Iowa Football News and Notes

It was another difficult loss on the road for the Iowa Hawkeyes. This time the unkind road was once again, this time at the Rose Bowl to a hard nosed UCLA team that rallied from an early ten point deficit to beat Iowa 20-17 on Friday night. We have our usual dose of news and notes, along with handing out a game ball to deserving Iowa players.

GAME BALLS

OFFENSE – JACOB GILL – With Kaleb Johnson bottled up on the ground, Iowa went to the air for big plays and found them with Gill. He hauled in a 59 yard pass in the first half, which was the longest play from scrimmage in the passing game this season and finished the day with 138 yards receiving. It was Iowa’s first 100 yard receiving effort since Sam LaPorta in 2022 and first wide receiver with over 100 yards since Charlie Jones in 2021.

DEFENSE – NICK JACKSON – With his running mate Jay Higgins sidelined for a good portion of the game due to a hamstring issue, Jackson more than did his part on defense. He finished with a team high 12 tackles in the game and helped to force an interception with his hit on the UCLA quarterback as he delivered the football. By the way, Jackson has now played in 70 games at the college level and is in second place on the all-time NCAA tackles list with 540 stops.

SPECIAL TEAMS – DREW STEVENS – This one is in part because of what he did that didn’t count. Stevens did make a short 24 yard field goal, but in the second half he also hammered a 57 yard field goal that might have been good from 67 yards. The field goal was good, but there was a personal foul on UCLA that kept the drive alive.

NEWS AND NOTES

The most significant news was that starting quarterback Brendan Sullivan left the game in the third quarter with what Kirk Ferentz described as a sprained ankle. Jackson Stratton filled in the rest of the way and was 3 of 6 for 28 yards and engineered the drive that tied the game at 17.

Jay Higgins appears to have a hamstring issue. He tried to stay in the game, but was in street clothes in the second half. Jaden Harrell filled in for Higgins and finished with a pair of tackles.

Luke Lachey returned to action in this game. While he did not start, he was back out there for limited duty, playing a total of nine snaps.

DRESS LIST

QB: Sullivan, Stratton, and Gerardy

RB: Johnson, Patterson, Moulton, White, Large, Miller

TE: Lachey, Pascuzzi, Ortwerth, Vonnahme, Lentsch,

OL: Richman, Stephens, Jones, Colby, Dunker, Dotzler, Lauck, Pieper, Jones, Elsbury, Myslinski, DeJong, Chaplin,

WR: Anderson, Buie, Howard, Wetjen, Washington, Gill, Eichmann

DL: Craig, Llewellyn, Graves, Hubert, Gaffney, Crawford, Allen, Hurkett, Bowie, Pittman, Black

LB: Jackson, Fisher, Higgins, Harrell, Montgomery, Rexroth, Van Kekerix, Twedt, DeLong

DB: Castro, Entringer, Nwankpa, Harris, Watson, Schulte, Lutmer, Kolarik, Hall, Lee

ST: Stevens, Dakin, Elkin, Nissen, Speitz, Woody

Also here are Ostrenga and Vander Zee. Not in uniform.

QB RUNDOWN

Starting quarterback Brendan Sullivan was 6-9 for 157 yards in the loss. He left the game in the third quarter due to an ankle injury. Sullivan also ran for a net of 10 yards. Jackson Stratton finished the game for the Hawkeyes and led them on a game tying drive.

TURNOVER TIME

The Iowa defense forced a trio of turnovers against UCLA, including two in the end zone. In the first half on the first drive of the game, safety Zach Lutmer picked off his first career pass. That set up Iowa’s first touchdown. Quinn Schulte intercepted a pass in the end zone. That was his third pick of the season and sixth of his career. Finally, Kyler Fisher forced a fumble that was recovered in the end zone by Jayden Harrell.

TOO MANY YARDS

On the down side, Iowa allowed over 200 yards rushing and passing on Friday evening. The Bruins rushed for 211 yards against the Hawkeye defense and passed for 204 yards in the game.

MOULTON IN THE END ZONE

Iowa’s Kamari Moulton found the end zone in the fourth quarter. That was his first touchdown this season and third of his career.

TACKLE LEADERS

Nick Jackson led the way with 12. Jermari Harris, Sebastian Castro, and Ethan Hurkett had seven in the game. Iowa did not have a quarterback sack in the game.

NEXT UP

Iowa is on their second bye weekend of the year. They will travel to Maryland in two weeks.