Minnesota is back from its bye week and right into one of the season’s biggest dates on the calendar: Iowa coming to Huntington Bank Stadium on Saturday with Floyd of Rosedale on the line.
Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m., and the game will air on Fox Sports 1.
The Gophers enter at 4-2 overall and 2-1 in Big Ten play after a 41-13 loss at Purdue. Iowa comes in at 5-1, also rested after a bye week, and brings a 41-24 win at Washington from two weeks ago.
Saturday’s matchup is the latest chapter in the rivalry for Floyd of Rosedale, the prized bronze pig that goes to the winner each year.
For fans looking to follow along, FOX 9 will have the Gopher Pregame Show from 9-10 a.m. Saturday morning. Pierre Noujaim will be joined by KFAN sideline reporter Justin Gaard and Gophers analysts Ron Johnson and Tanner Morgan to preview the game, break down other Big Ten matchups and touch on college football around the country.
FOX 9 will also air the P.J. Fleck Show on Tuesday night, with a look at what Minnesota worked on during the bye week and a preview of the Iowa game. Pierre Noujaim will sit down with Gophers linebacker Matt Kingsbury as part of the show.
The rivalry history has tilted heavily toward Iowa in P.J. Fleck’s time in Minneapolis.
He is 1-8 against Kirk Ferentz and the Hawkeyes, with that lone victory coming in 2023 at Kinnick Stadium. Minnesota’s last trip to Iowa City was a rough one, a 41-3 loss, and the Gophers have dropped 10 of the past 11 meetings.
Ferentz is in his 28th season and remains the longest-tenured coach in Iowa history as well as the program’s all-time winningest coach.
In Other News...
Minnesota Gets A New Iowa Problem In Rivalry Week
Rivalry week in the Big Ten has a way of turning even the smallest quarterback decision into a storyline, and this one comes with a fresh layer for Minnesota. Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz spent part of the buildup to the matchup confirming that his offense will have a new face under center, while both staffs framed the game in familiar terms: toughness, consistency and the kind of November football that usually comes down to which side handles the moment better.
For the Gophers, the assignment is now a little less predictable, even if the broader challenge remains the same. Iowas quarterback plan still leaves room for movement once the game starts, which adds another wrinkle to a rivalry that rarely lacks for them, and Minnesota will have to sort through that uncertainty while leaning on the identity it has built heading into the Big Ten clash. [Read more 🡒]
Gophers Face A Brutal Iowa Test In The Floyd Race
Minnesota comes out of its bye week into one of the toughest spots on its schedule, with No. 15 Iowa arriving for the Homecoming game at Huntington Bank Stadium and the Floyd of Rosedale still very much in play. The Gophers are trying to steady themselves after a loss at Purdue, and the timing is no accident: this is the kind of matchup that will say plenty about where the season is headed, especially with bowl eligibility still hanging out there and the path forward lined with several ranked opponents.
For Minnesota, the assignment is straightforward even if the task is not. The Gophers need a sharper run game and a sturdier front to give themselves a real chance against an Iowa team that has made life difficult in this series for a long time. A win would keep the postseason picture within reach, but it would also require Minnesota to answer the exact questions that have followed it into this stretch of the schedule. [Read more 🡒]
Minnesota-Iowa Suddenly Carries Bigger Stakes Than Just Floyd Of Rosedale
The Floyd of Rosedale has always given Minnesota-Iowa week an edge, but this year the conversation around the rivalry has widened beyond the bronze pig. Iowa enters with a grind-it-out identity that still defines most of what it does well, yet there is a real sense that the Hawkeyes have found a little more life through the air and more balance than they usually bring into this matchup. For Minnesota, that means the usual rivalry tension comes with an added layer: this is not just about pride in a trophy game, but about measuring how much damage a dangerous opponent can do while the larger stakes of the season hang in the background.
The remaining schedule is not forgiving, which is why this one feels bigger than a typical October border battle. If Iowa can keep stacking wins and stay in the hunt for the College Football Playoff conversation, the Minnesota game becomes part of a much larger argument about whether this team is built for something more than surviving in the Big Ten grind. For the Gophers, that makes the task more complicated than simply protecting home-field emotion against a rival they know well, in a series where the margin has so often been razor thin. [Read more 🡒]