Crazy game. Hard to say Iowa "deserved" to win as the offense was so putrid. The Iowa defense and special teams set up the offense at the Illinois 31 yard line, and the Illinois 5 yard line in the second quarter. Amazingly, Iowa got only 3 points out of those. Went backwards when taking over at the 31 and had to punt, and again went backwards when taking over at the 5 and kicked a FG.
Two best drives of the day by Iowa were the first drive of the game, when they took it from their 24 to inside the Illinois 10-yard line, only to kick a FG. And the last drive of the first half, when Iowa went from their own 21 to the Illinois 18 in the 2-minute offense before losing 9 yards on a pass then missing a 45 yard FG. Second half was a pillow fight. Illinois got the winning points after Iowa intercepted at its own 1-yard line. Illinois held to a 3 and out. Got a short field after the punt and turned it into a FG. That FG drive included a fumble returned for a TD by Iowa, but it was overturned on replay. Very close call, looked like Illinois guy was down.
I doubt Gophers route to winning involves throwing the ball 41 times. But it's football, so who knows. Whichever team gets a lead will try to squeeze the life out of the game, and will be satisfied with punting and forcing the other offense to actually do something to impact the game.