Beathard, VandeBerg lead Iowa to its second win of the season
By Courtney Baumann
The lights were on in Kinnick Stadium the whole time on the evening of Sept. 10, but it wasn’t really noticeable until the ninth minute of the first quarter. They lit the field up right around the time C.J. Beathard and Akrum Wadley did the same.
Wadley caught a 26-yard touchdown pass at 5:42 to put the Hawkeyes up 14-0 before Iowa State even touched Iowa territory.
By the end of the game, Beathard had three passing touchdown and one rushing to lead the Hawkeyes to a 42-3 victory.
Beathard’s favorite target for the night was Matt VandeBerg, who had 5 receptions for 89 yards by the time the first half was over. The senior finished the game with 129 yards on 7 catches and tallied his first touchdown of the season.
“He’s faster than people think,” Beathard said about the senior wide receiver. “He’s a trustworthy guy. He’s going to be where he needs to be when he needs to be there. I can count on him to be there. He’s smart.”
The two have been practicing together throughout their time at Iowa, but they have appeared to really hit their stride this season.
Though he averaged 18.4 yards per catch and somehow held onto seemingly impossible throws, VandeBerg did drop one right in the gut, and that was the only thing on his mind, post-game.
“It’s not like me, and I don’t condone failure. That one drop is the only thing I can think of at this point,” VandeBerg said. “Now, I need to fix that and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Penalties were a killer for the Cyclones. On Iowa’s fourth touchdown drive late in the second quarter, personal fouls moved the Hawkeyes half the distance to the goal on two occasions.
The negative yards were especially brutal, considering the Cyclones had only 291 total yards.
The Iowa defense looked much more solid with Josey Jewell back on the field. Jewell missed a majority of the game against Miami (Ohio) after getting ejected on a targeting call. Iowa’s defense held Iowa State to a single scoring drive while forcing four three-and-outs.
Ben Neimann snatched his first career interception in the third quarter, which led to a Hawkeye touchdown two plays later.
Iowa had just six drives that did not result in points. The Hawkeyes didn’t have to worry too much about hitting field goals, either – every scoring drive was a touchdown.
LeShun Daniels Jr. and Akrum Wadley both added 6 points to the scoreboard for Iowa on the rushing side, bringing the touchdown total for the day to 6.
“If you can make some precision plays in the passing game, that’s a good thing,” head coach Kirk Ferentz said. “Both our backs are really running well, doing a nice job there, too.”
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