The No. 21 Iowa football team collapsed in a 20-19 loss to Iowa State in this year’s Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series inside Kinnick Stadium on Saturday.

After a 20-13 win last season in Ames, the Hawkeyes this time folded, giving up 20 Cyclone points in the second half despite a 13-0 lead at halftime.

“Obviously a tough loss for our football team,” Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said after the game. “It gets back to this rivalry; it’s basically what it’s advertised — tough, hard-fought games. They’re unpredictable … [Iowa State] played a really good game … They did a great job, and we came up short.”

Where Iowa starting quarterback Cade McNamara threw 13-of-29 for 99 yards, no touchdowns, and two interceptions, Iowa State quarterback Rocco Becht threw 23-of-35 for 272 yards and two touchdowns with just one interception.

“They made it tough on us — they made it tough, and we probably missed some plays, maybe some misreads or missed some plays where maybe we could have averted that, but that’s going to be part of football, and we’ll have to ride that a little bit,” Ferentz said. “But as I said last week too, I’ve been saying for a while now, [Cade is] working his way back. He’s still trying to get back in game shape, if you will, or game mode, and he’s working hard. He’ll do just fine.”

Iowa wideout Jacob Gill led the team in the receiving realm with four receptions for 47 yards, although that meant nothing in the grand scheme of things — as no other receiver got going and the Hawkeye tight ends were restrained.

A highlight of the Iowa offense that really stalled in the second half was running back Kaleb Johnson, providing one of his best games for the Black and Gold with 187 rushing yards and two touchdowns.

“He’s played well for us the last two years, but he’s playing at a much higher level right now,” Ferentz said. “Part of it’s maturity. His focus is better. He’s practicing better. I think it’s experience and maturity. He’s been here a couple years. He’s run the football, worked hard to get better, and it’s showing out there on the field. He made some really nice plays today. That’s one thing to be encouraged by. I think there’s a lot to be encouraged about, now we have to pull it all together and get it to mesh and gel.”

Still, Johnson couldn’t single-handedly save the team’s fall throughout the third and fourth quarters.

McNamara was 10-of-19 for 80 yards in the first half — and 3-of-10 for 19 yards in the second. And the usually rock-solid defense simply misstepped at the wrong moments, giving the Cyclones every possible chance to take advantage.

“The biggest thing right now for our football team — we still have 12 weeks in front of us, 10 games, and you never want to lose a game, certainly, but the biggest thing is, like any time of the season, it’s ‘How are you going to respond to it?'” Ferentz said. “It’s important for our guys to understand. I believe we have a good football team here, good leadership, good coaching staff, and when you lose, you have to move forward and respond. This one is going to hurt for a while, but we’ll move forward and learn from it tomorrow and go back to work on Monday.”

The Hawkeye offense went heavy with the running backs to start, Johnson and Kamari Moulton looking to penetrate holes in the Iowa State defense. But there weren’t many, and a strong Cyclone pass rush made it difficult for McNamara to have some time in the pocket.

Kinnick erupted as freshman punter Rhys Dakin put a Tory Taylor-esque punt at Iowa State’s own one yard line, ultimately flipping possession back to Iowa at midfield for Johnson to hit a hole on an all-around blocking effort for a 27-yard touchdown and 7-0 lead.

With roughly a minute left in the first, Iowa linebacker Jay Higgins picked off a lazy Becht pass on a lackluster snap deep inside Cyclone territory. But the Iowa State defense stuffed a handful of Iowa runs, pitches, and throws in search of the end zone, leaving it to kicker Drew Stevens to extend the lead to 10-0.

This one started to demonstrate the chippy nature of the rivalry after a roughing the passer penalty on a Higgins hit on Becht and a bit of contact between the Cyclones and Hawkeye returner Kaden Wetjen after a fair catch.

Still, the pace of the game slowed as both teams failed to produce and opted for exchanges of punts.

Who other than Johnson to break the ice on that stalemate, exploding for a 37-yard rush along the right sideline to push Iowa out of its own territory and firmly into Iowa State’s. And again, Johnson found the hole for 26 more yards that set up a dump off to tight end Addison Ostrenga into the red zone.

“First, I need to thank my [offensive] line because, without them, I wouldn’t have had the holes I had to make the runs that I made,” Johnson said.

With under two minutes left, backup running back Leshon Williams was stuffed on the line, McNamara missed a wide-open Gill, and the Hawkeyes resorted to Stevens again for three more.

A quick-thinking pass break-up from starting cornerback TJ Hall came up big to stall Iowa State’s drive at midfield, but a roughing the kicker penalty on Iowa bumped the Cyclones into Hawkeye land with a shot for some type of points on the board here.

Still, Iowa State kicker Kyle Konrardy’s 41-yard field goal attempt missed wide left. So it was 13-0, Iowa, entering halftime.

Second half scaries

Rolling out from pressure on Iowa’s first offensive drive of the half, McNamara targeted starting tight end Luke Lachey — a mistake as the latter was smothered by Iowa State’s Darien Porter, who came up with an interception for McNamara’s first of the season.

“We feel like we could have done better for our team to put our team in a better position,” McNamara said. “For me, I feel like I could have done more to put our team in a better position today.”

The Cyclones put together their biggest play thus far with a short pass to Stevo Klotz that resulted in a lot of open green field and a 28-yard gain. That set Iowa State up for its first score of the game on a Randy Moss-esque catch from Jayden Higgins over TJ Hall to make it 13-7, Hawkeyes.

In response, Johnson made himself today’s star of the game first with a breakout run up the left for 54 yards to Iowa State’s 25. Then on first and three, the Hamilton, Ohio, native pushed through on a short handoff to the left for six more and a 19-7 lead. Targeting freshman wideout Reece Vander Zee, the Hawkeyes failed to convert two more with an incomplete pass.

Becht responded with a 75-yard shot to Jaylin Noel, wide open and untouched on a post route weaving in and out of Hawkeye defenders, to up this one to 19-14, Hawkeyes.

An Iowa three-and-out, caused by smothering Iowa State defensive back play, paved the way for Iowa defensive back Sebastian Castro to jet downfield and hammer the Cyclone rusher, forcing a punt right back to the Hawkeyes to end the third quarter.

Despite a glimpse of Iowa State offensive progress to open the fourth, a string of technical tackles from Castro and defensive back Jermari Harris forced a resort to a field goal, shrinking Iowa’s lead to just 19-17 and in serious need of an efficient drive.

A punt-off ensued heading into the final minutes of the game, the Hawkeyes looking to milk out the clock as much as possible and rely on its defense to secure a win. 

Punting the ball away to the Cyclones with 34 seconds left, Becht found Noel for 30 yards up the right side, encroaching very closely on field goal range. On the 36 yard line, Konrardy came back out for a 54-yard attempt — that connected.

20-19, Cyclones. Final.

“We’ve got to finish games,” Higgins said. “We’ve got to continue to execute. That’s not us defensively. We’re better than that.”

Up next

In the last non-conference game before a visit to Minnesota on Sept. 21, the Hawkeyes will welcome Troy to Kinnick Stadium next Saturday.

“You’ve just got to keep going to work,” Higgins said. “You can’t quit. When you’re competitors, stuff like this happens. The good ones get on their feet, and they keep fighting. The bad ones stay down.”

The Trojans are 0-2 this season with losses to Nevada and Memphis.