Williams, Minnesota rip Iowa 51-14, reclaim pig

MINNEAPOLIS - The Minnesota players swarmed the Iowa sideline with a group sprint as soon as the last second was gone.

Humiliated by the Hawkeyes the last two years, the Gophers were giddy about grabbing the bronze pig again. They had plenty of time to plot out that race for repossession, too.

Maxx Williams caught three of Mitch Leidner's four touchdown passes, and Minnesota rushed for 291 yards in a romp past Iowa 51-14 on Saturday afternoon to retake the Floyd of Rosedale trophy.

"Once we kind of knew we had the game, it was kind of like everyone lining up, stretching, just having fun with it and getting ready to run across the field as fast as we could," said Williams, who caught five passes for 46 yards.

The Gophers (7-2, 4-1) moved back into a first-place tie with idle Nebraska in the Big Ten West Division, with a road game against the Huskers looming in two weeks. Wisconsin is a half-game back, and the Gophers finish this grueling month with a trip to play the Badgers.

This was quite the way to build some momentum following a stunning 28-24 loss at Illinois on Oct. 25.

"It was who was going to dominate the line of scrimmage," Williams said. "So knowing that they're historically, and still are, a big defensive line, we kind of get that motivation, like, 'Hey, let's just prove we're better."'

The Hawkeyes (6-3, 3-2) opened the game with a short touchdown run by Mark Weisman, one of three third-down conversions during that 76-yard drive, but they just rolled over right after that. Weisman managed only 21 yards on 14 carries, after totaling 324 yards on 45 attempts against the Gophers each of the last two years.

"When you're not very good at something, you prepare for it," Minnesota coach Jerry Kill said.

Iowa led 17-0 at halftime and won 23-7 here in 2013 and built a 24-0 advantage at the break on the way to a 31-13 victory in 2012. That script was flipped hard by Minnesota with three touchdowns in the last 7 minutes of the first half.

"I'm not sure we quit, but they just shoved it down our throats and we couldn't do anything about it," Hawkeyes coach Kirk Ferentz said.

The Hawkeyes beat Northwestern 48-7 last week.

"You've got to learn you don't walk on water when things are going good, and the other thing, when things go bad you don't get in the fetal position and let somebody else kick the crap out of you," Ferentz said.

Iowa plays at Illinois next week before finishing with home games against Wisconsin and Nebraska.

The Gophers host mighty Ohio State next week, but for at least a day or two they could revel in a rare decisive victory over one of their big three rivals. They beat Michigan 30-14 on Sept. 27, making this is the first season since 1967 they've beaten both the Hawkeyes and the Wolverines. That was also the last year they beat Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin.

The defense had four sacks and forced three turnovers, including an interception and a fumble from Jake Rudock, who finished with only 89 yards on 10-for-19 passing in the worst Big Ten loss for Iowa since a 41-3 defeat by Wisconsin in 1999, Ferentz's first year.

The brilliance of Williams, the sophomore who set the single-season team record for touchdowns by a tight end with seven, stood out among the many highlights.

On third-and-7 at the Iowa 48 with Minnesota leading 14-7, Leidner threw high to Williams near the sideline. He made a fully extended diving catch that was ruled out of bounds, but another look by the officials overturned the call upon evidence he somehow dragged his left toe on the turf in time. Williams scored later on that drive.

Then with 31 seconds left before the half, he made another tough tightrope-style grab of a ball headed out of bounds, this time underneath the goal post to give the Gophers a 35-7 lead.

Offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover called a shrewd game that had Leidner rolling out, dropping back and running with the ball on zone reads through the middle of the Hawkeyes defense.

David Cobb carried 16 times for 74 yards and a score, and K.J. Maye totaled 66 yards and a touchdown on 10 wide-receiver sweeps.

Kill was effusive in his praise of Leidner, who bounced back from a rough game against the Illini with 138 yards on 10-for-13 passing plus 77 yards on 11 rushes. He threw a 44-yard touchdown pass early in the second quarter to Donovahn Jones to give the Gophers the lead for good, right after a 14-yard punt by the Hawkeyes.

"I thought it was going to be a back-and-forth battle all day. So it was cool to see that scoreboard at the end of the game," Leidner said.