Once again, Iowa and Nebraska played a Black Friday thriller that was a one-score game.
Once again, the game came down to a game-winning kick.
And once again, an Iowa kicker converted that game-winning kick and sent the Heroes Trophy back to Iowa City.
Five years ago it was Miguel Recinos. Four years ago it was Keith Duncan. On Friday, it was Marshall Meeder's turn to be Iowa's placekicking hero in the Heroes Game. Meeder, a Central Michigan transfer making his first in-game appearance of the season, drilled a 38-yard field goal to give Iowa a 13-10 victory as time expired.
READ MORE: WATCH: Marshall Meeder Hits Game-Winning FG For Iowa
A wildly improbable 10-win regular season that's featured twists and turns and all manner of unlikely and uncanny victories saved its most bonkers ending for the final game of the regular season. In the final minute alone, Iowa and Nebraska each managed to throw interceptions, a clock operator error managed to leave an additional 10 seconds on the clock, Leshon Williams broke off Iowa's second-longest run of the game (a 22-yard scamper that set up the game-winning kick), and a never-before-used placekicker came into the game cold to hit a game-winning kick. Iowa football's 2023 football season truly defies description.
In the first half, the game looked like it might be a more conventional (and comfortable) Iowa victory. After punting on their opening possession, the Hawkeyes found some semblance of rhythm on offense. Iowa put together an 11-play, 37-yard drive on its second drive of the game and while it stalled out and led to a punt, it showed signs of offensive competence.
The offense actually got right back on the field, as the ensuing Iowa punt was muffed by Nebraska and recovered by Iowa on the Nebraska 17-yard line. Iowa's subsequent drive ended in a field goal attempt, which was blocked (more on that in a moment).
Iowa's final three real drives of the half (excluding a one-play kneel down right before halftime) featured a 7-play, 51-yard touchdown drive (the only Iowa touchdown of the game), a 13-play, 34-yard field goal drive, and an 8-play, 69-yard drive that ended in another field goal attempt that wasn't converted.
Iowa ended the half with a 10-7 lead but the lead could have -- and should have -- been bigger than that, except for mistakes and miscues that stymied Iowa scoring opportunities. On the first field goal attempt, Drew Stevens converted a 25-yard attempt -- only to have it erased by a delay of game penalty. His second effort, from 30 yards out, was a little too low and blocked by the Cornhuskers.
The offense found success after that miscue -- Iowa's next drive was capped by a 1-yard Deacon Hill QB sneak for Iowa's lone offensive touchdown of the game. A few plays later, Iowa took over again after recovering a Chubba Purdy fumble and settled for a (successful) field goal after first down from the Nebraska 11 following three straight runs into the middle of the offensive line.
Missed opportunities struck again on the next drive, as an 8-play, 69-yard drive ended in no points after Stevens had another field goal attempt blocked, this time from 24 yards out. Worse, Iowa missed out on a sure touchdown on the play before, as a 6-yard pass from Deacon Hill to Kaleb Brown went through Brown's arms in the corner of the end zone.
Drew Stevens had a nightmare day; in addition to the two (short) field goal attempts that he had blocked, he also had two kickoffs go out-of-bounds. This performance came on the heels of a blocked extra point against Illinois last week and a handful of other missed or blocked field goals in recent weeks. That slump in form is what led Kirk Ferentz to turn to Meeder at the end of the game.
READ MORE: Meeder by a Meter: How Transfer Kicker Gave Iowa 10 Wins
At worse, Iowa should have taken a 16-6 lead into halftime -- or a 20-6 lead if Brown had been able to complete a very makeable catch for the touchdown. Instead, Iowa went into halftime clinging to a slim 10-7 lead.
The lost points from those missed opportunities loomed larger and larger throughout the second half, as the Iowa offense struggled to find any way forward. After gaining 200 yards in the first half, Iowa's offense went into an all-too-familiar slump in the second half. The Hawkeyes went three-and-out on their first four possessions after halftime and ultimately gained just one first down in the final 30 minutes of the game.
After going 8-of-17 for 74 yards in the first half, Deacon Hill went 3-of-11 for 20 yards in the second half -- plus one truly terrible interception late in the fourth quarter. The running game was scarcely better; until Leshon Williams' 22-yard breakout run at the end of the game, Iowa ran for just 17 yards on 10 other carries.
Leshon Williams was Iowa's most productive player on offense, gaining 111 yards on 16 carries (6.9 yards per carry). 75 of his rushing yards came on two carries; his other 14 carries averaged just 2.6 yards per carry. Still, that's how it goes sometimes against strong run defenses -- you chip away and chip away until you can finally bust one big run, which is exactly what Williams was able to do twice in this game.
Iowa remained in a position to win the game despite the offense's second half malaise thanks to -- who else? -- the Hawkeye defense. The Iowa defense smothered Nebraska in the first half except for one play, a 66-yard touchdown pass from Purdy to Jaylen Lloyd. That was the longest play that Iowa has allowed all season and it took a comfortable 10-0 Iowa lead and turned it into a tense 10-7 game.
But Iowa only allowed 52 yards in the first half outside of that one big play as the Huskers struggled to find any purchase on offense. The defense bent a bit more in the second half -- it allowed 78 yards in the third quarter and 68 yards in the fourth quarter -- but it refused to break. Nebraska converted one field goal in the third quarter to tie the game, but a second field goal attempt was missed badly left in the fourth quarter.
That field goal try came as the culmination of Nebraska's attempt to beat Iowa at its own field position game. As Iowa and Nebraska traded punts through the end of the third quarter and beginning of the fourth quarter, the Hawkeyes were steadily being pushed back, until finally being pinned back at their own one-yard line early in the fourth quarter.
After that drive went three-and-out, Nebraska took over at midfield, needing just a few first downs to have a legitimate shot to score and take the lead in the game. Iowa held them to just 24 yards on 10 plays, though, and the ensuing 44-yard field goal try was missed badly left.
One notable aspect -- good and bad -- of Iowa's defense was the pressure the Hawkeyes were able to get on Purdy. Iowa finished with two official sacks, one by Nick Jackson and one shared by Yahya Black and Aaron Graves, as well as six QB hurries (led by two more from Jackson). On many plays, Iowa was able to bring pressure on Purdy and force him from the pocket and bait him into making rushed throws or poor decisions.
On the negative side, Iowa didn't have nearly as much success against Purdy when bringing in extra defenders to blitz. Nebraska converted 8-of-17 third downs in the game and many of them came on plays where Iowa used a linebacker or defensive back as a blitzer. That said, it's probably a footnote more than a cause for concern, given that Iowa still won the game anyway and Phil Parker's use of blitzers has been very effective in several other games this season.
Iowa's leading tackler in the game was not the usual suspect in Jay Higgins, although he did have 8 tackles, including a tackle for loss and a QB hurry. Instead, the leading tackler for the defense was defensive end Ethan Hurkett, who had a tremendous game. He finished with 9 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, and a crucial interception with just 15 seconds remaining that set up Iowa's game-winning field goal:
Hurkett did a brilliant job of feinting a pass rush before dropping back into coverage in the middle of the field and then snaring Purdy's pass.
READ MORE: Ethan Hurkett, Leshon Williams Key Late Surge and Victory
Also: shout-out to Sebastian Castro, whose impact on the game went beyond his stat line of 4 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, a QB hurry, and a forced fumble. Castro has made a huge impact for Iowa's defense all season and Friday's game was no different, as he blew up several plays at or behind the line of scrimmage and consistently snuffed out Nebraska's offensive threats.
Castro, Higgins, Hurkett, and the rest of the Iowa defense have been the backbone of Iowa's remarkable push to 10 wins this season. Iowa has held six consecutive opponents under 13 points and no opponent has topped 20 points against Iowa since Penn State scored 31 on Iowa two months ago. That defensive stinginess has been out of necessity in large part -- the Iowa offense has only cracked the 20-point barrier once in the last six games -- but it's still a remarkable accomplishment.
The final sequence of this game proved to be a perfect microcosm of the twin themes that have defined this Iowa season: complementary football and next man in. The defense bailed out the offense after Hill's potentially-disastrous interception and set up another scoring opportunity, which was enhanced by a big play from the offense before being completed by a game-winning field goal kick -- a kick converted by a backup kicker making his first appearance all season. It shouldn't work, but it does -- which is the story of Iowa football in 2023.
