It wasn't pretty -- but it rarely is for Iowa football, especially in the Cy-Hawk series.
Iowa used smothering -- and opportunistic -- defense to squeeze out a 20-13 victory over Iowa State in Ames, bringing the Cy-Hawk Trophy back to Iowa City. The win was Iowa's sixth straight victory in Ames -- as well as the 200th of Kirk Ferentz's lengthy coaching career.
For the second straight game, the Iowa offense got off to a fast start. After Iowa State received the opening kickoff and marched down the field on a 15-play, over 6-minute drive that ended in a blocked field goal, Iowa took over and went on the move. The key play came on 3rd-and-2 as Jaziun Patterson exploded through a hole and raced to a 59-yard gain.
Iowa wasn't able to finish the drive with a touchdown, but Drew Stevens converted a 28-yard field goal to stake Iowa to an early 3-0 lead.
After the Iowa defense forced an Iowa punt, the offense took the field for a second time and again marched down the field. The key play again came on 3rd-and-short, but this Cade McNamara hit Luke Lachey with a 35-yard dart on a play-action pass. Three plays later, Patterson shot into the end zone for a 4-yard touchdown that put Iowa up 10-0.
The offensive production slowed down significantly after that touchdown drive -- Iowa finished the second quarter with just 25 yards on 13 plays, an average of 1.9 yards per play.
Fortunately, the Hawkeye defense picked up the slack -- the unit held ISU to 20 yards total on the Cyclones' next three drives, all punts. On the next ISU drive, the Iowa defense took matters into its own hands -- as Sebastian Castro perfectly read the play, jumped the route, and secured an easy pick-six that put Iowa up 17-0.
Iowa State did manage to get on the board with a field goal right before halftime, but Iowa still managed to take a 17-3 lead into the break. After deferring on the opening kickoff, Iowa got the ball first to start the second half... and promptly gained one yard on three plays and punted the ball.
The Iowa offense finally broke out of its funk on the next drive. Utilizing several 5-wide, empty backfield sets, the Hawkeyes threw the ball more, with McNamara connecting with four different receivers and converting a pair of third downs. A potential touchdown toss was missed then Lachey and Addison Ostrenga inadvertently ran into each other in the end zone on a third-down throw, forcing Iowa to settle for a 34-yard Drew Stevens field goal.
Down 20-3, the Iowa State offense finally found some purchase late in the third quarter, putting together an 8-play, 31-yard drive that ended short of the end zone but still put points on the board. Iowa State's second field goal of the game made it a two-score game (20-6) with just over 13 minutes to go.
After another ineffective drive from the Iowa offense (though it started well, with hard runs from Jaziun Patterson producing a first down), Iowa State took over again on their own 20-yard line with just under 10 minutes remaining in the game. Despite being down two touchdowns, Iowa State played the drive with a remarkable lack of urgency, using five run plays and multiple short passes that kept the clock steadily ticking away. The drive did end with a touchdown -- but only after taking 6:59 off the clock.
Iowa got the ball back with 2:53 to play knowing that a first down would effectively end the game. The offense wasn't able to get that first down conversion, despite an 8-yard run by Kaleb Johnson on second down to set up a short third down. Johnson got stuffed on an outside run on third down and rather than attempt to convert 4th-and-short and end the game, Iowa punted the ball away and put the game in the hands of its defense.
As it so often is, relying on the Iowa defense proved to be a winning decision. Ethan Hurkett blew up an Iowa State run play in the back field on 4th-and-short, forcing a turnover on downs.
