Hawkeye State once again

It wasn’t pretty, but it was pretty enough for the Iowa Hawkeyes, who picked up their second win of the season with a 20-13 victory over Iowa State. The win also marked 200 trips to the winners circle for Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz.

In many ways this was a classic Kirk Ferentz victory, filled with a little bit of everything in all three phases of the game that led to the desired outcome for the Hawkeyes.

On the first drive of the game, Iowa State marched down the field and looked like they were about to put the first points of the game on the board. But, Iowa got a stop on third down and then the Cyclones saw their 36 yard field goal blocked by senior Logan Lee.

Iowa then turned around and marched down the field on their own. The key play of their first drive was a 59 yard run by Jaziun Patterson on a counter that was keyed by a massive block by Connor Colby. Iowa stalled out and had to settle for a 28 yard field goal to go up 3-0.

The Hawkeyes then started their second scoring drive late in the first quarter. The key play in that drive was a perfectly executed play action throw from quarterback Cade McNamara to tight end Luke Lachey for 35 yards. Then on the third play of the second quarter, Patterson ran it in from four yards out and Iowa was up 10-0.

After that, the all too familiar scoring lull kicked in for the Hawkeyes. Back to back offensive drives that netted -8 yards and then after that, Cade McNamara was intercepted on what was certainly a questionable non-call by the officials.

But, the Iowa defense stepped in and got into the act. Two plays into the Cyclone drive, Sebastian Castro snapped up a Rocco Becht pass and scooted 30 yards into the end zone for a 17-0 edge.

Iowa State was able to drive home a 42 yard field goal before halftime to go into the break down 17-3.IN the second half, once again, it was bend, but don’t break for the Iowa defense. On their second drive of t the second half, Iowa converted two third down plays and managed to put Drew Stevens in position for a 34 yard field goal and the Hawkeyes were in control and up 20-3.

Early in the fourth quarter, Iowa State knocked in a 46 yard field goal to make it 20-6 and the outcome was somewhat in doubt. Iowa had a chance to control the game, but were forced to punt. With just under three minutes left in the game, Becht tossed a 16 yard touchdown pass to Jayden Higgins to make the score 20-13 and the outcome was very much in doubt.

The Cyclones forced a three and out and Iowa State had the ball with 1:48 left and a chance to tie the game. But, the Iowa defense was once again up to the challenge. On a fourth and one from their own 40 yard line, Iowa stuff the run play by Cartevious Norton and that sealed the victory for the Hawkeyes.