Iowa’s ground game proved to be a scary sight for the Minnesota defense in the Friday the 13th matchup between the teams.

The Hawkeyes defeated the Gophers, 35-7, for their sixth victory in a row in the series. Prior to its trip to Minneapolis, the Iowa vanquished Michigan State 49-7 at Kinnick Stadium last weekend.

In both matchups, a dominant ground game proved to be the factor that put Iowa over the edge. The Hawkeyes rushed for 461 and eight touchdowns across the two games. Against Minnesota, Iowa ran for 235 yards.

Sophomore running back Tyler Goodson has been the catalyst for Iowa’s offense the last two weeks, producing 255 yards rushing.

“[Goodson] is a quick and elusive back that can read holes very well,” center Tyler Linderbaum said. “All we got to do is try to block room, make some holes, and he’ll find them. I think all our backs can do that. Put anyone out there, they’re going to find that seam and hit the hole hard.”

For Goodson, Friday night’s game proved to be a record-breaker, as the Suwanee, Georgia, native ran for a career-high 142 yards on just 20 attempts – a 7.1 yards per rush average.

Perhaps Goodson’s success could’ve been predicted prior to kickoff Friday. Coming into the game, Minnesota was ranked 113th in the nation in rush defense – just 10 spots shy of the worst in all of NCAA Division I FBS football.

“The game plan was to be able to be successful in the run game,” Goodson said. “Obviously, we were able to do that. Once again, our offensive line did a fantastic job of getting to their blocks and honing in on the fundamentals and allow us to get open holes to run through.”

Goodson has been aided out of the backfield by fellow running back Mekhi Sargent. The Key West, Florida, native has manufactured 117 yards rushing in his last two games.

Goodson and Sargent haven’t just been churning it down to the red zone and letting Iowa’s passing game do the rest, either. Goodson scored two touchdowns on the ground against Minnesota, and Sargent added one of his own. The pair combined for four rushing scores last week.

Iowa’s run success on Friday night was predicated on the zone stretch run play.

“The opportunities we needed to take advantage of was being able to run the stretch play, and the stretch play worked out really well for us,” Goodson said. “The guys up front did a fantastic job of getting to their blocks and reaching guys, and it allowed us as a running back unit to get through the holes that we needed to be successful.”

The running game hasn’t just been the engine for Iowa’s offense, it’s been the entire vehicle. Goodson and Sargent haven’t seen much assistance from the passing game yet this season.

Quarterback Spencer Petras came into the game against Minnesota ranked 88th in the nation in pass yards. So far, Petras has also thrown more interceptions than touchdowns on the season, throwing four interceptions and just three touchdowns.

Petras and Iowa’s struggles may be tied together. Against Purdue and Northwestern, quarterback Petras threw the ball a combined 89 times, while Goodson and company only saw 50 rushing attempts out of the backfield.

In Iowa’s two most recent wins, Petras has only thrown the ball 45 times, and the Hawkeyes have run the ball 76 times.

Next week, Iowa may have a tougher time running the ball against Penn State in State College, Pennsylvania. The Nittany Lions rank 30th in the nation in run defense. Northwestern is the only team Iowa has played that defends the run better than Penn State as the Wildcats are 28th in the country in run defense.