A season of disappointment, ineptitude and heartache ended Saturday, not with the lowly Gophers walking humbly into the frigid Minnesota night with nothing to show for their struggles.
Instead, they hoisted a 98-pound bronze pig not once, but twice while surrounded by a contingent of jubilant fans.
The Gophers (3-9) upset No. 24 Iowa 27-24 in the season finale at TCF Bank Stadium, reclaiming the Floyd of Rosedale for the first time in four years and erasing some of the pain from a frustrating three months.
“It was wild,” sophomore quarterback MarQueis Gray said of the locker room celebration. “When I got in there everybody was taking pictures next to the pig. I saw a couple people running around naked with towels over their head. We just had a good time.”
The win was made even more memorable by the way the Gophers did it, completing a fourth-quarter comeback for the second straight week.
It looked like the Gophers were going to extend their three-point lead late in the third quarter, but DeLeon Eskridge fumbled in Iowa territory.
Iowa quarterback Ricky Stanzi made the Gophers pay with an 18-yard touchdown strike to Marvin McNutt, giving the Hawkeyes their first lead of the game at 24-20.
The Gophers failed to respond on the following drive, but forced Iowa to punt as well on the next.
Time was running out for the Gophers to complete the comeback, and after failing to score for two quarters, it appeared unlikely that they would.
But that game-winning drive came late in the fourth quarter.
After senior quarterback Adam Weber initiated the drive with two passes for a combined 59 yards, Duane Bennett punched in a six-yard touchdown run to give the Gophers a 27-24 lead with less than five minutes left in the game.
“I just felt like every time we came in the huddle, we just kept professing that we have nothing to lose and we can go out with a big bang, especially to end with a trophy game,” Bennett said.
Troy Stoudermire forced Iowa running back Marcus Cocker to fumble on the ensuing drive, and senior Ryan Collado recovered, all but sealing the game.
For Weber, the experience of winning his first trophy came in the last game of his record-setting, but sometimes-disappointing Gophers career.
But for the fourth-year starter, it was better late than never.
“It’s kind of bittersweet,” Weber said. “Sitting in that locker room everybody’s celebrating but then I realized I have to take off my pads for the last time.”
The bittersweet ending and the late comeback was made possible by the Gophers’ quick start.
The Gophers jumped out to an early lead when kicker Eric Ellestad knocked in a 26-yard field goal on the opening drive of the game, and followed it up by recovering his own onside kick.
MarQeuis Gray added a 14-yard touchdown run midway through the first, his first rushing touchdown of his career. Thanks to the Gophers’ effective running attack, Iowa didn’t touch the ball until the 5:44 mark in the first quarter.
The Gophers finished with 216 yards on 46 rushing attempts.
“We felt we had to run, keep them off the field,” Minnesota head coach Jeff Horton said. “They got some good players on offense, and felt we really needed to stand up to them.”
After taking a knee to seal the win with just seconds left, the Minnesota bench sprinted to the opposite sideline to claim Floyd while some of the students began spilling onto the field.
As some of the Gophers hoisted the pig, Iowa called a timeout, seemingly trying to draw a penalty. But when the clock finally hit zero, it made it that much sweeter for the Gophers to hold the pig a second time.
“I was more than happy to run over there and get it again,” Collado said. “I don’t know why they called the timeout but I was fine with going over there again.”