The Iowa football team escaped the Troy Trojans in a nail-biting 38-21 win inside Kinnick Stadium on Saturday.

After a blow-up 20-19 loss to rival Iowa State last weekend, the Hawkeyes looked much the same this time around, the offense certainly better but still struggling to find the end zone after making significant field gains.

Down 14-10 at half, Iowa’s running backs and offensive line covered any risks of another upset as they combined for three touchdowns, highlighted by Kaleb Johnson’s 178-yard, two-touchdown showing.

“I’m not even going to give no credit to myself — I’m giving all my credit to my [offensive] line,” Johnson said. “They played their asses off today. Sorry for my language, but them boys — they played hard today.”

While starting quarterback Cade McNamara collapsed in the second half of the Cy-Hawk game, throwing 3-of-10 for less than 20 yards, his performance on Saturday reflected more confidence and composure. 

He finished the game with 176 yards on 19-of-23 and no interceptions, although he didn’t throw a touchdown and was sacked twice. 

Altogether, the Iowa offense compiled 462 yards and four touchdowns — including a two-yard touchdown pitch from backup quarterback Brendan Sullivan to tight end Addison Ostrenga.

On the other side of the ball, even as the Trojans stayed close until halfway through the fourth quarter, the Iowa defensive line came up huge. The group was highlighted by Ethan Hurkett’s two sacks and four tackles as well as defensive back Jermari Harris’ pick-six.

“We’re very happy to come out of it with the win,” Hurkett said. “Any win in college football like this … it’s just fun. So emotions now are pretty high, I’d say.”

Starting the same

While the Troy offense made solid yet slow progression toward the Tigerhawk at mid-field, cohesive Iowa defense at the line — especially Hurkett, with two hard quarterback hits — was very restricting.

“There’s a lot to be said for that if you’re a defensive player — any player — but there’s a lot to be said for going hard and being tough-minded,” Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said. “It’s good to see him enjoying some benefits out there.”

Iowa’s Johnson took a handoff, punched the gap, and broke out for 39 yards up the field, continuing his pattern of strength and reliability in the backfield this year. But on fourth-and-one in the red zone, the Trojans stuffed a rushed Johnson run up the middle for a turnover on downs to extend the scoreless stalemate after one quarter.

In fact, red zone conversions have been a major flaw in the Iowa offense this season, contributing directly to last week’s loss to the Cyclones — and seeming to contribute to the chances of one here.

“There was just a couple mental mistakes that we made in the first half,” McNamara said. “And I think that shows when we’re getting the ball into the red zone. We’re moving the ball consistently, and we get into a third down situation, and … we make a small mental error.”

But when McNamara found receiver Jarriett Buie for a 19-yard gain back up toward the red zone, Sullivan suddenly took over under center — and handed it off to Johnson for six points and then a 7-0 lead.

“I trust all my QBs — they all are good,” Johnson said. “So whoever just comes in, they do their thing; I do my thing. We come up with a touchdown.”

On the following drive, Troy quarterback Matthew Caldwell gave receiver Devonte Ross — who was as open as can be after dusting Iowa defensive back TJ Hall — a beautiful sky ball for a 63-yard touchdown to tie this one at 7-7.

The Hawkeye offense — or the running backs, rather — responded with a 19-yard gain from Johnson and 29-yard break-out from Kamari Moulton. But the momentum stalled around the Trojans’ 30-yard line, putting kicker Drew Stevens in place to take the lead at 10-7.

Ross continued to have himself a day, though, this time taking a Rhys Dakin punt back 77 yards along the left sideline and to the house for a 14-10 Trojan lead moving into halftime.

“We’re known for not giving up big plays; we’re known for not doing that on special teams,” Ferentz said. “All you can believe is what you see. We’re going to have to get that addressed real quickly because it’s going to be hard to win games moving forward doing that.”

That’s before Iowa neglected to drive down the field for a final shot at points, letting the clock expire amid many boos from the Kinnick crowd.

“There was some frustration, but obviously, Troy’s a really good team,” Hurkett said of the emotions heading into halftime. “No college football game is going to be easy. It’s all super competitive. So we understood that. We just knew we had to turn around the second half.”

That’s a nail-biter

Iowa special teams returner Kaden Wetjen lined up as a receiver in Troy territory and made a dashing cut across the middle of the field for a quick pass from McNamara. He then dodged a Trojan tackler and pushed up the right side to the sideline and into the red zone for a 33-yard gain. The play notched his first collegiate catch, joining Buie and running back Kamari Moulton as other Hawkeyes reeled in their first grabs. 

“They’ve been here for multiple years, so for them to finally see the work pay off — that’s huge for their confidence and for our confidence as their teammates,” McNamara said of the different Hawkeye receivers stepping up for big gains.

There, Sullivan took back over at quarterback and rolled left for a forward pitch to Ostrenga to retake a 17-14 lead.

“I’m just really happy about how we responded,” McNamara said. “We still put up a lot of yards in the first half; the scoreboard just really wasn’t reflecting that … I think just our ability to just continue to respond has been a really good sign, and I think it’s going to help us lead to success down the road here.”

A big sack from Iowa’s Max Llewellyn on a beautiful spin around a Troy lineman cost the Trojans nine yards, sending the ball back to the Hawkeyes, who soon returned the pigskin after a three-and-out.

Saving the day again, the Iowa defense extended the team’s lead to 24-14 as Harris intercepted a miscommunicated Caldwell pass and took it 28 yards back to the house.

“Oh, yeah, I had to get in there — that was no other option,” Harris said of his will to find the end zone. “They actually ran that the first play of the game with the same split. I knew I had the opportunity, and I went out and seized it.”

But Troy kept it interesting as quarterback Tucker Kilcrease replaced Caldwell and hit Ross on a dime in the exact same manner as his last receiving touchdown — a route leaving Hall trailing. The 62-yard score shrunk Iowa’s lead back down to 24-21.

Johnson kept the Iowa offense on his back. A 33-yard rush up the left hash saw him extend out of the middle of the field and accelerate into the end zone, putting the Hawkeyes back up, 31-21.

Backup Iowa defensive back Deshaun Lee, who started six games last season, took over for Hall at the cornerback position before a pair of sacks from defensive linemen Hurkett and Brian Allen gave Iowa another chance to extend a comfortable lead.

Hawkeye running back Jaziun Patterson sealed the deal, doing as Johnson and Moulton did before him by smashing the gap for a 39-yard dash to the end zone. With Iowa up, 38-21, the Hawkeyes escaped with a win before venturing into Big Ten completion. 

Up next

The Hawkeyes, now 2-1, will travel to the Twin Cities for a matchup with the Minnesota Golden Gophers for the Floyd of Rosedale trophy.

The Gophers are 2-1 as well with a 27-0 win over Nevada on Saturday. Fans on both sides can easily recall the last meeting – the infamous Cooper DeJean invalid fair catch incident that brought the trophy back to Minneapolis for the first time since 2014.