Deacon Hill Hopes for Growth Following Northwestern Win
CHICAGO -- And yet again, Iowa football does just enough to win.
And Deacon Hill did just enough to get Drew Stevens in range with 14 seconds left for the Hawkeyes to escape with a 10-7 win over Northwestern on Saturday evening.
"We do two-minute drills almost every day," Hill said after game. "The O-line was telling me 'It's just like practice.' Just go out there and keep doing it."
Though the majority of the snaps went to running back LeShon Williams on the final drive, Hill made plays on the two passes he needed to.
First was an eight-yard gain to Nico Ragaini, and the second came two plays later when he found Ohio State transfer Kaleb Brown for a 23-yard gain to set up the eventual game winner. That clutch reception was also the first catch of Brown's Iowa career.
"We game-planned that pass all week -- a couple out-routes to the field," Hill said. "We got the look we were planning for, it was just my job to get him the ball. Thankfully I did. He ran a great route, made a great play on the ball and got some extra yards."
Brown made the grab and went down with 48 seconds remaining before the offense ran the clock down as far as it could and Stevens made the 53-yard game-winner.
Though the Hawkeyes escaped with the victory to take sole possession of first place in the Big Ten West, Hill finished the game just 10 of 15 for 65 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Hill sees the second-quarter pick that was intended for Ragaini as an opportunity to improve.
"I liked where I went with the ball, I liked the read," he said. "It's just about placement -- put it on the outside a little bit more. It's just man, one-on-one isolation. I've got to give him a better chance to make the play. I had to eat that one and come back better in the second half, but I'm still going to throw that one to Nico."
Kirk Ferentz agreed with the general sentiment from his starter.
"The interception was not a good play, not a good throw, not a good decision," he said. "Deacon knows that."
Hill was fortunate enough to have not lost an early fumble and also that an errant pass in the third quarter wasn't intercepted.
"I definitely felt lucky," he said. "I should've just thrown it at the feet of [LeShon]. We got away with that one. That's definitely part of growing. That's something this year that I've been forced to do -- grow up a lot and grow up fast.
"I acknowledge that it might not be fast enough for people outside the building, but this offense -- we're growing each week. I think that's the biggest thing. The effort every day at practice is there. We're all giving 100 percent. Whatever other people feel outside the building -- we know what we're doing inside the building."
Ferentz said he hopes Hill's second half performance and ability to avoid the mistakes benefits his starter's mentality going forward.
"To come back in the second half and do some of the things he did -- that's really encouraging," Ferentz said. "Hopefully this will give him a little confidence. Life is a lot different if we can complete a couple 20-yard passes."
"We've been chipping away day-by-day. There's no magic formula. We just keep chipping away and hopefully it starts to show a little bit in terms of performance."