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Iowa rallies for win over Michigan State

On3 imageby:Tom Kakert•10/01/23•

HawkeyeReport

Cooper DeJean
Cooper DeJean's punt return fuels Iowa's win. (Photo; Dennis Scheidt)

Kirk Ferentz insists that for Iowa to win football games, they have to play complementary football. The Hawkeyes did just that in their 26-16 victory on Saturday night over Michigan State.

The win may have proved costly for the Hawkeyes, who were already down starting tight end Luke Lachey as quarterback Cade McNamara left the game with an apparent left knee injury. Kirk Ferentz said after the game that they would know more on his status early next week.

Stepping in for McNamara was backup signal caller Deacon Hill. He led Iowa’s scoring drive in the second quarter, connecting with Erick All for a 13 yard touchdown that saw the Hawkeye tight end break four tackles.

Iowa opened their scoring on the first drive with a 40 yard field goal by Drew Stevens. The Hawkeyes had heard plenty of outside noise about the lack of passes to the wide receivers and they opened with throws to Diante Vines for 23 yards and a 14 yard toss to Nico Ragaini.

Michigan State matched that drive with a 31 yard field goal by Jonathon Kim to knot the game at 3-3. Kim hit his second field goal of the game, this time from 32 yards out to give the Spartans their first lead at 6-3 early in the second quarter.

Then late in the second quarter, Hill hit All three times on the five play drive. First, he completed a 32 yard pass and followed that up with an outstanding grab for 17 yards. Finally on second down from the MSU 13, Hill hit All for the 13 yard strike and Iowa was up 10-6.

Michigan State and Iowa traded punts and the Spartans took over with 35 seconds left on the clock. They moved it to the Iowa 40 and Kim once again took the field and this time banged home a Kinnick Stadium record 58 yard field goal to make the score 10-9 at the break.

Early in the third quarter, both teams turned the ball over, with one resulting in points. First, Sebastian Castro picked off a pass from Noah Kim and Iowa took over at their own 39 yard line. On Iowa’s first running play, Leshon Williams coughed up the ball and Cal Haladay raced into the end zone for a 42 yard fumble return for a score. That put Michigan State up 16-10 early in the third period.

Iowa turned it over once again on the next drive with Hill being intercepted after putting together a decent drive. The Hawkeyes got the stop on a fourth down run by the Spartans and Iowa was in business at the MSU 30 yard line. However, Iowa couldn’t push the ball any further and had to settle for a long 53 yard field goal by Drew Stevens to make it 16-13 with 7:38 left in the third period.

Kim missed a 50 yard field goal and we headed to the final period with Iowa down three. After swapping punts to start the fourth period, Iowa finally caught a break. After bombing punts all game long, Spartans punter Ryan Eckley shanked a punt that went 15 yards and Iowa took over at the MSU 38 yard line.

Once again, Iowa made a bit of a push, but the drive stalled out and on a 4th and 1 situation, Kirk Ferentz opted to tie the game rather than risk losing the ball with just over five minutes left. The game was tied at 16 when Iowa forced a punt from Michigan State. The line drive from Eckley was fielded by Cooper DeJean and he raced 70 yards down the sideline for a touchdown to put the Hawkeyes up 23-16 with 3:45 left in the game.

Iowa then forced a fumble that was recovered by Ethan Hurkett and an interception that was hauled in by Jermari Harris to seal the win. In between there was another Stevens field goal to give us the final margin of ten points.

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