Late Minnesota TD gives Gophers 22-21 win vs. Iowa

MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota coach Jerry Kill needed to keep his worn-down defense off the field a little longer if the Gophers were going to come back and complete the upset of Iowa.

The onside kick was just the trick.

"Sometimes you've got to roll the dice," Kill said.

MarQueis Gray's fourth-down sprint for the pylon from the 2-yard line in the closing minutes lifted Minnesota to a 22-21 victory Saturday over Iowa, giving the Gophers possession of the Floyd of Rosedale bronze pig trophy for the second straight year.

Trailing 21-10, Gray sneaked for a first down on fourth-and-1 at the Minnesota 42 and hit a jumping Da'Jon McKnight for a 21-yard completion before Duane Bennett capped the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run with 8:22 left.

Then, with Iowa playing almost 15 yards back on the kickoff, Kim Royston — who had a game-high 16 tackles — recovered the onside attempt. Gray had a pair of sharp passes for first downs to move the ball forward and then, on fourth-and-goal at the 2, ran to his right to scrape the edge of the end zone with 2:48 remaining for Minnesota's first lead of the entire month.

Kill said he actually wrote a paper on how to execute that particular onside play, where Royston ran behind a pair of double-teams that formed a wall in front of the bouncing ball.

"Once the coaches told me, I had no doubt I was going to get the ball," Royston said.

Gray went 11 for 17 for 193 yards and a touchdown passing and ran 11 times for 62 yards and the go-ahead score for the Gophers (2-6, 1-3), who lost their first three Big Ten games by an average margin of 38 points.

Minnesota students stormed the field in celebration and surrounded the players afterward. Defensive tackle Brandon Kirksey, whose uncle, Christian Kirksey, is a linebacker for Iowa, had the big pig fall on his face amid the swarm of fans.

"He's pretty heavy. Those ears are sharp," Kirksey said, smiling with a cut between his nose and his left eye.

Marcus Coker carried the ball 32 times through several huge holes for 252 yards and two touchdowns, but the Hawkeyes (5-3, 2-2) missed a chance to move into a four-way tie for first place in the Legends Division with a rough November schedule ahead.

"Doesn't matter. We lost," Coker said, downplaying his performance. "I came here to win football games, and that's all I care about it."

James Vandenberg went 16 for 24 for 177 yards and a touchdown to Marvin McNutt, who caught seven of those passes for 101 yards. Mike Meyer missed two field goals for Iowa in the first half.

"There is no finger-pointing. Right now we just need to get this behind us," said McNutt, who wasn't targeted at all on the last-ditch drive following Gray's touchdown. Vandenberg threw three incompletions and was well short on a fourth-down scramble.

This was an all-around effort for first-year coach Jerry Kill's young team.

Minnesota was 118th out of 120 teams in the nation in sacks entering the game, but the Gophers took down Vandenberg three times — giving them eight for the season to match last year's paltry total.

Kyle Henderson leveled Vandenberg on a blind-side cornerback blitz, knocking the ball out on third down at the Minnesota 14 for the first forced turnover by the Gophers in five games. Kirksey brought the fumble to midfield. Jordan Wettstein, subbing for the injured Chris Hawthorne, finished that drive with a 28-yarder on his first college field goal try to cut the lead to 14-10 in the third quarter.

Bennett had 20 carries for 101 yards and a touchdown despite a lost fumble, and Devin Crawford-Tufts caught two passes for 100 yards. Even the crowd played a part, despite Iowa backers filling at least one-third of the stadium. The fans were as into the action as they've been here since, well, last year's Iowa game.

They heartily cheered after a scoreless first quarter, a deserved ovation for a team that had been outscored 48-0 in the first quarter in its first seven games. The cumulative first-half score coming in for Minnesota was 103-3 in favor of the opponents.

The Hawkeyes lost three straight games to finish the regular season last year, ending with a 27-24 defeat here. Coach Kirk Ferentz was still miffed this week by his team's performance on that cold afternoon, when asked what he remembered from the game.

Ferentz said he was pleased by the effort this year, but the Hawkeyes still lost their fifth straight road game.

Gray has struggled mightily with his accuracy in his first year as a starting quarterback, but this was by far his best game throwing the ball, and he showed much more confidence and poise. He hit tight end Colin McGarry on third-and-goal from the 3 to tie the game at 7 just before the half.

"I've got to stop being everybody's friend and start being the leader of this team," Gray said.

The Gophers noticed.

"Everybody just kind of relaxed and started playing football and started having fun like we're supposed to do," Crawford-Tufts said.

It had had been awhile.

"Everybody starts believing in everybody, and that's a beautiful thing when that happens," Kill said.