'Floats our boat': Iowa trolls Minnesota after seventh straight win in rivalry game
College football rivalries are more fun when the teams in them embrace the animosity around them.
With the Floyd of Rosedale heading back to Iowa City for the 7th year in a row, the Iowa Hawkeyes are on firm ground should they wish to do a little trolling. And troll they shall.
Seven straight?
That floats our boat! #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/0ng0pFNnAm— Hawkeye Football (@HawkeyeFootball) November 14, 2021
In case you’re unfamiliar, boats are kind of Minnesota coach PJ Fleck’s thing. The “Row the Boat” motto has followed him from Western Michigan to Minnesota as a sort of team-building colloquialism. “We’re all in this together.” That sort of thing. Fleck has a patch with the phrase on his gameday pullovers. The bumper on Minnesota’s helmet above the facemask Saturday said “ROW.” The helmet stripe has been replaced with an oar.
It’s an easy target should you manage to beat the Gophers. Iowa has done that plenty. With a 27-22 win at home on Saturday, Iowa won its 7th straight game in the series. Minnesota has won just once in its last 10 games against Iowa.
Both the Hawkeyes and Gophers entered the day at 4-2 in Big Ten play and tied atop the Big Ten West division. A win for the Gophers might have set up a potential winner-take-all game against Wisconsin on Nov. 27. Instead, it’s Iowa now in just a 2-way tie with the Badgers atop the division with 2 games to play.