The Final Score podcast: A breath of fresh air
Saturday’s 33-13 win over Northwestern was a breath of fresh air for the Iowa offense.
What’s sustainable, particularly when it comes to the play of the offensive line and quarterback Spencer Petras? The Gazette's John Steppe and Mike Hlas share their thoughts on The Final Score podcast.
Game Report: Iowa Hawkeyes 33, Northwestern Wildcats 13
More numbers and notes from the Hawkeyes' win.
Hawkeyes tune out and turn off noise in walloping of Northwestern
Iowa is just another 4-4 team and won’t be discussed much by anyone beyond our state borders. Usually, that’s not good. This week, however, the Hawkeyes will find it delightful, The Gazette's Mike Hlas writes.
Photos from Iowa's win over Northwestern
The Gazette's Nick Rohlman has a photo gallery from Iowa's 33-13 win over Northwestern.
Iowa’s offense finally has reason to smile in 33-13 win over Northwestern
Iowa eased past a struggling Northwestern team Saturday, The Gazette's John Steppe writes.
Final: Iowa 33, Northwestern 13
Brendan Sullivan tossed a 7-yard touchdown pass to Raymond Niro III as time expired.
The Hawkeyes (-10.5) cover with their best offensive performance of the season (393 yards, 6 per play) and snap a three-game losing streak.
Iowa improves to 4-4 overall, 2-3 in the Big Ten. Northwestern is 1-7, 1-4.
Touchdown Iowa
Arland Bruce takes a handoff 23 yards to the house and the Hawkeyes have a season-high 33 points.
It was a three-play, 36-yard drive after a Northwestern penalty on the punt return.
The Hawkeyes are outrushing the Wildcats 173 to minus-6.
Iowa 33, Northwestern 7 (5:13 4th)
Back-to-back sacks for the Hawkeyes
Iowa now has seven sacks in the game, with Seth Benson and Joe Evans doing the honors after Northwestern converted a fourth-and-2. That forced an eventual fourth-and-20 and Northwestern punt with 6:43 left.
Drew Stevens is 4-for-4
A 10-play, 64-yard drive ended with a 25-yard Stevens field goal, his fourth of the game, and it's a three-possession game again.
Spencer Petras completed three passes to Nico Ragaini for 46 yards on the drive, including a 20-yarder on third-and-7 from midfield.
Iowa 26, Northwestern 7 (10:11 4th)
Drew Stevens kicks a 54-yard field goal
Iowa's freshman kicker delivers a career-long to make up for Spencer Petras losing 7 yards on a third-and-8 sack. He's now 10-for-11 on field goals this season after not initially winning the starting job.
Iowa 23, Northwestern 7 (1:20 3rd)
5️⃣4️⃣-yarder is 🙌.@DrewTS7 x @HawkeyeFootball pic.twitter.com/bRGNqKbbT0
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) October 29, 2022
Touchdown Northwestern
Brendan Sullivan flipped a play-action, 1-yard touchdown pass to Duke Olges on fourth-and-1 to get Northwestern on the board.
A rare Iowa special teams blunder led to a short field and an eight-play, 34-yard touchdown drive.
Not that anyone probably needs reminding, but Iowa blew a 17-0 lead in Northwestern's last trip to Kinnick Stadium, a 21-20 Wildcats win in 2020.
Iowa 20, Northwestern 7 (6:17 3rd)
Tory Taylor finally gets to punt
The Iowa punter didn't see the field in the first half for once, and maybe it kind of showed on Iowa's first drive of the second half. His first punt of the game was shanked for just 12 yards to the Iowa 34 with 9:41 left in the third quarter.
Halftime: Iowa 20, Northwestern 0
Kaevon Merriweather came up with an interception on the last play of the first half.
The Hawkeyes held Northwestern to 40 total yards in the first half.
— Bryan Fischer (@BryanDFischer) October 29, 2022
Touchdown Iowa
With 22 seconds left before halftime, Iowa adds another TD.
Spencer Petras tossed a 6-yard touchdown pass to tight end Luke Lachey to complete a six-play, 50-yard drive. Petras completed all four of his passes for 34 yards and is 14-for-18 for 140 yards and a TD in the game.
Iowa, which came in averaging 227.3 yards per game, has 252 in the first half (6 per play).
Iowa 20, Northwestern 0 (0:22 2nd)
Logan Lee sack on third down
Iowa's Logan Lee brought down Brendan Sullivan for a 10-yard loss on third-and-8 from the Northwestern 27. That's Iowa's third sack of the game.
The Wildcats have minus-24 yards rushing with 1:39 left in the second quarter.
Iowa settles for 3
The Hawkeyes went 85 yards on 15 plays, but couldn't quite find the end zone. Drew Stevens kicked a 24-yard field goal to extend the lead to 13.
The biggest play of the drive came on third-and-7 at the Northwestern 33, when Spencer Petras found Nico Ragaini for a 20-yard gain. Petras was 3-for-6 on the drive; his pass to the end zone on third-and-6 went off the hands of Diante Vines.
Iowa 13, Northwestern 0 (2:45 2nd)
Northwestern goes backward
Ethan Hurkett sacked Brendan Sullivan for a 10-yard loss on second-and-17. Sullivan slipped and fell on the next play for a 9-yard loss.
Northwestern went from first-and-10 at the Iowa 25 to fourth-and-36 at the Northwestern 49, with a holding penalty contributing as well.
End 1st: Iowa 10, Northwestern 0
Iowa's juggernaut offense outgained Northwestern's 127-14 in the first quarter.
Spencer Petras was 7-for-8 passing for 70 yards. Kaleb Johnson rushed six times for 36 yards.
Touchdown Iowa ... offense!
For the first time since Oct. 1, Iowa's offense has found the end zone.
Kaleb Johnson appeared to reach across the goal line on second-and-goal, but he was ruled short after review. Quarterback Spencer Petras punched in a 1-yard touchdown run on the next play.
It was a 14-play, 59-yard drive for the Hawkeyes that included a fourth-and-1 conversion via a Spencer Petras QB sneak and two third-down conversions, including a Petras scramble and 17-yard pass to fullback Monte Pottebaum.
Iowa 10, Northwestern 0 (0:31 1st)
It's touchdown time in Iowa City. 🙌
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) October 29, 2022
Spencer Petras keeps it to extend the early @HawkeyeFootball lead. pic.twitter.com/Ik239iQmlr
Deontae Craig sack on 3rd down
Deontae Craig quickly blew up Northwestern's third-and-6 play from the Northwestern 42, dropping quarterback Brendan Sullivan for a 15-yard loss.
Iowa starts with a field goal
Drew Stevens kicked a 29-yard field goal to give Iowa a 3-0 lead with 10:01 left in the first quarter.
Points are points for this offense, but the Hawkeyes will feel like they should have found the end zone. The drive started with gains of 8, 18, 15, 9 and 7 yards before stalling. It was a nine-play, 63-yard drive.
Kaleb Johnson ran three times for 34 yards and Petras completed a pair of passes for 21 yards.
Iowa 3, Northwestern 0 (10:01 1st)
Iowa still is without an offensive TD in the last 28 days, but has a 3-0 lead after going 63 yards to the Northwestern 11.
— Mike Hlas (@Hlas) October 29, 2022
ESPN2 is throwing it back
A black-and-white intro, historic footage and a Sickos Committee reference to get the Northwestern-Iowa game (over/under 35.5) started.
It's time for the @SickosCommittee Game of the Week pic.twitter.com/nTnjZxSnvO
— On Iowa Sports (@GazetteOnIowa) October 29, 2022
An offensive line shuffle
Here's how Iowa's first-team offensive line is warming up:
LT Mason Richman
LG Connor Colby
C Logan Jones
RG Beau Stephens
RT Jack Plumb
Spencer Petras warming up with the starters
After being benched during last week's game at Ohio State, it looks like Spencer Petras will again be Iowa's starting quarterback against Northwestern.
Spencer Petras is taking pregame reps with the #Hawkeyes' first-team offense.
— John Steppe (@JSteppe1) October 29, 2022
The Gazette's John Steppe has a feature this week on the Iowa receiver, who made his season debut last week after dealing with injuries.
😁😁@diantev22 x #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/eMcRMxzKoB
— Hawkeye Football (@HawkeyeFootball) October 29, 2022
Iowa football injury report
Updates from The Gazette's John Steppe at Kinnick Stadium:
• DB Terry Roberts, as expected, is not participating in warmups.
3 keys for Iowa football against Northwestern
This is a prime opportunity for Iowa to snap its three-game losing streak, The Gazette's John Steppe writes.
Is Northwestern game a must-win for Hawkeyes? You better believe it.
To get national college football pundits off its back, Iowa must conquer the Big Ten’s worst team, The Gazette's Mike Hlas writes.
How to watch Iowa football vs. Northwestern
Kickoff time: 2:35 p.m. (CT)
TV: ESPN2
Live stream: ESPN.com
TV announcers: Anish Schroff (play-by-play), Brock Osweiler (color), Taylor McGregor (sideline)