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.

The Iowa Hawkeye defense was in a bend but not break mentality throughout the game, and when it came down to it they made the plays when they had to and escaped Madison with the Heartland Trophy and a 10-6 win over the Wisconsin Badgers.

It is only the fourth time the Badgers have lost at Camp Randall Stadium since Iowa also defeated Wisconsin in Madison in 2009. The defenses for both Iowa and Wisconsin set up the offense in this hard-nosed, physical Big Ten battle. 13 of the game’s 16 points were scored off of turnovers.

Standout Hawkeye cornerback Desmond King stole the show as he has numerous times throughout his Iowa career with two interceptions of Wisconsin senior quarterback Joel Stave.

His first interception midway through the second quarter set up the only touchdown of the game, a one-yard touchdown pass from CJ Beathard to tight end George Kittle.

“I’m just trying to create turnovers and set up touchdowns for our offense,” King said after the game.

King now leads the country with five interceptions through five games this season. The Iowa school record is eight interceptions in a single season, which is held by Nile Kinnick in 1939 and Lou King in 1981.

“He (King) played solid last year, but he’s clearly on a different level this year,” coach Kirk Ferentz said.

Along with King, senior defensive end Drew Ott had himself a game. He did not play extensively the last two games after suffering an elbow injury against Iowa State, but after his performance against Wisconsin that included a sack, two and a half tackles for loss, and a forced fumble Ferentz declared Ott “healthy” in his press conference.

Ott’s forced fumble and concurrent fumble recovery by Nate Meier set up Marshall Koehn’s lone field goal make of the game.

As Wisconsin was driving down the field in the waning minutes of the game, Ott was one of the driving forces in Wisconsin turning the ball over on downs with under a minute to go in the game.

“I just told my teammates that if they don’t score, they don’t win,” Ott said.

The defense responded when it had to, and the believers are starting to hop on the 5-0 Iowa bandwagon.

The post Defense the name of the game in Madison appeared first on KRUI Radio.

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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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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For the Hawkeyes, the most urgent question of them all is who will be the placekicker. Marshall Koehn has gone 2-5 to start the season, and freshman Mick Ellis missed his only attempt in last Saturday’s win over Ball State. The fact that head coach Kirk Ferentz would not name a clear cut favorite for kicking duties makes things a little murkier than they already were. Koehn will likely get another shot this weekend, but do not be surprised if Ellis, who lost his redshirt last weekend, gets the call if Koehn once again falters.

Another big question for Iowa is when the running game will finally start to make some noise on the field. The leading rusher for the Hawkeyes after two weeks is quarterback Jake Rudock, who has 11 rushes for 35 yards on the season. The running back group of Mark Weisman, Jordan Canzeri, LeShun Daniels Jr., Damon Bullock, and Jonathan Parker have combined for 181 yards on 62 carries, which divides out to just under three yards a carry. They need to start showing up in a big way and not forcing Jake Rudock to chuck the ball 93 times in two games to overcome late deficits.

The final big question surrounding the Hawkeyes is the health of two of their most important players, Brandon Scherff and Drew Ott. It was reported by multiple sources on Tuesday that Scherff underwent surgery on his right knee and would likely miss two to three weeks.

Coach Ferentz would not confirm in his weekly conference call that Scherff had surgery, instead calling him day-to-day. If Scherff were to miss those two to three weeks, he would miss this weekend against Iowa State, the following weekend against Pittsburgh on the road, and potentially the Big Ten opener September 27^th against Purdue in West Lafayette. Iowa should be able to survive without Scherff for that time frame as Ike Boettger stepped in admirably against Ball State and looks a capable replacement for Scherff should he have to miss any time.

Ott, on the other hand, appears to come away virtually unscathed after his involvement in an accident early Monday morning in Iowa City. Ott was on his moped when a car turned in front of him and collided with the defensive lineman. He suffered what is being called “road rash” after being examined at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. Kirk Ferentz also called Ott day-to-day and barring any setbacks should be ready to go for Saturday’s tilt with the Cyclones.

Iowa State comes into Iowa City looking for their identity. After a 34-14 loss at the hands of FCS powerhouse North Dakota State in Week 1, the Cyclones entertained the Wildcats of Kansas State last Saturday only to see them blow a 28-13 and fall to the ranked Wildcats by a score of 32-28. Iowa State ranks near the bottom in rushing yards per game, passing yards per game, and points scored per game.

Quarterback Sam Richardson is leading the charge through the air as well as on the ground for the Cyclones. He has been one of the few bright spots for a team that has disappointed to begin their 2014-2015 campaign. Injuries and personal issues have stripped the team of some key players. Wide receiver Quenton Bundrage tore his ACL in the opener against NDSU and starting right tackle Jacob Gannon quit the team for “personal reasons” days before their game against Kansas State.

The Cyclones do have some playmakers, however. Freshman wide receiver Allen Lazard out of Urbandale, Iowa, as well as Jarvis West will be asked to shoulder more of the load through the air for coach Paul Rhoads. Aaron Wimberly, who has accumulated 23 carries for 75 yards and 2 touchdowns over the first two weeks, leads the ground attack.

The Cyclones may not look as good on paper as the Hawkeyes, but when there is a rivalry like Iowa and Iowa State stats do not mean as much. Both teams will be amped up and ready to get this game started.

This Cy-Hawk game is sure to be one of the most exciting games in recent memory and Kinnick Stadium will be the go to place Saturday afternoon at 2:30. We will have the game live on 89.7 KRUI and also online at krui.fm with pregame starting around 2:15.

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