Minnesota Golden Gophers head football coach P.J. Fleck spoke to reporters this week in preparing for a rivalry matchup against the Iowa Hawkeyes this weekend.
The Gophers will try to win games against their border rival in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2010 and 2011.
Fleck spoke about the rivalry on Tuesday, stating it’s “one of the greatest rivalries in all the Big Ten and all college football.”
“It should be really exciting. I don’t think there’s anything more to say about that with how excited we are. I’m sure Iowa feels the same way,” Fleck said.
Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz pointed out on Thursday that each of the past three meetings between the two teams have been decided by at least 10 points.
“A tough loss in the first game, they come back [in Week 2], and they’ve looked really good the past two weeks,” Ferentz said.
The Gophers lost a heartbreaker to North Carolina on a last-second missed field goal in Week 1 (19-17) but posted back-to-back shutouts the past two weeks against Rhode Island (40-0) and Nevada (27-0).