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Stevens hits game winner to defeat Huskers

On3 imageby:Tom Kakert•11/30/24•

HawkeyeReport

Drew Stevens(1)
Drew Stevens hit a game winner for Iowa. (Photo; Dennis Scheidt)

One year ago Drew Stevens could only sit and watch as the Hawkeyes defeated Nebraska on a game winning field goal in the final seconds. Stevens was benched after struggling to making kicks earlier in the game.

This time around the ending was the same, but the story was written different. This time it was Stevens connecting from 53 yards out as time expired for a 13-10 victory over Nebraska. With the win, Iowa moves to 8-4 on the season and seems destinated to land a trip to Tampa for a bowl game against an SEC opponent on December 31st.

What is remarkable is that Iowa was actually in this game. The Hawkeyes finished with a grand total of five first downs compared to 20 by Nebraska. Iowa also only had 164 yards of total offense, compared to 334 by the Cornhuskers. But, all that mattered at the end of the game was the numbers on the scoreboard and that favored Iowa.

But, it did not look good for the Hawkeyes in the first half. Iowa had one first down and 20 yards of total offense at the break. Iowa was also down 10-0 and there seemed to be little hope for a victory on Black Friday evening.

Nebraska marched right down the field on their first possession of the game with quarterback Dylan Riaola looking sharp and the Husker run game grinding out yards. However, Iowa stood tall in the red zone and limited Nebraska to a 31 yard field goal and a 3-0 lead.

The score stayed that way until the Huskers final drive of the first half. Raiola connected on a 23 yard pass early in the drive and then they methodically marched down the field with Dante Dowdell plunging over the goal line from one yard out and a 10-0 lead.

Nebraska opened the second half with the ball and all signs pointed towards the Huskers adding to their lead. But, once again, Iowa stood tall as the line of scrimmage entered the red zone and then a poor snap led to a miss from 34 yards by kicker John Hohl and the game remained 10-0.

On the next drive, Iowa looked like they were building towards something before they stalled out around midfield. Iowa punter Rhys Dakin launched a punt inside the ten yard line that appeared to hit the Husker return man, but it didn’t. Return team member Vincent Shavers from Nebraska touched the football barely before Iowa’s John Nestor, so it was Iowa ball at the Nebraska four yard line. However, Iowa’s offense stalled and the Hawkeyes had to settle for a short 20 yard field goal from Drew Stevens to make the score 10-3.

While Iowa was now only down seven points, it still felt like a significant hill to climb because the offense could not sustain a significant drive. Before the end of the third quarter, Jackson Stratton hit Jacob Gill for a 17 yard gain and then on the first play of the fourth quarter, Stratton hit Kaleb Johnson on a swing pass and the All American back did the rest of the work. Johnson weaved his way though Husker players on his way to a 72 yard game tying score.

Neither team could mount much of a scoring threat in their next two drives, but Dakin hammered a 54 yard punt to the Nebraska 20 for a fair catch with 1:42 left in regulation. Raiola got Nebraska to near their 40 yard line when on first down he was sacked by Iowa’s Max Llewellyn for a seven yard loss. He also lost the football and Llewellyn recovered it

From there, Iowa ran two plays, called timeout and set up Stevens to hammer home the game winner from 53 yards out and then he led his teammates in a full sprint towards the Heroes Trophy, which will stay in Iowa City for the ninth time in the last ten years.

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