Iowans second drive of the game, Beathard executed a play-action to perfection  finding George Kittle streaking behind the defenders towards the end zone for a 21 yard score, but Marshall Koehn missed the PAT.

The fighting Illini answer right back with a TD on the ensuing drive by Keshaun Vaughn to put them up 7-6.

About the next 15 minutes remained scoreless until Beathard found Jordan Canzeri on a screen pass to the left and with a row a blockers, he took it up the sideline for the 17 yard score. Putting the Hawks back on top 13-7.

Iowa added a late Field Goal to lead at half 16-7.

The Fighting Illini scored the first 6 points of the 2nd half on a pair of Field-Goals of 37 and 40 yards by Taylor Zalewski to pull within 3 at 16-13.

Momentum was swinging a bit in Illini favor as Iowa offense hadn’t been able to move much offensively after putting up 298 yards in the first half. The first play from the line of scrimmage for Iowa after Illinois 2nd Field-Goal, C.J. Beathard audibled into a HB counter for Canzeri with a pulling Right Guard. Canzeri found a nice cutback lane and found a couple extra gears going untouched on his way to the 75 yard Touchdown. To increase Iowa’s lead 23-13 Ferentz said ” CJ has his head in the game, doing well physically but really doing a good job mentality too.  He gives us another option with great communication with the staff.”

To read more on Jordan Canzeri’s career day, check out an article by my colleague Dylan Anderson, http://krui.fm/2015/10/10/canzeris-record-breaking-performance-propels-iowa-to-victory/

Another player that stepped up today was true Freshman Jerminic Smith who caught his first pass as a Hawkeye and really seemed to be on the same page with Beathard, easily breaking free from defenders. He also  made a couple nice blocks on runs by Canzeri, which Ferentz pointed out in his post game report.

The Fighting Illini ran multiple tricks plays with a couple flea flickers which had been marginally successful. It was a 3rd and 1 for them at Iowa’s 40 to start the fourth quarter, they took a chance and tried a reverse pass with their best player Wide Receiver  Geronimo Allison and the Hawks defense wasn’t fooled, Allison throwing it right to Greg Maybin who easily intercepted it.

Illinois did add a touchdown on their next possession to cut the deficit 23-20 but that’s as close as it would get as Iowa added two more Field-Goals by Koehn to seal the game 29-20.

Enough can’t be said about Iowa’s 4th quarter defense after last week in Wisconsin and then this week forcing 3 turnovers( 1 on downs) in 4 possessions.

Stars of the game

-Jordan Canzeri 43 rushing attempts 256 yards with a receiving and rushing TD

-C.J. Beathard 15-31 200 yards 2 TDs to go with 33 rushing yards

-Josey Jewell lead the way with 12 tackles and 1 huge fumble recovery on defense

Jerminic Smith had 4 receptions for 118 yards.

Injury Report

The victory was somewhat dampened by the news that broke about Senior DT Drew Ott tearing his ACL in his right knee on a punt rush, but Ott will continue to be a leader on the sidelines like he did after coming out on crutches.

HB Leshun Daniels is still “treading water” but is starting to climb the latter to his return, same thing with  OL Brandon Myers

OL Jordan Walsh hurt his shoulder in the first half but returned in the 2nd half.

Tevaun Smith didn’t play today, doubt he’ll be back before the bye week Oct. 24th.

Tune in next week as Iowa travels to Northwestern right here on KRUI 89.7 FM at 11 AM!

The post Defense bends but does not break, as Hawks win 29-20 appeared first on KRUI Radio.

What looked like to be a classic, low-scoring Big Ten game where defense reigns supreme quickly turned into a barn burner that lit up the scoreboard and got all 68,590 fans wired for sound.

When the dust finally settled, Iowa came out victorious with a 45-29 victory over the Hoosiers.

The Hawkeyes could not get anything going offensively until midway through the first quarter when junior quarterback Jake Rudock found tight end Jake Duzey for a 12-yard touchdown pass to put an end to a 15 play, 80 yard drive that took 7:13 to give Iowa the first lead of the game at 7-0.

Iowa was far from finished scoring in the first quarter, however. On the ensuing drive for Indiana, sophomore cornerback Desmond King intercepted a Nate Sudfeld pass and took it back 35 yards for the second touchdown in just over a minute for the 14-0 Hawkeye lead.

The next offensive play from scrimmage was a familiar sight for Hawkeye fans as Jake Rudock connected on a deep pass to Damond Powell for a long touchdown reception to give Iowa a commanding 21-0 lead. It was the longest play from scrimmage this season so far for Iowa totaling 72 yards on the catch and run.

Rudock completed 19 of 27 passes for 210 yards and 2 touchdowns, once again asserting himself as the starter for the Hawkeyes. Backup C.J. Beathard saw little action and only completed 2 of 5 passes for 9 yards.

“Those big plays are huge for us,” Rudock said after the game. “They help us move the ball like we want to on a regular basis.” “Now we need to play an entire game like we did in the first half today.”

After a 83-yard touchdown run from Indiana running back Tevin Coleman to cut the lead to 21-7, Iowa responded right back on their very first play from scrimmage after the Hoosier touchdown when Jonathan Parker scurried for a 60-yard touchdown run to give the Hawkeyes the 28-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Parker was asked after the game how he felt about his game overall, especially since he has had some bumps in the road over the course of the season.

“I like having people miss and using my speed,” Parker said. “I’ve taken these struggles as life lessons. It’s football, things happen.”

Things got a little more interesting in the second quarter. Indiana rattled off two touchdowns in a span of about three minutes. Hoosier quarterback Nate Sudfeld delivered a 13-yard pass to Nick Stoner before another long touchdown from Tevin Coleman.

Iowa added a Marshall Koehn field goal and a 1-yard touchdown run from Mark Weisman to give Iowa a 38-21 halftime lead.

The second half was much quieter, as the teams combined for 15 points total.

The teams traded touchdown runs near the beginning of the fourth quarter. Mark Weisman added his second 1-yard touchdown of the afternoon, while Tevin Coleman added his third touchdown with a 69-yard run on Indiana’s ensuing drive for the 45-29 final score after a two-point conversion by the Hoosiers.

Coleman was the one guy the Iowa defense could not stop. On the day, Coleman had 15 carries for 219 yards and 3 touchdowns. He is now over the 1,000-yard rushing mark in just 6 games played.

With the offense in general struggling all afternoon long, Coleman carried the Hoosier offense when Sudfeld left the game with an injury and did not return.

Indiana relied on true freshman quarterback Chris Covington to handle the reins as the signal caller, and things did not turn out the way that the Hoosiers had hoped.

Covington only completed 3 of his 12 passes for 31 yards and 2 interceptions. What already was a dormant offense seemed to be even more puzzled once Covington entered the fray.

The defense capitalized on playing against the true freshman in Covington and got consistent pressure, which led to sacks and a lot of scrambling out of the tackle box. Nate Meier led the Hawkeyes in tackles with 10, followed closely by Desmond King and Quinton Alston with 7 each. Jordan Lomax and Bo Bower had the other interceptions on the day along with Desmond King for the Hawkeye defense.

Overall, coach Kirk Ferentz was happy about the Homecoming victory for the Hawkeyes.

“A little bit unusual of a football game, different than we’re used to being in, especially that first half,” Ferentz said. “We’ll enjoy this game today. We’re feeling good about that, because bottom line is we won a Big Ten football game. We won here and that’s important.”

One of the things Ferentz touched on a lot in his postgame press conference with the play of senior Tommy Gaul. Gaul stepped in to the center position on the offensive line after starting center Austin Blythe was shifted to right guard after starter Jordan Walsh left with an ankle injury and did not return.

“That’s one of the good stories for sure today,” Ferentz said. “We talk about next man up all the time. Everybody loves him here. Tremendous young guy as well.” “There’s a lot to be said about experience, especially with linemen. Experience is only good if it’s positive, and he’s done that,” Ferentz added.

The Hawkeyes, who advanced to 5-1 with the victory, will travel to Maryland to play the Terrapins next Saturday afternoon in the first ever meeting between these new conference opponents in football. Kickoff is set for 11:00 central time.

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That was the theme during Saturday’s second quarter in Memorial Stadium. Iowa leads Indiana at halftime, 14-10.

The Hawkeyes had multiple three-and-outs and couldn’t sustain a drive until the final few minutes. Even then, Iowa could not put points on the board. The Black and Gold accumulated just 34 total yards in the quarter.

There have been a couple injuries today: senior corner Micah Hyde and sophomore offensive lineman Jordan Walsh have both left the game. Both players’ status is unknown.

Iowa’s defensive line — made up of mostly freshmen and sophomores — showed flashes of improvement throughout the second quarter. The Hawkeyes consistently pressured Sudfeld, and senior end Joe Gaglione sacked him once.

On the other side of the ball, the offensive line for the Hawkeyes has seemingly become victim of penalties and inexperience. Quarterback James Vandenberg (10-of-15 for 115 yards and one TD) was pressured several times and running back Damon Bullock (12 carries for 35 yards) was stopped at the line of scrimmage frequently.

Indiana scored and closed the deficit with 47 seconds remaining in the half on a 15-year pass from Cam Coffman to Cody Latimer. The Hoosiers have generated 225 yards of total offense.

— by Matt Cozzi and Dan Ringgenberg

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