MINNEAPOLIS — Superman touched down in Huntington Bank Stadium Saturday night, and he wears #2.
Iowa running back Kaleb Johnson put on a dominant show from the backfield with a career-high 206 yards and three touchdowns as the Hawkeyes wore down and wore out Minnesota, 38-17.
"Obviously, Kaleb, great night again, he's really playing well for us," said head coach Kirk Ferentz after Saturday night's decisive win. "Any time a back gets 200 yards, that's pretty special."
Johnson entered the tilt with Minnesota as the nation's leading rusher, with 479 yards and six touchdowns to his name. He not only kept his streak of 100 yards and multiple touchdowns alive with the team's first trip to hostile territory, he bested even the high standard he had set through the first three weeks of the season:
Week 1: 11 rushes, 109 yards, 2 TD
Week 2: 25 rushes, 187 yards, 2 TD
Week 3: 25 rushes, 173 yards, 2 TD
Week 4: 21 rushes, 206 yards, 3 TD
"I'm not sure I can remember anyone, in four games, doing what [Johnson] has done," said Ferentz. "He just continues to run really well. He's been really aggressive. He's always been a big, strong guy and a talented guy. But right now he's really focused and coming into his own, in terms of using what strengths and abilities he has to his advantage."
So let's just go there now: that superlative productivity, coupled with an otherworldly 8.4 yards per carry, should catapult Johnson into early Heisman contention.
Not that the talented tailback is worrying about hitting milestones during the game.
"I didn't know," said Johnson about reaching 200 yards for the second time in his career. "I wasn't even focused on it until my coach [Ladell Betts] told me. He said, 'You know you got 200, right?' I said, 'Really?' So I was just focused on running the ball and winning the game."
Run the ball he did.
Johnson ran through, around and past the Gopher defense on Saturday, thanks to a playmaking ability not seen in Iowa's backfield since — at minimum — Shonn Greene himself.
Of course, no running back can be successful without solid blocking up front, and Johnson was effusive in his praise for his offensive line, who helped Iowa finish with a mammoth 272 yards rushing in the win.
"My o-line — it's all because of them," said Johnson. "I give credit to them boys. Without them, I wouldn't have 200 and all that. My o-line, they work their butts off every day. I just really appreciate them for opening those holes and letting me do what I do."
"We have a very veteran group up front," said senior left tackle Mason Richman. "The backs, K2 and everybody, are doing a great job. As an offense, I think we're all getting in there and blocking our tails off. That's the expectation now, so obviously we have a new standard."
Though Iowa's propensity for inconsistency is becoming its own thing — just about the only thing consistent about the team heading into its first bye week — there was little doubt about what (or who) Iowa's best option on offense was.
As the 6'1", 225-pound tailback continued to test the Gopher defense, Johnson and the offensive line could tell it was only a matter of time before the chunk plays on the ground turned the momentum (and scoreboard) in the Hawkeyes' favor.
"Especially the [Minnesota] d-line, because they were being slow, and the linebackers were acting slow too," said Johnson. "We just kept wearing them down with the run because that was working. We just did what kept working."
It's not quite all sunshine and puppies for the Iowa offense, which sputtered in the first half as Cade McNamara threw for only 16 yards on 7-of-13 passing (he would finish 11-of-19 for 62 yards). Though the upcoming bye week will help the unit continue to gel — and put some tread back on Johnson's tires, so to speak — mighty Ohio State looms in two weeks' time.
Another 200-yard performance for Johnson might be a bit too much of an ask in Columbus.
If Johnson and the Iowa offense can put a dent in the Buckeyes' front seven the way they just did to Minnesota, though, that Heisman talk might not need the "early" designation much longer.
