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.

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.

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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The post Koehn is King, Iowa wins 27-24 appeared first on KRUI Radio.