The Hawkeye defense played the biggest role in Iowa’s win over Wisconsin on Oct. 3.
By Danny Payne
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MADISON, Wisconsin — Desmond King stood behind the south end zone in Camp Randall Stadium, answering question after question regarding the play of his team’s defense on Oct. 3.
Usually reserved, the junior cornerback responded with confidence and excitement, just as he should have been. After all, King had two interceptions in his team’s 10-6 win over the No. 19 Badgers in Camp Randall Stadium.
Finally, a question about a fourth-quarter fumble recovery by defensive tackle Faith Ekakitie at the Iowa 5-yard line resonated with him.
“Ooh. I saw the ball come out, and I wanted to jump over the line and go get it,” King exclaimed. “Big relief right there. I’m really happy that it happened.”
That play was one of two late defensive exclamation marks for the Hawkeyes (5-0, 1-0 Big Ten). A play after Wisconsin (3-2, 0-1 Big Ten) running back Taiwan Deal fell short at the 1-yard line with his team down 10-6, Nate Meier, a defensive end who plays nose tackle in certain goal-line situations, broke through the A gap and caught a piece of quarterback Joel Stave’s foot, causing him to trip and fumble the ball with 7:44 left in the contest.
“Our coaches always tell us to stay low and just shoot the gap as hard as we can,” said Meier, who finished with 5 tackles. “That’s what I did and came up with a good play, and Faith came up with a great recovery.”
The next three drives resulted in punts, giving Wisconsin a final chance to win the game with 2:45 remaining on the Badger 47.
A few short runs and a 26-yard pass brought Wisconsin as close as the Iowa 21-yard line, but the Hawkeye defense didn’t let its rival get any closer than that. An incomplete pass on fourth and 2 with 40 seconds left on the clock sealed the game and Iowa’s first win in Madison since 2009, the last time the Hawkeyes started the season 5-0.
“We’ve had two really good road victories, so that’s something everybody can feel good about,” head coach Kirk Ferentz said. “… All of the coaches are really pleased with the attitude that our team has. I’ll go right back to the seniors; they’re doing a great job of driving this team.”
All 10 of Iowa’s points came off turnovers, and the Hawkeyes allowed just 86 rushing yards and no rushing touchdowns. Defensive coordinator Phil Parker’s unit kept its streak alive of not allowing a touchdown via the run this season.
Passing was a different story; Stave went 21-of-38 for 234 yards but did not throw a touchdown. King’s 2 interceptions were his fourth and fifth of the season and were good for half of Iowa’s takeaways. The other two were fumble recoveries from Ekakitie and Meier, the latter came after Drew Ott forced Stave to lose the ball.
Cole Fisher led the team with 14 tackles, and the Hawkeyes sacked Stave twice.
“Our goal is to finish it; we didn’t finish in the last games of last season,” King said. “…Our goal this year is to finish everything. Finish a play, finish the season, finish the game. We’re going to do that this whole season.”
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