If you’re a Minnesota sports fan, Monday probably felt a lot better than most.
The Vikings kept the only perfect record left in the NFL, the Gophers took down Iowa, the Wild won in Vancouver, the Timberwolves rolled again and both Gophers hockey teams put together sweeps. It was the kind of weekend that keeps fans checking scores all day and smiling at every update.
The biggest one may have come in Minneapolis, where the Gophers football team beat No. 15 Iowa 13-10 to reclaim Floyd of Rosedale.
Luke Drzewiecki drilled a 47-yard field goal as time expired, sending a sellout crowd of more than 50,000 into a field rush at Huntington Bank Stadium. It was P.J.
Fleck’s first home win over the Hawkeyes and his second win in the series. For the first time since 1978, the Gophers’ football program now holds the Little Brown Jug, Paul Bunyan’s Axe and Floyd of Rosedale at the same time.
Minnesota’s next test comes with a bigger spotlight. The Gophers travel to No.
4 Indiana, which needed overtime to beat Michigan on Saturday. College Gameday will be there for the Hoosiers’ home game against Minnesota.
The Vikings, meanwhile, handled the Colts 16-10 to move to 6-0. Harrison Smith’s 40th career interception sealed it, while Kyler Murray connected with T.J.
Hockenson for the go-ahead touchdown early in the fourth quarter. Will Reichard added three field goals, and Blake Cashman turned in what might have been the best game of his career at linebacker.
Now comes the hard part. Minnesota’s next four games are a gauntlet: at Detroit next Sunday, then home for Buffalo on Monday Night Football, then a trip to Lambeau Field to face Green Bay before a home date with San Francisco.
The good news for the Vikings? They’re the NFL’s lone unbeaten team after both the 49ers and Chiefs lost Sunday.
The Wild took care of business, too, beating Vancouver 4-2 on Sunday night in Quinn Hughes’ first game against his former team since last year’s trade. Hughes scored in the return, as did Kirill Kaprizov, and Minnesota improved to 8-3-2 to sit atop the Western Conference standings.
Hughes had already stirred plenty of attention before the puck dropped. After Saturday’s practice, he spoke to reporters about how much he loves Minnesota, playing for the Wild and the possibility of a new contract soon. He’s in the final year of a six-year, $47.1 million deal, and the Wild want to keep him on an extension.
The Timberwolves are off to a loud start, too. After changing their identity in the offseason by moving on from Julius Randle and Naz Reid to get smaller and play faster, they’re 3-0 with all three wins coming by 20 points or more. On Sunday night, they opened at Target Center with a 117-94 win over the Toronto Raptors.
LaMelo Ball provided one of the night’s most memorable moments, leaving a Raptors defender off balance before stepping back for a 3-pointer. The Wolves bench loved it.
And then there was hockey. The Gophers’ men’s and women’s teams each delivered sweeps over the weekend.
The men beat the Fighting Hawks twice, 5-3 and 5-3, after leading 4-1 Thursday night before finishing that game with an empty-net goal against No. 3 North Dakota.
On Friday, Wyatt Cullen had a hat trick. Jim Rich and Pat Micheletti were on the call.
The women are now 7-1 after sweeping Lindenwood 11-0 and 5-2 at Ridder Arena.
In Other News...
Gophers Fans Will Love This Floyd Of Rosedale Celebration Moment
The Gophers got more than a hard-fought 13-10 win over Iowa on Saturday. They got Floyd of Rosedale back, and the postgame celebration matched the moment, with the trophy carried through a crowd of Minnesota fans before the team later made room for it in the trophy cases alongside the rest of the rivalry hardware. Luke Drzewieckis two field goals were enough to earn him Big Ten special teams player of the week, a fitting footnote for a game decided by the kind of details these Border Battle showdowns usually turn on.
One of the more memorable scenes from the celebration quickly made the rounds online, adding a family touch to a rivalry trophy that already means plenty in Minnesota. It was the kind of image that fit the mood around the program after the win, and the sort of thing that tends to linger long after the scoreboard is forgotten, even as the Gophers keep moving through a week that has them looking at Floyd a little differently again. [Read more 🡒]
Gophers Beat Iowa With A Formula Hawkeyes Fans Know Too Well
Minnesotas win over No. 15 Iowa looked a lot like the kind of game Hawkeyes fans have spent years expecting to control. The Gophers leaned on defense, special teams and sheer toughness to take back the Floyd of Rosedale trophy, while Iowa never found the sort of offensive rhythm needed to turn field position and pressure into points.
The tone of the afternoon changed early with a blocked punt on Iowas opening possession, and Minnesota kept making the kind of gritty plays that tend to decide this rivalry. Iowa finished with four turnovers and few big plays to fall back on, while Luke Drzewieckis long field goal gave the Gophers a crucial cushion they would not surrender. [Read more 🡒]
Gophers Suddenly Have A National Spotlight And Bigger Stakes Saturday
Minnesota heads into Saturday with a little more national attention than usual, as ESPNs College GameDay will set up on the Indiana campus for the Gophers matchup with No. 6 Indiana at Memorial Stadium. Its the kind of stage that brings extra eyes, extra noise and a reminder that a late-season Big Ten game can carry far beyond the usual conference stakes.
For P.J. Flecks group, it also adds a familiar wrinkle to an unfamiliar setting. This is the second time Minnesota has been part of College GameDay under Fleck, though this time the Gophers are the road team, and they arrive with some momentum after last weeks 13-10 win over Iowa. That victory gave Minnesota multiple rivalry trophies at once for the first time since 1978, and now the challenge is carrying that energy into one of the leagues biggest road environments. [Read more 🡒]