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It’s Pig Week at the University of Minnesota. Gophers head to Iowa Why you should care: The Gophers (5-2, 3-1) fresh off a win over a ranked Nebraska team, head south on Interstate 35 this week for one of their biggest rivalry games of the season. They’ll face the Iowa Hawkeyes, led by long-time coach Kirk Ferentz, who is in his 27th season in Iowa City. Both teams are 5-2 as the Hawkeyes rallied to beat Penn State. They’re battling for Floyd of Rosedale, and the team that wins earns bowl eligibility. P.J. Fleck’s only win in the series came at Iowa City two years ago. It’ll be a hostile environment at Kinnick Stadium, and Fleck expects to hear some choice words from Hawkeyes’ fans. That’s what rivalries are. He’ll do everything he can in practice this week to simulate the atmosphere, one that can’t be replicated until you’re on the field. "It’s incredibly loud, it’s hostile. It’s got great tradition. We have a lot of things piped into the indoor that they might hear, over and over and over," Fleck said. "They hear it all week. You’re a bozo, if that’s the worst thing we ever heard there, I’d take it." The Gophers and Hawkeyes kick off at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in Iowa Ciity. Containing Mark Gronowski What we know: The Gophers’ defense just got done playing its most physical game of the season, setting a program record with nine sacks on Dylan Raiola. This week, they’re tasked with containing Mark Gronowski. The South Dakota State transfer is just as much a threat to run as throw. He’s second on the team in rushing, and ran for 130 yards and two touchdowns in beating the Nittany Lions. So what challenge does he present to the Gophers? "Where do you want to start? He runs the ball like a running back, throws it like a quarterback. He is like a running back playing quarterback," Fleck said. "If you could take Darius and Drake and put them together, that would be him. He’s a winner." Gophers address tackling Dig deeper: Missed tackles had been an issue leading up to the Nebraska game. Fleck and the coaching staff addressed it head-on in practice last week. Tackling circuits typically only last a few minutes on a normal day. In at least one session, the circuit was around 25 minutes. Players got the message. "I think they got the point without having to put our players in harm, they just kept doing it over and over," Fleck said. "Not one of them ever really blinked an eye, I think they got the point of what we were going to do. It was a mindset, an attitude."
