IOWA CITY, Iowa – This was not your typical Iowa football game.

Iowa received the ball to begin the game and Nate Stanley led an initially impressive opening drive, capped off by a disappointing fumble into the back of the end zone by Nick Easley. This resulted in the Mean Green of North Texas getting the ball, leaving Iowa stunned with nothing to show for its 12-play, 77-yard effort.

On the sixth play of the ensuing drive, Jeffery Wilson of North Texas scampered for a 41-yard score with the Hawkeyes still reeling from the unconventional turnover. Kinnick Stadium fell silent after witnessing Iowa trail despite seeing Nick Easley in the end zone.

On the Hawks’ second possession, Nate Stanley found Akrum Wadley on a wheel route that he took 74 yards to the house. However, en route to his second receiving touchdown of the year, he began to high step. This did not go over well with the referees and it was called back for unsportsmanlike conduct.

“I told [Akrum] he’s too good of a player for that,” Kirk Ferentz, Iowa head coach, said. After the penalty, which occurred late in the first quarter, Wadley only saw two more carries in the game.

After the play was called back, freshman tight end TJ Hockenson caught his first career touchdown pass after the ball was tipped in the end zone. However, the ball wasn’t even meant for him.

“I’m not even a read on that play,” Hockenson said. “I was really surprised when it got deflected and I was just paying attention and was lucky enough to be aware of where it came.”

TJ Hockenson catches his first career touchdown pass on Saturday – and it wasn’t even intended for him 

(Black Heart Gold Pants)

“I’ve never had that,” Stanley, the first-year starter, said. “Usually when they get tipped then they’re intercepted.” The sophomore even admitted that he wasn’t aiming for Hockenson on the play.

In the second quarter, Mason Fine found Turner Smiley on a deep ball to set up the eventual 40-yard field goal attempt. With the Mean Green ready to take the lead for a second time, Josh Jackson happened. His blocked field goal preserved the tie and gave Iowa the ball to march down and take a lead of its own with Miguel Recinos’s 41-yard field goal.

Iowa got the ball back soon after, only to see Stanley fumble the ball. Before the play was dead, the wildest play of a wild day ensued. North Texas scooped up the fumble, rumbled down 27 yards and fumbled once more to give the ball right back to the Hawkeyes.

After trading punts, North Texas began its final drive of the half, trailing 7-10. This possession culminated with three 15-yard penalties, a sideline warning and a touchdown pass from backup quarterback. All the craze put the Mean Green up 14-10 at halftime.

“At halftime it was more of an attitude change,” Parker Hesse, junior defensive end, said. “We had to look ourselves in mirror and decide ‘are we gonna ride the wave, are we gonna be up and down all year, or are we gonna play Iowa football?’” Down at half for the first time on the year, Iowa needed changes to counteract the bad breaks it dealt with in the opening 30 minutes.

“[The locker room] wasn’t in a state of panic, but there were quite a few guys that said ‘this isn’t Iowa football, something’s gotta change,’” Hesse said. He was only Hawkeye to record a sack in the contest.

Whatever it was in the locker room, it certainly helped. The Hawks forced a punt and senior running back James Butler took over on the ensuing possession. On a fourth-and-five, Stanley found sophomore tight end Noah Fant for the touchdown, giving Iowa the lead for good.

“I guess we’re three for three at digging holes,” Ferentz said. “But I thought our tempo improved in the second half.”

The rest of the game was all freshmen backs. Toren Young and Ivory Kelly-Martin both amassed upwards of 70 yards, with the true freshman, Kelly-Martin, scoring twice.

Iowa came out with the win, 31-10, but in the most unconventional way. ‘New Kirk’ went for it on fourth down five times, converting four times. There were four unsportsmanlike conduct penalties and two sideline warnings. Iowa engineered a nine minute drive and managed the clock well.

Penn State is looming and this was supposed to be a tune-up game for the night game against the Nittany Lions, but this contest won’t soon be forgotten. The opening fumble, the halftime deficit, the three touchdowns in a row and everything in between certainly made for a wild non-conference finish.

The post An Unconventional Victory for the Hawkeyes appeared first on KRUI Radio.

The 2017 edition of the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Trophy Game did not disappoint whatsoever. The newest rendition of the rivalry game will go down as a classic battle between two hated rivals. While the game started off to a relatively normal 14-10 score at the halftime break, the pace quickly heated up in the second half.

A slow start did not deter either team from pouring on the points in the following half. Both offenses threw the other’s defense out of the game in the second half. This being despite the fact that Iowa came into the game with a nationally renown defense; only allowing Josh Allen and the Wyoming offense to only 3 points.

Prior to halftime, Stanley and the Iowa offense reestablished itself with a 91 yard, 10 play drive that ended with a Stanley to VandeBerg for a 17 yard touchdown. Matt VandeBerg missed majority of last season with a broken foot; this was his first touchdown catch following the injury.

With 7:21 remaining in the third quarter, Iowa took a commanding 21-10 lead with another 94 yard, 11 play drive. The drive was capped off with Wadley hurdling over the pile on the goal line for a 1 yard touchdown. However, Iowa State responded quickly, effectively, and immediately with 21 unanswered points, going up 31-21 with 11:46 remaining in regulation.

Jacob Park would throw for 347 yards and four touchdowns by the end of the game with Nathan Stanley throwing for 333 yards and five touchdown to battle. Following the 21-0 Cyclone run, the Hawkeyes would strike back and would eventually tie the game.

In the post-game interview, Iowa Head Coach Kirk Ferentz spoke on the fourth quarter rally, saying, “The one thing we did all day offensively — we responded. They took the lead there, they just hit us with everything there in the second half. Our guys responded a couple more times.” And respond the Hawks would. The Hawkeyes were challenged again as Iowa State would attempt put the game away with a 38-31 lead with 4:36 remaining.

The thriller continued as Iowa would march back 81 yards in 7 plays to tie the game. Stanley completed a short pass across the middle to Wadley to tie the game for overtime. “It was a dog fight,” said Wadley, “We knew we were going to get their best effort.”

A dog fight perfectly describes the classic Ames matchup which took place on September 9th. However, the match would end in overtime. The Iowa defense showed up to force an Iowa State field goal which set up Stanley and the Iowa offense to take home the Cy-Hawk trophy.

Akrum Wadley ended the game with a strong statline, with 118 rushing yards and a touchdown on 28 attempts. Wadley also caught 72 passing yards and another touchdown on 4 receptions. Stanley and Wadley both needed large outputs to match Park with future NFL wideout Allen Lazard and Junior Hakeem Butler.

Next week, Iowa State travels to play Akron at 11 am central time on CBS Sports. The Iowa Hawkeyes return to Kinnick Stadium to take on the North Texas Mean Green on September 16th at 2:30 central time on ESPN2.

The post Iowa, Stanley “Ames” Past Iowa State appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Iowa scored early and often behind the arm of CJ Beathard, as well as the legs of Jordan Canzeri in the 62-16 win over the Mean Green. The Hawkeyes finished the non-conference portion of their schedule with a 4-0 record for the first time since 2009. That season ended in an Orange Bowl victory over Georgia Tech.

Jordan Canzeri got things going for Iowa offensively with touchdown runs of 16 and 10 yards in the first quarter to give Iowa a quick 14-0 lead. He added another touchdown on the ground in the second quarter, as well as one in the third quarter. He is the first Iowa running back since Shonn Greene in 2008 against Wisconsin to score four rushing touchdowns in a game.

“We know teams are going to load the box when we run it and with a line that blocks they way they do, it’s awesome having all eleven guys work the way we are,” Canzeri said after the game.

Canzeri’s counterpart, quarterback CJ Beathard, looked as poised as he ever has before in a Hawkeye uniform. He completed his first 15 passes on the day, including two deep touchdowns. His first connection was to a wide open George Kittle for a 43-yard scamper along the North Texas sideline. It was Kittle’s first touchdown as an Iowa Hawkeye.

Beathard’s second touchdown came courtesy of a beautifully thrown deep ball to Tevaun Smith, who finished with 115 yards on 4 catches, on an 81-yard catch and run.

“The line was providing good protection all day so it was easy to pick apart the defense,” Beathard said.

The junior signal caller finished the game completing 18 of his 21 passes for 278 yards and the 2 touchdowns.

Coach Kirk Ferentz was pleased overall with his team’s performance, despite some mistakes that led to points for North Texas.

“It was another positive step for our team, and to end September 4-0 is a great feeling,” Ferentz said.

“You don’t want to mess around with self-inflicted wounds too much, but the guys have responded well,” Ferentz remarked about the two fumbles that led to 10 Mean Green points.

The Hawkeye offense was not the only unit putting points on the board in bunches on Saturday.

Iowa had two interceptions of North Texas quarterback Andrew McNulty ran back for touchdowns. First, Josey Jewell had a 34-yard touchdown late in the third quarter. It was the first interception and touchdown for the Decorah, IA, native.

“I was going through pre snap things, and I faded in a little bit and the quarterback threw out and I got there and hoped nobody got me,” Jewell said.

Bo Bower added a touchdown of his own late in the fourth quarter on an 88-yard catch and return for the Hawkeyes.

The special teams unit for Iowa also had quite the productive day at the office. Desmond King accumulated 71 yards on 2 punt returns, as well as 109 yards on 4 kickoff returns. The only blunder for the special teams unit was a missed PAT by Marshall Koehn after the Josey Jewell touchdown. It was the first time in 59 games Iowa missed a PAT.

“My thought there would be to rather have it happen in the third quarter today than the end of the game last week,” Ferentz said.

“So we’ll make a trade on that one,” Ferentz added.

The Hawkeyes travel to Wisconsin next Saturday to take on the Badgers. Kickoff is set for 11:00 A.M. from Camp Randall Stadium. We will have the call on KRUI with coverage starting at about 10:45.

The post Beathard, Canzeri propel Iowa over Mean Green appeared first on KRUI Radio.