Hate week in Iowa City was loud and proud leading up to Saturday’s Cy-Hawk football game. The past two years, the Iowa State Cyclones have gotten the best of the Hawkeyes. And if you count a vacated win from three seasons ago, technically the last win Iowa had over Iowa State was in 2021, when Brock Purdy was still in quarterbacking the Cyclones. Never mind that Iowa needed to keep stacking up wins to give themselves a shot at the College Football Playoffs — they needed to take down the Cyclones for the fans and themselves.
It was a slow and sluggish start for both teams to begin the game. One of the key pain points for Iowa was a dramatic drop in run game success compared to last week. In the 40-0 win over Northern Illinois, Kamari Moulton led the attack with 183 yards on just 11 carries, as he was set up with incredible blocking and wide-open lanes. But this time around, Moulton had little to no breathing room, with the Iowa State front seven swarming him each play. He managed just 21 yards on seven attempts in the first half.
In the passing game, the Hawks attempted to up the tempo on their opening possession, but two false start penalties held them back and derailed the drive. It was also clear that offensive coordinator Tim Lester wanted to get Tony Diaz heavily involved again. However, it was maybe too clear. On a third-and-short during their second drive, Hank Brown had an open Reece Vander Zee underneath, but slung it out to the sideline to Diaz, who was double-covered. He impressively made the catch, but was wrapped up a yard short of the sticks. Iowa tried a Hank Brown sneak on fourth-and-1, but managed no gain and ended up turning the ball over on downs.
Iowa’s defense came to play to open up the game, forcing back-to-back three-and-outs in the opening quarter against the Cyclones. But they started to crack on a drive that bled into the second, as first-year head coach Jimmy Rogers got creative in his playbook to counter the feisty Hawkeye defense. One of the best examples of this was an end around to their leading receiver on the night, Omari Hayes, who took it into the red zone down to the 15-yard line. The Iowa defense held firm from there as Kyle Konrardy, a very familiar foe to the black and gold, hit a 29-yard field goal to get on the board first.
With Iowa’s run game struggling, they turned to Hank Brown to get the attack going. Brown struggled with deep ball accuracy last week, and it continued this game, as he was just a touch off on a few deep shots. After another three-and-out, Iowa State began marching downfield. Their biggest play was a great Omari Hayes catch on third-and-3 to set up shop at the Iowa 20. Five plays later on second-and-goal, Jaylen Raynor flipped it to tight end Vince Benetti, who got across for a 4-yard TD to push the Cyclones ahead 10-0. The Hawkeyes were in trouble, but that’s when Hank Brown stepped up.
After opening up a new drive with a 12-yard connection to Vander Zee, Brown uncorked a deep ball for Tony Diaz, who got a step on his defender and raced underneath it to haul in a 56-yard catch, getting all the way to the ISU 7-yard line. Diaz had another great game, catching 8 of his 12 targets for a team-best 95 yards. A few plays later on third-and-goal, Hank Brown fought through traffic on a designed run and stretched across the goal line for a 1-yard TD to get on the board. In a five-play, blink-of-an-eye drive, Iowa bolted 75 yards downfield to put themselves back in the game, hinting at the potential this offense can bring.
With relief and excitement building in Kinnick, the defense forced a punt on a three-and-out as Brown used both his arm and legs to drive his team down into field goal range in ten plays. Kicker Caden Buhr, who struggled last week, knocked a 45-yard field goal through the uprights with under 30 seconds left in the second quarter, tying the game at 10. After a rough first quarter, Iowa turned it around in the second to set up a brand new ballgame.
Iowa State came out swinging right away to open up the second half, as their run game began to click. Their biggest run came on a 34-yard carry from Aiden Flora, the Cyclones’ leading rusher who finished with 90 yards. However, holding and an illegal substitution penalty would bring Iowa State’s momentum to a screeching halt, forcing them to send out Konrardy for a 51-yard field goal, which he knocked down without issue.
After that, the Hawkeye offense began to stumble again. Iowa State’s defense, which played a heck of a game throughout the night, deserved their flowers as well. Kamari Moulton was kept in check, and the defensive backs sniffed out multiple Iowa passes. Offensively, Iowa State couldn’t get much of anything going for themselves either. One big Hawkeye stop was due to a great Boston Everitt punt that pinned the Cyclones inside their own five. On another drive, Iowa State’s earlier touchdown scorer, Vince Benetti, committed two holding penalties that forced a punt.
After both teams traded punts once more, Iowa got the ball back with 12:26 in the fourth while trailing 13-10. Knowing how this offense operates, their opportunities to tie it, or better yet win it, were extremely thin. The Brown-led offense began to drive downfield, and the run game finally showed some signs of life. They got down in the red zone with under seven minutes remaining, but ran into a third-and-4 from the 17-yard line. Brown hit Evan James near the far sideline, and he cut upfield and took it down to the 5-yard line. Upon review, James’ foot stepped out at the 14, making it fourth-and-1. With a risky gamble on the table, Kirk Ferentz did what he almost always does and played it safe, letting Buhr hit a 32-yard field goal to even the game at 13 apiece.
Iowa State’s ensuing drive stalled after a false start on a third-and-1, forcing a pass from Jaylen Raynor to fall incomplete. The Hawkeyes got the ball back with 4:17 left at their own 45, and with the Cyclones already down a timeout, it was the time for Iowa to take the dagger that Iowa State delivered last year in Ames and flip it back on them.
Kamari Moulton took Iowa down inside the ISU 40-yard line on three consecutive touches. After the two-minute timeout, the biggest play of the night had arrived. With the Hawkeyes needing to convert a third-and-3, they gave it to Moulton up the middle. He was brought down right at the line, but got a rather generous spot from the officials for the first down. After a 7-yard run by Nathan McNeil, Jimmy Rogers shed his final timeout, and ISU could only watch the clock from this point.
The Cyclones stuffed Xavier Williams on a third-and-1 at the 24, where they sent out Caden Buhr for a 42-yard field goal try with 19 seconds to go. Buhr missed an extra point and a 53-yard kick last week in the win over NIU, but was perfect up to this point in the game. In his second game as Iowa’s starting kicker, Buhr knocked down the go-ahead 42-yarder that ultimately stood as the winning kick.
It wasn’t pretty by any means, but that isn’t important in rivalry games like these. In the Cy-Hawk series, a win isn’t simply just a win; it lifts the entire team, school, and fans for the entire year. Not to mention the sweet, sweet bragging rights. Next week, Iowa takes on their easiest opponent of the season vs. Northern Iowa, before they step into the three-game gauntlet stretch against Michigan, Ohio State, and Washington.
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