Stats Don't Lie: A look at the ugly stats from Minnesota's 41-3 loss to Iowa
The Minnesota Golden Gophers fell to the Iowa Hawkeyes 41-3 on Saturday afternoon in Kinnick Stadium.
While stats don’t always tell the whole story, they don’t lie, and in this game, they reveal a lot of went wrong for the Gophers.
Here’s a look at the key stats behind Minnesota’s second road blowout loss of the season and third overall.
Stats Don’t Lie
137: Iowa sparkplug Kaden Wetjen had 137 all-purpose yards for Iowa, with eight rushing yards, 49 receiving yards, and 80 punt return yards, including a 50-yard punt return allowed for a touchdown.
133: Comparatively, Minnesota had just 133 total yards of offense in the loss to Iowa. 109 passing yards and 24 rushing yards.
57%: Iowa ran 57% of its plays on Saturday in Minnesota territory, a stark difference from the Gophers’ mere 17%. The Hawkeyes scored on five of six drives that entered Minnesota territory.
54: Lost in the loss was another quality day for wide receiver Le’Meke Brockington, who had six receptions for 54 yards on eight targets.
38: Iowa’s average starting field position in the game was Minnesota’s 38-yard line.
37: This was Tom Weston’s worst day as the Gophers’ starting punter, averaging just 37 yards per punt. He struggled throughout the evening, punting the ball away from Kaden Wetjen, who continuously set up the Hawkeyes with strong field position when given the opportunity.
34: Minnesota was down 34-0 late in the third quarter when P.J. Fleck opted to kick a field goal instead of going for it on fourth and six on Iowa’s 16-yard line.
29: Drake Lindey was sacked for times for a total of -29 yards.
25%: Minnesota’s offense was 3-for-12 on Saturday on third-down attempts, a 25% conversion rate. Their average third-down distance to go in the game was 8.5 yards.
7: Iowa had seven plays of 10+ yards, including four pass plays of 15+ yards and three runs of 10+ yards. Their longest play of the day was a 29-yard passing touchdown from Mark Gronowski to Reece Vander Zee in the second quarter. Altogether, the seven plays made up 148 of Iowa’s 274 total yards.
3: Gophers quarterback Drake Lindsey had his worst performance of the season at Kinnick Stadium, throwing three interceptions. Two were ill-advised throws, and one was poor accuracy from the first-year starting quarterback.
2.5: Minnesota averaged just 2.5 yards per play on first down in the loss, totaling 54 yards on 22 plays. First down runs averaged just 2.2 yards per carry, and Drake Lindsey was 4-for-8 on first down passing attempts.
1: Darius Taylor had a carry on Minnesota’s first play from scrimmage and did not record a carry afterwards due to an injury.
0.96: Not adjusting for sacks, the Gophers finished the game with 24 rushing yards on 25 carries, an average of 0.96 yards per carry.
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