Hawkeyes fall to Bruins
In the game of football, sometimes you follow trends. In some cases, trends can be your friend. In the case of the Iowa football team, the trend of playing poorly on the road in conference games has become an unfriendly trend.
The Hawkeyes battled poor tackling an a couple of key injuries on their way to a 20-17 loss on Friday night to UCLA at the Rose Bowl.
For the first time this season the Iowa offense scored on their first drive of the game. After an interception by Zach Lutmer the Hawkeyes took over at the UCLA 41 yard line. Jacob Gill hauled in a 32 yard pass to get the drive moving and then Kaleb Johnson rushed for a two yard score, his 20th rushing touchdown of the year.
After the Bruins were able to march down the field, Nick Jackson hit UCLA quarterback Ethan Garbers and the ball fluttered into the hands of safety Quinn Schulte. Iowa took over and on the second play of the drive, Sullivan found Gill for a 59 yard strike. It was the longest play from scrimmage this season for the Hawkeyes. But, the drive stalled inside the ten yard line and Iowa had to settle for a 24 yard field goal by Drew Stevens to go up 10-0
While the first quarter was great to the Hawkeyes, the second was a disaster. The Bruins got on the board with a field goal Mateen Bhaghani from 57 yards out that barely cleared the cross bar to pull UCLA within a touchdown at 10-3.
Brendan Sullivan was then intercepted on the first play of the next Iowa drive by Bruins linebacker Carson Schwesinger and the UCLA offense cashed in as Garbers connecting for a two yard touchdown pass and a tied game at 10-10.
But, the Bruins were not done in the first half. After a Rhys Dakin punt of 37 yards, Garbers went to work and found wide receiver Logan Loya on third down and five for an 11 yard gain. On the next play, Garbers found Loya again, this time for a 29 yard score and a 17-10 lead just before halftime.
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Iowa had scored on their first drive of the second half in four straight games. But, they couldn’t make it five as they went three and out on that drive. In fact the entire third quarter was somewhat strange with the Bruins missing another 57 yard field goal and the Hawkeyes losing their starting quarterback to a sprained ankle.
Early in the fourth period, Iowa scored to knot the game at 17 each. And they did it was Jackson Stratton at quarterback after Brendan Sullivan left the game. Stratton made two key pass completions, both to Jacob Gill. The second one was for 13 yards to the one yard line. Gill finished the game with 138 yards receiving.
The Bruins had one more answer. Garbers and company grinded out a drive, going 13 plays and bleeding the clock and eventually resulting in a 27 yard field goal to reach the final score of 20-17.
Iowa will be off next week before hitting the road to Maryland. Game time and TV designation should be announced on Monday.
