Minnesota Runs Away from Iowa State

AMES, Iowa - Tutu Atwell became the first player in school history to return two kickoffs for touchdowns in the same game and Thomas Hamner rushed for 89 yards and two scores to lead Minnesota to a 53-29 victory over Iowa State.

After Jamie Kohl kicked a 48-yard field goal to cut Iowa State's deficit to 7-6 with 11:34 left in the second quarter, Atwell returned the ensuing kickoff 89 yards for a score. It was the first Minnesota kickoff return for a touchdown since John Lewis went 88 yards against Michigan on October 17th, 1992.

The Cyclones trailed 21-13 at halftime, but assumed the lead on a 19-yard field goal by Kohl and an 81-yard scoring pass from Todd Bandhauer to Tyrone Watley that made it 22-21 with 3:44 to go in the third quarter.

But Atwell answered by dashing 93 yards for a touchdown on the kickoff to put the Golden Gophers back on top. Atwell set the single-game school record for kickoff return yardage with 225, breaking by two yards the record set by Lewis in 1992.

Hamner put Minnesota ahead for good 2:12 into the fourth quarter when he raced 34 yards for a touchdown and added the two-point conversion to make it 36-29. Adam Bailey added a career-best 52-yard field goal just over two minutes later, the longest by a Gopher since Jim Gallery's 52-yarder against Iowa on October 24th, 1981.

Minnesota put the game away with a one-yard TD pass from Cory Sauter to fullback Justin Hall and an eight-yard strike from Billy Cockerham to Atwell. Sauter finished 10-of-17 for 87 yards.

Glen Mason picked up his first win as head coach of Minnesota (1-1), which suffered a 17-3 loss at Hawaii two weeks ago.

Iowa State (0-3) fell to 2-22-1 all-time against the Gophers. Bandhauer completed 21-of-35 passes for 295 yards and three touchdowns, while Watley had nine catches for 149 yards. James O'neal rushed 21 times for 88 yards.

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Players Mentioned

Todd Bandhauer

Jamie Kohl

Tyrone Watley

Sponsors

Iowa State University Athletics