By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – In his 10th season as the Minnesota head football coach, P.J. Fleck has made the Gophers respectable again.

Just the fact that he has lasted for 10 years in Minneapolis is a testimony to Fleck’s success and staying power.

He was named the 2019 Big Ten Coach of the Year, leading the Gophers to 11 wins, and he’s also 7-0 in bowl games at Minnesota.

Fleck is the fifth-longest tenured coach in program history and the second-longest active tenured coach in the Big Ten behind Kirk Ferentz, who is in his 28th season as the Iowa head coach.

And speaking of Kirk Ferentz, he certainly hasn’t made things easy for Fleck with Iowa having won 10 of the last 11 games against the Gophers, including a 41-3 shellacking last season at Kinnick Stadium.

The long-time border rivals, both of which are coming off bye weeks, will meet for the 120th time on Saturday in Minneapolis.

Iowa (5-1, 2-1) is favored by 6.5 points despite being on the road, and that seems fair and reasonable based on where both teams currently stand.

The Hawkeyes defeated Washington 41-24 in their last game on Oct. 9 in Seattle, while Minnesota (4-2, 2-1) laid a colossal egg against Purdue in its last game on Oct. 10, losing 41-13 in West Lafayette, Indiana.

Minnesota’s other loss was against a pretty good Mississippi State squad by the lopsided score of 38-13 on Sept. 12 in Minneapolis.

The Gophers best wins are against Washington and Michigan, but Washington and Michigan aren’t anywhere close to being elite this season.

“They’re good in every area,” Kirk Ferentz said of the Gophers. “They really are. They’re very well-coached, active, play hard. It’s going to be a tough game for us up there. Certainly playing on the road, it’s a big part of it. Playing on the road in a Big Ten game is always a challenge, and obviously you have a trophy involved too, and that always makes it more meaningful in Big Ten competition.

“We know we have a challenge on our hands, and still working hard to try to get ready for that. Got another day of preparation, and then close out the week as we go from there.”

Iowa, meanwhile, also has wins over Michigan and Washington, both of which came on the road, and a new starting quarterback in Jeremy Hecklinski, who made his first start in the win at Washington, throwing three touchdown passes.

Hank Brown started the first five games at quarterback, and was at his very best in the fourth quarter at Michigan, throwing two touchdown passes including the game winner as time expired.

But then Brown struggled in the 31-14 loss to Ohio State before injuring his shoulder late in the third quarter.

He hasn’t played since, while Hecklinski has seized the opportunity.

Hecklinski’s rise started when he completed all five of his passes in the fourth quarter against Ohio State for 67 yards.

He then played well at Washington and that was enough for Kirk Ferentz to make the switch.

But even if Ferentz had picked Brown to start against Minnesota, it still wouldn’t change how this matchup should be perceived as Iowa still would be favored to win.

Fleck’s only win against Iowa came in 2023 by the score of 12-10 at Kinnick Stadium.

But it didn’t come without controversy as former Hawkeye Cooper DeJean had what almost certainly would have been a game-winning punt return for a touchdown erased by an invalid fair catch.

DeJean insisted afterwards that he didn’t signal for a fair catch, and to say that Iowa fans were upset, and still are upset three years later, by what happened would be an understatement.

The Gophers took possession of Floyd of Rosedale with the controversial win in 2023, but Floyd’s time in Minneapolis was short-lived as Iowa would go on to win the next two games against Minnesota by a combined score of 72-17.

The Iowa-Minnesota game is almost always decided at the line of scrimmage and look for more of the same on Saturday.

The Gophers will likely load the box to help stop the run in what could become a battle of wills in the trenches.

There wasn’t much of a battle in the trenches in Iowa’s last game as Iowa shredded Washington for 263 rushing yards.

Kamari Moulton led the way with a career-high 208 rushing yards and two touchdowns. The Fort Lauderdale, Florida native is averaging a whopping 6.8 yards per carry.

He is also now completely healthy.

If Iowa were to stay ahead of the chains with its ground game on Saturday, the Gophers would almost certainly be in trouble.

Hecklinski had favorable circumstances throughout the Washington game, thanks mostly to Iowa’s rushing attack and to Washington repeatedly being out of position in pass defense.

On all three of Hecklinski’s touchdown passes, the receiver was wide open.

Hecklinski was asked this past Tuesday if it still is possible to learn from situations in which the receivers were wide open due mostly to defensive breakdowns.

“Those plays were awesome and I just think it came from Kamari running the ball so well and then being kind of all over the place with our motions,” Hecklinski said. “But you learn timing and your learn ball placement and stuff. So you still watch the tape as if they were covered.”

More pressure will be Hecklinski to make plays if the running game sputters against Minnesota.

Iowa’s rushing attack has been wildly inconsistent; rushing for over 200 yards in three games, including 422 yards against Northern Iowa, while also being held to fewer than 100 rushing yards in three games against Iowa State (93), Michigan (58) and Ohio State (39.)

Iowa’s run defense, on the other hand, has mostly been rock solid, allowing just 84.7 rushing yards per game, while the Gophers are allowing 144.8 rushing yards per game.

With Iowa having won 10 of the last 11 games against Minnesota, and 20 of the last 25 games in the series, home-field advantage hasn’t really helped the Gophers, and it probably won’t again on Saturday.

Prediction: Iowa 31, Minnesota 20

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No. 15 Iowa (5-1, 2-1) vs. Minnesota (4-2, 2-1)

When: Saturday, 2:30 p.m.

Where: Minneapolis, Huntington Bank Stadium, (50,805)

TV: FS1

Radio: Hawkeye Radio Network

Series history: Saturday will be the 120th meeting between Iowa and Minnesota. The Hawkeyes have won 10 of the last 11 and
20 of the last 25 in the series. Seven of the last 11 meetings have been decided by a touchdown or less.

Minnesota leads the all-time series, 63-54-2.

The Hawkeyes dominated the Gophers in the most recent meeting, winning 41-3 in Kinnick Stadium in 2025. It was the largest margin of victory in the series since 2008.

Iowa is 34-26-1 in games played in Minneapolis. The Hawkeyes have won five straight on the road over the Gophers by an average of 14.4 points per game. The Gophers haven’t defeated Iowa in Minneapolis since 2014.