Home / Sports / Iowa Hawkeyes Sports / Iowa Football
- Iowa and Minnesota have played each other every year since 1931.
- This is just the third time the two teams are meeting in September in the series’ 118-game history.
- Quarterbacks Cade McNamara of Iowa and Max Brosmer of Minnesota are sixth-year seniors. McNamara is 24, Brosmer 23. The starting quarterbacks in Sunday’s Chicago Bears-Indianapolis Colts game will be 22-year-olds Caleb Williams and Anthony Richardson.
- Iowa gained over 400 yards in two of its first three games this season. It didn’t reach that mark twice in either 2022 or 2023.
- Hawkeye running back Kaleb Johnson leads the nation in rushes of 20-plus yards, with seven.
- Minnesota sophomore running back Darius Taylor is averaging 144.5 yards from scrimmage per game in his eight-game career.
- The Gophers blanked their last two opponents, Rhode Island and Nevada. It’s their first back-to-back shutouts since 1962.
- Minnesota has 11 more wins than Iowa in this series, but the Hawkeyes have won 10 of the last 12 meetings.
- Jermari Harris’ interception return for a touchdown last week against Troy made it 17 straight years for an Iowa pick-6. Only Utah has a longer current streak, at 20 years, matching the national record of Arizona State (2000-2019). The Utes don’t have one yet this season.
- Against Nevada, Kerry Brown became the first Minnesota freshman to have two interceptions in a game since 1990.
- Iowa quarterback Brendan Sullivan has a season passing rating of 446.8. The national leader, Ethan Hampton of Northern Illinois, is at 235.9. With one pass thrown, Sullivan doesn’t have enough attempts to qualify for the lead.
- No team paid off on the “under” more in the past three years than Iowa. The Hawkeyes, however, have paid “over” bettors in all three games this season.
- Iowa is fifth nationally in rushing defense. Minnesota is fifth nationally in total defense.
- Iowa has four players with more than one quarterback sack. No other Big Ten team has more than two.
- Gophers offensive coordinator Greg Harbaugh Jr. was the wide receivers coach at Western Michigan in 2020 and 2021 when the head coach there was current Hawkeyes offensive coordinator Tim Lester.
- Minnesota has a home-and-away series scheduled with Alabama for 2031-2032.
- Gopher tight end Frank Bierman is from Tipton. Bernie Bierman was an All-America fullback and the Gophers’ team captain in 1915 and coached them to five national championships between 1934 and 1941.
- Frank Bierman was a 2021 teammate of Iowa wide receiver/kick-returner Kaden Wetjen at Iowa Western Community College.
- The word “Iowa” is found 685 times in the Gophers’ 2024 football media guide.
- According to WalletHub.com, Minnesota is the sixth-happiest state in the U.S. Iowa is 19th. Hawaii is No. 1. Four Big Ten states are in the top 10. Seven SEC states are in the bottom 10.
