Went to the game with my brother, prepared to watch a nail biter. Instead, we were treated to the most complete game of Jerry Kill's tenure (so far).
Going into this contest, a number of posters were worried about whether the Gophers D could contain a power running offense like Iowa. There was also a fair amount of anxiety about whether the Gophers would come out with yet another slow start.
The entire team came ready to play. Even on Iowa's first drive, the defense was stopping Iowa's bread and butter plays on first and second down. Yes, the 3rd down conversions were made by Iowa (including what looked like a gift Interference call on Murray - that ball was well overthrown), which had me a bit nervous. But, after we answered with our first TD the D came out and played lights out. No waiting until halftime to make adjustments, we just made plays. Pass breakups, an INT, a forced fumble and recovery, and solid tackling all around. For this game, the D was well prepared and they executed until the 3rd string came in for garbage time. Before the garbage drive, Iowa had a total of 124 yards of offense. Wow!
On offense, Leidner stepped up and showed that is a definitely capable of being a starting B1G QB. He was extremely efficient (10-13) throwing the ball, including 4 TDs. He had better touch on his long throws to Jones and Maxx, and made a perfect throw to Freuchte in a pocket of Iowa's zone for a first down. We didn't need David Cobb to carry the ball 30 times - instead, we successfully executed a nice mix of run plays including Cobb, Maye (emerging as a real weapon), and Leidner making good choices on when to keep it himself - totaling nearly 300 yards rushing. Hats off to Limegrover and the players for creating and executing a solid game plan.
I'm not ready to look past this win, as the next 3 opponents are likely the toughest since TCU. But, a convincing win like this against a legitimate B1G opponent is yet another piece of evidence that the program is moving in the right directly.
Congratulations to Jerry Kill, the coaches, and the players on a great game and a great win!
GO GOPHERS!
