LINCOLN — Iowa just keeps finding a way. And on Saturday, that way included two very familiar names.
Defensive end Ethan Hurkett intercepted a Chubba Purdy pass with 31 seconds left in a tie game, and running back Leshon Williams used a 22-yard rush to put the Hawkeyes in position for a game-winning field goal by Marshall Meeder as Iowa closed out its regular season with a 13-10 victory at Nebraska.
"Just really happy how we fought," linebacker Jay Higgins said. "This one's really a definition of what Iowa football's all about."
Iowa has now won six straight games in Lincoln, the best in college football since Oklahoma ran off eight straight from 1943 to 1957.
Hurkett's interception jolted the game back in Iowa's favor, after a bizarre coaching decision gave the Huskers a shot at winning in regulation.
With the score tied at 10 late, Iowa quarterback Deacon Hill had been sacked on second down, forcing a 3rd and 12 with 41 seconds left and the ball on Iowa's 25-yard line. Nebraska only had one timeout left, and it stood to reason that after the sack Iowa's best move was to keep the clock moving and play for overtime.
Instead, Iowa called its first timeout, putting the ball in Hill's hands... at which point he threw a potentially disastrous interception to Husker DB Tommi Hill (no relation to Deacon). A holding penalty wiped out Hill's return and put the Huskers back on their own side of the 50, but a sure OT suddenly looked like Nebraska's shot — and only Nebraska's shot — at winning in regulation.
"Obviously not the way I wanted that previous drive to turn out," Deacon Hill said afterwards. "But we had complete faith in our defense. I mean, who wouldn't? Best defense in the country."
Lo and behold, on Nebraska's second play with the ball, Hurkett showed pass rush on a zone blitz, then dropped into the shallow middle — and right on cue, found the ball heading straight for him.
"We were in a blitz, and Nick Jackson made a really good call to put me in the middle zone in the field," said Hurkett. "I was sitting back there in my zone, I saw the ball get thrown, it was almost like slow motion. I couldn't believe it at first."
Hurkett jumped up to snag the ball, then returned it through traffic to the Husker 37-yard line — not quite field goal range, especially on a blustery November day that had given starting kicker Drew Stevens hell, but close enough that all of a sudden, it was Iowa with designs on winning in regulation.
Enter Leshon Williams.
Williams, who had 111 yards rushing against Nebraska's fifth-ranked rushing defense on Saturday, took the decisive step in setting Meeder up to succeed, running 22 yards through the heart of the Husker defense into the red zone with under 10 seconds left.
Williams' heroic rush pushed him over the century mark for the third time this season, and he's now averaging 121 yards rushing in Iowa's last three trips away from Kinnick Stadium. Not bad for a guy who found himself in a crowded backfield at the beginning of the year.
"I've gotta give credit to the o-line, they're giving me a lot of space," Williams said. "They're opening up a lot of holes, for me it's just having more experience and trusting the track and playcall, and running downhill."
With the win in Lincoln, Iowa's now 10-2 on the season, 7-2 in the Big Ten and one win away from a conference championship — a stellar record for a team absolutely decimated by injuries, especially on offense. Those seven Big Ten wins include five games where the Hawkeyes needed to score in the fourth quarter to win the game — and a sixth where Iowa only led 7-6 in the fourth quarter, at Camp Randall.
Winning so consistently late in games is generally not sustainable. And yet here on Black Friday, head coach Kirk Ferentz and his players keep stepping up and sustaining it.
"Big Ten football, November football, that's kind of the way it works," said Ferentz. "The bottom line is, football's not a beauty contest. It's about finding a way to be successful, finding a way to win the football game. Our guys have really done a good job of that. Extremely proud of them."
Hurkett credited his faith with his ability to be in position to make plays so consistently. Let's call that true — who's going to argue with God? — but teammates also credit Hurkett's preparation.
"That's a testament to [Hurkett's] discipline," Higgins said. "If you want to be a good football player defensively, if you've got good eyes, good feet, you trust your keys, you'll make plays. That's Hurkett's thing."
Williams is part of that network of trust, and his approach might just embody the mindset that has guided these Hawkeyes to the eighth 10-win season of Ferentz's career at Iowa.
"I've got faith in every one of my teammates," Williams said. "It could have been the ball boy [kicking the game-winner]. At the end of the day, they're a Hawkeye. We all go out there and practice together, I know we all put in the hard work in practice."
