PISCATAWAY, NJ – Like many coaches, Kirk Ferentz has his own routine on the sidelines.

Before each game kicks off, the coach will pop in a wad of gum and pace up-and-down the field, looking for any player that needs some coaching before the game. Once the ball is kicked off the tee, Ferentz usually maintains a stoic expression, but his routine changed in Iowa’s 38-28 win in its Big Ten opener at Rutgers.

The reason?

His normally stout defense allowed the Scarlet Knights to reach the end zone on their first three possessions, and hope was fading fast. The Hawkeyes’ offense was producing points on the scoreboard, but Iowa’s track record in shootouts under Ferentz traditionally sees the pendulum swing in the opposite direction.

The Hawkeyes’ coaching staff needed a solution quickly, and it morphed into an emergency sideline meeting led by Ferentz himself. After Rutgers quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis plowed into the end zone to give his team a 21-14 lead, Ferentz met with each of his defensive position groups on the sidelines – defensive lineman, linebackers, and secondary.

The message was simple.

“It’s a 60-minute game, and it’s hard sometimes, and sometimes it just feels like it’s coming downhill on you but you just got to stay the course, pull through it, and then bank on the fact that’s not going to happen for 60 minutes,” Ferentz said in his postgame press conference.

No one will know exactly what was said in that brief meeting, but it certainly served as a positive cadence for the Iowa defense, which would allow just seven points for the remainder of the game to help secure the victory.

But that doesn’t mean the task was easy.

The Scarlet Knights continued to move the football in the second half, but the Hawkeyes found a way to fight through the adversity each time. The first signature moment came midway through the third quarter. Tied 21-21, Iowa appeared to break the seal with points, but Drew Stevens badly missed his 40-yard field goal attempt to the right, and contest remained squared.

The miss briefly unraveled the Hawkeyes, and Kaliakmanis found Ian Strong for a 43-yard completion just two plays later. Though Rutgers was in business, Iowa held its ground and forced a field goal attempt. Scarlet Knights kicker Jai Patel had made 18 straight field goals before Friday’s game, but the streak ended in the first half when he clanked a 37-yarder off the right upright.

Patel’s attempt would be from just 29-yards out, a near automatic in today’s kicking game. Like his first try, the ball hit an object, but instead of the goalpost, the ball found the hand of defensive lineman Ethan Hurkett. The Hawkeyes have now blocked a field goal in three consecutive seasons.

“All I saw was the ball kind of right here, and I just put my hand out,” Hurkett recalled. “I look over to the sideline, and guys are going crazy. So to see their reactions was really cool.”

After Mark Gronowski and the offense orchestrated a go-ahead 7-play, 80-yard touchdown drive to take a 31-28 lead late in the fourth, it was up to Iowa’s defense to secure a big stop. Needless to say, they did just that.

The Hawkeyes had Kaliakmanis in a blender from the start of the drive, and Rutgers would soon face a 3rd and 9 from its own 35. Defensive coordinator Phil Parker called a blitz, and the pocket would soon collapse on Kaliakmanis. The senior managed to get the throw away, but he was hit by multiple Iowa defenders, causing the pass to flutter straight up in the air, where it was intercepted by fourth-year linebacker Jaxon Rexroth.

The play marked the Hawkeyes’ first defensive takeaway of the season and essentially ended the game, as Iowa scored the clinching touchdown four plays later.

“It was a matter of time,” Ferentz said with a smile.

When asked about their impressive turnaround, Hawkeye defenders pointed to one thing – motivational conversations with Ferentz and Parker.

“He [Ferentz] just tells us, [to] keep battling,” Hurkett said. “Turnovers, good things are going to come if you just if you’re flying around and are around the ball,” Hurkett said.

“I think we just just found a way to play together, third-year defensive back Koen Entringer said. “I think that’s what it’s about. We just came in in the second half, collected our bearings and knew that only way for us to to win this game is if we do it together.”

While the Hawkeyes were quick to acknowledge their mistakes, they are confident they can use this triumph as a key building piece for the rest of the season.

I think it was a really good one to start out [conference play] and kind of see what we’re made of, see that we can overcome adversity like that and come together as a team when things get tough,” Hurkett said.