minnesota also had a bye week to reset, but the Gophers are trying to bounce back from a loss to Purdue. Now they get Iowa in the 120th meeting of a series that has long been one of college football’s staples.
The matchup is set for a wet afternoon in Minneapolis. Kickoff weather is expected to be 72 degrees, but rain is likely throughout the game, with a 55 percent chance of precipitation and wind gusts reaching 23 miles per hour. In a game like this, ball security is going to matter.
Iowa enters as the favorite at -245 on the moneyline, while Minnesota is listed at +198. The total is 40.5, with the over at -112 and the under at -108.
The Hawkeyes have had the better of this rivalry recently, winning nine of the last 10 meetings. Minnesota still owns the all-time edge at 63-54-2, but Iowa has dominated the recent stretch and rolled to a 41-3 win over the Gophers at Kinnick Stadium last season.
Iowa’s path is pretty clear. The Hawkeyes want to lean on the run, and Minnesota’s struggles against the run set up nicely for that approach. If Moulton keeps ripping off chunk gains, that should open things up for Hecklinski to take shots downfield after the ground game stretches the defense.
Iowa closed the first half of the season at 5-1, and there’s a real chance to move to 6-1 if the offense keeps clicking. The defense has already shown it can take away the run, and it did exactly that against Washington by holding the Huskies to -3 rushing yards.
The expectation here is that Minnesota will be forced into a one-dimensional game, and that usually plays into Iowa’s hands. It may not turn into the kind of blowout Iowa delivered last year, but the Hawkeyes have the tools to control this one and come away with another win in the series.
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The next step is no longer just about staying relevant, but about handling the kind of pressure that comes with being viewed differently by the rest of the league. With Indiana, UCLA, USC, Northwestern, Oregon, Michigan, Minnesota and Washington all working through their own paths on the schedule, Iowas ranking rise turns one looming decision into something much bigger than a routine call. [Read more 🡒]