Iowa football hasn’t lost to Minnesota at Kinnick Stadium in the 21st century. While such a fact may be a signal of dominance and a powerful home-field advantage, the 6-1 Hawkeyes aren’t taking the 3-3 Golden Gophers lightly.
Iowa senior defensive back Sebastian Castro didn’t even know his class never lost to the Gophers, home or away.
“We just try to win every game, we have pride that we want to win every single game,” he said at media availability on Tuesday. “The fact that it’s against Minnesota, I guess that’s like the cherry on top.”
With varying degrees of success, the two squads have been practically clone copies of each other this season.
Following a 2-0 start to the 2023 season with wins over Nebraska and Eastern Michigan, adversity struck swiftly for Minnesota in Week 4 as starting running back Darius Taylor suffered a left leg injury in the waning minutes of regulation against Northwestern. The Wildcats pulled out an overtime victory, and Taylor, who was the Big Ten’s leading rusher with 532 yards heading into Week 5, did not play the following two games.
Similar to how Iowa responded in the three-game absence of starting RB Kaleb Johnson, Minnesota’s running back depth shined, as backups Sean Tyler, Zach Evans, and Bryce Williams have been taking handoffs by committee. Williams, a senior, has been receiving the majority of touches, rushing 25 times for 93 yards and a touchdown in the Gophers’ last two games.
Minnesota tends to keep the ball on the ground, averaging nearly 50 more rushing yards per game compared to passing, and running for 19 more first downs than through the air. Guiding this run game is an offensive line known for its size and strength.
Headlining up front is left tackle Aireontae Ersey, who measures at 6-foot-6 and 325 pounds and was named an All-Big Ten honorable mention by coaches and media in 2022. On the other side of the line stands 6-foot-7 Quinn Carroll, who transferred from Notre Dame in 2021 and also earned All-Big Ten honorable mention last season.
Tasked with getting past this wall of a line will be Iowa defensive end Joe Evans, who is a bit undersized at 6-foot-2 and 252 pounds. The Ames native is well aware of his contrast in stature but also knows the solution to getting past larger guys.
“I just have to be good with my fundamentals,” Evans said. “I’ve got to stay low. I can’t be playing high or I’ll be getting, you know, ‘thrown-out-the-club.’ I’ve got to be good with my hands and really diligent watching tape.”
As for the defensive side of the ball, Minnesota is far from Iowa in terms of the unit’s prowess. Under coordinator Joe Rossi, the Gophers rank last in the Big Ten in defensive efficiency and rank in the bottom five of the conference in rushing and passing defense. Even with less-than-stellar numbers, the Gophers still stay true to their scheme.
“They’re going to run what they’re going to run, and they don’t let anybody switch them out of it,” Iowa quarterback Deacon Hill said of Minnesota’s four-defensive lineman defense. “They’ve been running that defense for a long time.”
Allowing just 235 passing yards per game, Minnesota has snagged eight interceptions this season, led by defensive back Tyler Nubin with three. A 2022 All-Big Ten second-teamer, Nubin racked up seven tackles and two interceptions last week against quarterback J.J. McCarthy and the Wolverines
Throwing for just 34 yards last game, Hill said the passing game is slowly progressing as the quarterback and his wideouts have had a lot of “close opportunities” in the past few games.
“At some point, it’s going to click,” Hill said.
Yet even if the passing game, which ranks last in the conference in yards per game, is still developing, and injuries continue to pile up for the Hawkeyes, Evans said the team’s 6-1 record is no accident.
“We’re just a really gritty bunch of guys, honestly,” Evans said. “Every single day, we’re not pointing fingers. We’ve had some injuries, but we’re not going, ‘Why me? Why us?’ We’re coming in here with a sense of purpose, improving every day, and just believing in ourselves.”
‘Watch this’
In the fourth quarter of the Hawkeyes’ victory against the Badgers, Iowa defensive tackle Yahya Black made quite the statement. Up, 10-6, and defending the Badgers’ deep in Wisconsin territory, the 6-foot-5, 315-pounder and Minnesota native, barged through the line of scrimmage to take down quarterback Braedyn Locke for a loss of nine yards and a safety.
Evans said he was happy for Black to make the play, especially given the third-year’s high effort and motor during practice. As for the play itself, Evans said Black let his teammates know he was bound to turn some heads.
“He was really close on two or three before that, and he kept on telling me like, ‘Just watch me in this rush, I’m feeling really good today,’” the defensive lineman said of Black. “Yahya is a big dude, so that definitely had to hurt.”
Humble beginnings
In the fourth quarter against Wisconsin, Castro also made a play that grabbed eyeballs, as the 5-foot-11, 205-pounder not only took down the 6-foot-2, 245-pounder Braelon Allen of the Badgers, but also nearly forced a fumble from the running back, who was ruled down before the ball came loose.
Earlier on in the game, Castro lit up a Wisconsin wide receiver in the flat, knocking the pigskin loose before the wideout even had a chance to fully corral the ball, forcing an incompletion.
“It’s mentality, I don’t care how big he is, I’m just going to run there and put my nose in there,” Castro said.
Yet before he was delivering such pad-crunching hits, Castro was afraid to even step on the field.
The defensive back told reporters that as a youngster growing up in Oak Lawn, Illinois, he often played against older kids who delivered harsher contact.
“I was scared to play against them, I didn’t know what it felt like getting hit like that,” Castro said. “But once I started realizing it didn’t hurt that bad and that I’m pretty good at [hitting], I really liked it. I embraced it.”
Injury Report
Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said starting tight end Erick All is out for the season with a right ACL injury he suffered on a tackle in the first quarter of the game against Wisconsin. Ferentz said the Michigan transfer would need surgery and be sidelined for 6-10 months. Starting in All’s stead is Steven Stillianos, who transferred to Iowa City from Lafayette in 2022.
Stilianos, a Hayes, Virginia, native filled in for All when he went down and was targeted multiple times but did not have a catch. Listed as Stillianos’ backup is second-year Johnny Pascuzzi, who has played in three games this season but has recorded no statistics. Fellow tight end Addison Ostrenga, who has missed the past two games due to injury, had a partial practice on Tuesday and is a possibility against Minnesota, per Ferentz.
According to Ferentz, Hawkeye running back Jaziun Patterson has been practicing this week and will “hopefully join” the team in action on Saturday. The redshirt freshman participated in warmups in Madison but did not see any action.
In addition, the head coach was also noncommittal on whether Black will play this week. Black exited the game against the Badgers in the final minutes and was seen wearing a sling on his right arm afterward and outside the facility on Tuesday.