Iowa proves they are a second-half team with big win over Minnesota

If you take away the first half of most of Iowa's games this season, it would look like their offense is almost unstoppable.

The Hawkeyes showed they are apparently a second-half team with their 31-14 win over the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

After scoring 14 points in the first half, Iowa held Minnesota scoreless in the second half while they scored on all but one of their offensive drives, putting 24 points on the board.

Iowa's offense came to life in the second half, and it was largely thanks to the run game, more specifically, it was thanks to Iowa running back Kaleb Johnson. Johnson had 206 yards on 21 carries and three touchdowns including one that he ripped off on a 40-yard run for the score.

This is Johnson's fourth straight game this season with over 100 rushing yards and his first this season with over 200 rushing yards. Johnson now has 10 touchdowns on the season after having 13 in 2023 and 14 in 2022.

The passing game was not very evident in today's game for the Hawkeyes, but with such a prolific run game, quarterback Cade McNamara didn't necessarily need to have a big day. In the first half, the Iowa offense was slow, and it seemed like the Minnesota defensive line had an answer for the Hawkeyes' run game, but Iowa came out in the second half and established themselves on the ground, and continued to do so from there.

The Iowa defense also seemed to wake up a bit in the second half by holding the Golden Gophers to zero points in the second half. The Hawkeye defense was able to come up with an answer for Minnesota quarterback Max Brosmer, who was electric in the first half.

The Iowa defense came away with two takeaways in this game, which seemed to be the difference with Minnesota's defense. The first half was a tale of two strong defenses, but the second half was all Iowa.

This is a great win for the Iowa Hawkeyes starting off Big Ten play as they prepare to head into a bye week in Week 5. The Hawkeyes will come off the bye preparing for a big game against currently No. 3 ranked Ohio State, who is favored to win the conference this season.