When the nation looks at this game, the majority will say that the Hawkeyes and Cardinal are similar in style, and they’re right. Both programs play smash mouth football and like to win games at the line of scrimmage. Both programs are lead by great quarterbacks in Iowa’s CJ Beathard and Stanford’s Kevin Hogan.

But what the majority may be overlooking is an attribute that can be a key concept to having a successful season: team chemistry.

“I tell people that we have the closest locker room, the tightest-knit family,” said Hogan, who’s thrown for 24 touchdowns this year.

If you take a look at the Cardinal roster, they have athletes from all over the United States. “We’re from all over the country, Hogan said. “So many different cultures, backgrounds. We feel like there’s a certain formula that brings us together and allows us to mesh, and we believe in that.”

Iowa has a formula as well. Developing under-recruited guys into a team that turns a bunch of individuals into one working unit. “We don’t have the same type of talent that other teams have, definitely not the four and five star recruits,” senior linebacker Cole Fisher said. “When you get the right group of guys that just really play well together as a team and seem to mesh, the power that that can have day to day is special.”

Both programs have won close games this year. Both programs have won games in a variety of different ways. Both programs play for the player to their right and to their left, setting up for a tremendous battle on New Years Day.

Be sure to stay dialed in to KRUI 89.7 all week long as Austin Bramley and Jeremy Meyer will be live from the L.A. Hotel Downtown every day at 1pm central time. They will also be tweeting from @KRUISports all week for live updates from press conferences and bowl game events.

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Iowa’s first drive was three and out and Pittsburgh took over deep in their own territory and on a 1st and 10, Desmond King made an excellent stretching interception to give Iowa great field position.

Iowa with the short field position had a Field-Goal to give them the early 3-0 lead. Pittsburgh drove into the Red-zone on their next possession but Desmond King was there again to intercept in the End-zone giving him his 2nd INT of the quarter.

A few drives later after a 51 yard completion to Tevaun Smith, C.,J. Beathard scrambled for a 9 yard Touchdown to make it 10-0.

On the next drive Beathard threw a interception at Iowa’s 33 yard line which lead to a 1 play Play-action pass touchdown for Pitt to make it 10-7.

On Iowa’s last drive of the half Jordan Canzeri scored on a 4-yard Touchdown to make it 17-7 at the half. Iowa wasn’t able to do much rushing the ball in the first half but that didn’t faze the offense.

Pitt came out in the third quarter with guns firing, getting a field-goal and then blocking a punt for a Touchdown to tie the game at 17 just like that. Special Teams have been an issue from time to time for Iowa.

Iowa scored a go ahead Touchdown on a 1-yard run by Canzeri to make it 24-17 with 6 minutes left. Pitt answered back to tie it on a pass to Tyler Boyd to tie it at 24 with just under 1 minute left.

There was some question whether Iowa would just play for overtime like they have in the past but the decision worked great! Iowa started with the ball at their own 30. A couple scrambles by Beathard and a pass to the tight end Coble for 4 yards, Marshall Koehn was given a shot at a 57-yard field-goal. Pitt called a timeout to attempt to ice him but it didn’t work. As Koehn nailed the field-goal, the celebration began!

The offensive star of the game goes to C.J. Beathard although he threw his first INT of the year, a near flawless performance.

The defensive star of the game goes to Desmond King with the 2 INT’s.

Stats–

Offense-

C.J. Beathard 27-40 with 258 passing yards, 1 INT, and adding 50 yards and a TD on the ground

Jordan Canzeri added 49 yards on the ground with 2 TD’s

Tevaun Smith lead the receivers with 73 yards on 3 catches

Tyler Boyd lead the way for Pittsburgh with 10 catches for 131 yards and a Touchdown

Defense–

Desmond King had 8 tackles and two huge INT’s in the first quarter

Cole Fisher  lead the team in tackles with 12, followed by Jordan Lomax with 11.

Be sure to tune in next Saturday as Iowa takes on North Texas lead by former Iowa State rival coach Dan McCarney at 2:30 PM, here on KRUI 89.7 FM

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Iowa scored on their first possession capped off with a 6-yard run by quarterback C.J. Beathard. The plan early was obvious. Get the ground game with Leshun Daniels  and pass as needed to keep the ball moving.

In that first touchdown drive, Iowa went for it on 4th and 2 deep in enemy territory and converted on a pass to Tevaun Smith, their clear cut go to receiver. Ferentz said after the game, ” We’ve developed a comfort level with fourth downs going back to last season.”  Expect to see chances taken again often in 4th and short situations.

After a punt, Iowa put together their best drive of the day marching 99 yards, set up nicely with a couple of medium passes for roughly 20 yards a piece. Jordan Canzeri caught a pass out of the backfield, with blocking and speed turned it into a 21 yard gain. Canzeri then scored later in the drive on a 5 yard run to make it 14-0.

The favorite play for the fans  was a fake field goal run by the kicker Marshall Koehn, he ended up coming two yards short of the first down, giving the ball back to Illinois State. That play while unsuccessful, created a lot of buzz in Kinnick and on the Hawkeyes sideline.

Iowa added a late field goal to lead 17-0 at the half.

The first three possessions resulted in punts for both sides. Playing the field position game, Iowa started their next touchdown drive at Illinois State 43 yard line. This was another balanced attack between run and pass while converting on another 4th down to keep the drive alive. Beathard found Matt Vandeburg on a bubble screen who dove into the end-zone for a 9 yard touchdown making it 24-0.

Iowa scored  again on the following possession, primarily running the ball with LeShun Daniels. That drive was capped off with Beathard’s 2nd rushing touchdown of the day from 1 yard out to make it 31-0.

The 2nd string was brought in mid-way through the 4th quarter and gave up two touchdowns to make the final score 31-14.

I really didn’t real speak much about the Hawkeyes defense but it was outstanding creating pressure on the quarterback all day, recording 5 sacks and even blocking a field goal attempt. The defensive stars of the game were Cole Fisher with 8 total tackles, Nate Meier 6 total tackles with one sack, and Drew Ott with a couple of sacks.

The offensive stars of the game were: Beathard with 211 passing yards and 3 total touchdowns (1 passing, 2 running), LeShun Daniels being the workhorse carrying 26 times for 124 yards, Jordan Canzeri  who had 118 total yards, and Matt Vandeburg who had 59 receiving yards and a touchdown.

Game notes

Drew Ott suffered a bloody nose but did return with no issues

Jay Scheel and Derrick Mitchell are still recovering from their injuries but expect them back soon

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