Once again, defense and (especially) special teams came to the rescue for Iowa.
Tied 16-16 with 4:02 to play, Michigan State lined up to punt the ball back to Iowa after a third down sequence that went false start, timeout, false start and turned 3rd and 3 into 3rd and 13 and then 4th and 13 after an incomplete pass by Michigan State quarterback Noah Kim.
Enter: Cooper DeJean.
Michigan State punter Ryan Eckley's previous punt had been a 15-yard shank that had set up Iowa with good starting field position (the MSU 38-yard line), which had led to a game-tying field goal by Iowa kicker Drew Stevens.
Eckley was determined to avoid another shanked punt, but in doing so he avoided making a directional punt at all and hit a ball that went directly to DeJean -- and left him with ample room to run on a return. And run he did:
DeJean caught the ball and took off into the wide open space to his left. After skipping through a pair of Michigan State would-be tacklers at midfield, DeJean cuts back to his right briefly -- and sends two more Michigan State players careening into one another. Once he hit the sideline, no one was going to catch him.
Touchdown Iowa and a 23-16 lead with 3:45 to play. Just more magic from the man with the most playmaking ability on the Iowa team. (Earlier in the night, DeJean snared his first interception of the night on a toe-tapping grab at the edge of the end zone.) The Hawkeyes went on to defeat Michigan State 26-16.
After the game, DeJean spoke to NBC's Kathryn Tappen about the game-changing punt return.
"That's just everybody doing their job on the punt return unit," said DeJean. "We've been trying to get one all year. We finally got one. Everybody was blocking for me up front, we got a good ball to return. All credit to my teammates. It's a team effort."
DeJean also spoke on how Iowa responded after Cade McNamara's exit from the game with a first quarter injury. "It's a three-phase game [offense, defense, and special teams]. Everyone's got to complement everyone. That's what we try to do. It's a four quarter game. Games aren't won in the first or second quarters. We just kept fighting to the end."
After the game, DeJean again credited the other 10 guys on the return unit for helping him score. "Credit to the guys up front doing their job," said DeJean. "I don't know if the punt was supposed to be in that location, but I caught it and there was a lot of green ahead of me. You had guys blocking downfield for me. It was my job to read those blocks and try and put it in the end zone."
DeJean was asked about immediately sprinting to the left on the return and explained that his reaction came from film study. "Yeah, we saw some things based on what their formations were and where the punt was supposed to be," explained DeJean. "When I caught it where I was, I knew I had a chance with all that green and my teammates just battling and scrapping to lay blocks out there."
DeJean said he knew right away that he had the opportunity to make a big play on the return: "When I saw that punt, where it was, my eyes lit up -- I knew there was a chance for a good 15-20 yards. Then you see guys fighting to lay blocks, to just spring me to the end zone. That's something we work on in practice, when we get those live reps, everyone's trying to lay a block, we know how important special teams is for us as a team."
A key moment in the return came at midfield, when DeJean broke a tackle attempt from a Michigan State player. "I felt like I had a lot of momentum going there and the guy kind of overplayed it a little bit, so I had to cut back inside of him and break through that tackle, and then it was just a foot race to the end zone," said DeJean.
"To be honest, I don't remember a whole lot [about the play]," DeJean laughed. "It was a whole bunch of adrenaline running through my body. All I know is the whole unit did a great job, it's just my job to read their blocks and do what I can with the ball."
Finally, DeJean expressed his appreciation for the Iowa fans -- and the "COOP" chant in particular. "Yeah, it's pretty cool. When they started doing it last year, some of my family members thought they were booing [laughing]. But it's pretty cool.
"We have some of the best fans in the country. To get that kind of love from them is pretty cool. They show up every Saturday, home or away, and they cheer loud for us. We all appreciate that."
