Hawkeyes ride strong second half to victory
The opening game of the 2024 Iowa football season was a tale of two halves.
The first half looked a whole lot like the previous two Iowa teams and that’s not ideal. But something clicked at halftime and the Hawkeyes came out and scored touchdowns on their first two possessions and five of their first six in the second half on their way to a convincing 40-0 win over Illinois State at sold out Kinnick Stadium
With the win, Iowa moves to 1-0 on the season and Illinois State drops to 0-1 in 2024. Next up for Iowa will be the annual Cy-Hawk game against in-state rival Iowa State. That game will be played in Iowa City with kickoff slated for 2:30 p.m.
The start for the Hawkeyes was less than ideal. While the Hawkeye defense was playing lights out, forcing a pair of turnovers in the Redbirds first three possessions, Iowa’s offense sputtered. The Hawkeyes did score on their third possession of the game, but it was a field goal following a fumble recovery by TJ Hall. Iowa didn’t even get a first down until the fourth possession of the first quarter.
Iowa finally started to gain some momentum on offense in the middle of the second quarter. On their final drive of the first half, the Hawkeyes got on the scoreboard once again. Again it was a field goal, but Iowa stacked four first downs together on that drive giving them something positive to build upon with a 6-0 lead at the break.
The second half was a literal explosion of offense from an Iowa perspective. They scored on their first two possessions with ease. The first drive was 7 plays for 75 yards, keyed by a pair of catches by true freshman Reece Vander Zee. One was for 17 yards and the second was for a 7 yard touchdown. Iowa went for two and failed to make the score 12-0.
After a three and out by the Redbirds, Iowa marched down the field in five plays for another score. This time it was McNamara finding transfer Jacob Gill, who alluded double coverage for a 31 yard strike to make it 19-0.
Iowa then had their only non-scoring drive before the end of the game sequence before scoring a third time in the half on the first play of the fourth quarter. McNamara again found Vander Zee for the score, this time from 19 yards away. That made it 26-0 and Iowa was rolling.
After starting slow, McNamara finished his day 21-31 for 251 yards and three touchdowns. Vander Zee had quite a Hawkeye debut, catching 5 passes for 68 yards and a pair of scores.
Iowa finished their scoring in style as well with Kaleb Johnson, who did not play in the first half due to a violation of team rules, scoring a pair of touchdowns. One was from 64 yards and the second was from 18 yards out. For the day, he finished with 120 yards on just 11 carries. Overall, Iowa rushed for 241 yards and averaged 6.0 yards per carry.
