Gophers picking up the pieces following massacre from Hawkeyes

MINNEAPOLIS — Saturday night’s performance by Minnesota was a tale of two halves, and ended with that walk of shame back to the locker room for the players after a beatdown by Iowa.

The Golden Gophers wanted to prove last year’s victory at Kinnick Stadium was no fluke, and played solid in the first half. However, Minnesota crumbled to pieces in the second half, and lost the game 31-14. It was a humbling experience for P.J. Fleck’s team, because 52,048 fans were on hand to watch a dreadful final 30 minutes of the contest.

After all, Minnesota (2-2) came out with a spark and led by a touchdown at halftime. The Hawkeyes drew first blood with a touchdown run by Kaleb Williams. The Golden Gophers were scoreless in the first quarter, but responded with 14 unanswered points in the second quarter.

Quarterback Max Brosmer led the offense on two scoring drives during that period, which ended with two touchdown passes. Fleck thought that was impressive, and wanted Brosmer to spread his wings in the pocket.

“He (Brosmer) is a competitor, he wants the ball in his hands, there are a few times he throws some passes where he got a lot of people in his face and is getting hit,” Fleck said. “But I think when he’s clean and processes the information correctly, he’s a really good quarterback.”

There were some missed tackles from the defense in the first half, and Fleck made adjustments at halftime, but nothing could prepare Minnesota for what was going to transpire over the next 30 minutes of the game. Iowa (3-1) played inspired, and bullied Fleck’s defense with a physical rushing attack.

The Hawkeyes’ offensive line opened up gaping holes, and Johnson steamrolled through defenders the rest of the night. Minnesota’s defensive line got mauled in the trenches, and Fleck had no answers to stop the bleeding.

“It was space, missed tackles, way too much space in the zone game for them in some power and gap schemes, we just couldn’t get it done on the ground with tackling” he said. “We didn’t tackle very well in the second half, as for explosive plays, we might not have won those either.”

Johnson looked like a man among boys with the way he trampled defenders and broke tackles. The Hawkeyes’ ground game helped them dominate in time of possession. In Fleck’s eyes, Iowa’s offensive line dominated, and Johnson seemed to get stronger with every carry.

“He (Johnson) is so good, and they do a really good job in their schemes, they’re really sticky blockers,” the 43-year old said. “They’re big, they’re strong, and when they get that stretch going it’s hard.”

Johnson rushed for a career-high, 206 yards and three touchdowns. For fans it was a head-scratcher, because Minnesota’s defense didn’t allow a single point in the two previous games. The Golden Gophers finished with 288 yards of total offense.

Brosmer completed 22 of his 37 passes for 209 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. Wideout Daniel Jackson posted a game-high, nine catches for 112 yards. Regardless, once the smoke cleared Iowa led Minnesota in yards, first downs, plays, third down conversions and time of possession.

Fleck understands that it’s hard to win games with those odds. As far as defense, Kerry Brown recorded a game-high, 11 tackles. Cody Lindenberg and Maverick Baranowski each contributed 10 stops.

Fleck is now 1-7 head-to-head against Ferentz after losing the battle for Floyd of Rosedale. He’s taking full accountability for the Gophers’ shortcomings though.

Minnesota has two losses in the past four games, and the schedule only gets tougher in Big Ten play with Michigan and USC up next. Which is why Fleck anticipates an intense week of practice, with trying to correct all of the mistakes that were made against the Hawkeyes. One thing is for sure, nothing will be easy.

“It’s a tough week, there’ll be a lot of criticism I’m sure, but that’s part of life, we’ll have to handle it in the right way, we’ll get better from it, and we’ll head out to Ann Arbor next week.”