Hawks hold on to beat No. 13 Michigan, 24-16
The outcome was uncertain until the very last play of the game, but the Iowa Hawkeyes prevailed against 13th-ranked Michigan 24-16.
Wolverine quarterback Denard Robinson and the Michigan offense drove 80 yards on the final drive of the game down by eight points, and had four shots at the end zone from the Iowa 2-yard line to give them a chance to tie the game with a two-point conversion. But on the game’s final play, with two seconds to go, reserve cornerback B.J. Lowery broke up the final pass as time expired.
The victory marks the first time that Iowa has defeated Michigan in three consecutive seasons.
Michigan’s final drive was marked with three controversial calls (or non-calls). The first came when Michigan running back Vincent Smith was tackled after an 11-yard run from scrimmage to the Michigan 29 yard line. It appeared he was down at the end of the run, but the officials never blew the whistle to stop the play, and Smith bounced up and darted all the way to the end zone for a touchdown with just over two minutes to go.
On review, however, the video replay showed that Smith’s right elbow did indeed hit the turf, and the play was called back.
Later, with Michigan at the Iowa goal line, Robinson threw a pass into the back of the end zone, where it was caught one-handed. The receiver came down on his knee, in bounds, but the ball hit the turf out of bounds. The play was ruled an incompletion and was confirmed on review.
Then, on the game’s final play, it appeared Lowery might have had illegal contact with the Michigan receiver, but no flag was thrown.
The Hawkeyes jumped to the lead early in the game, holding Michigan to a three-and-out on the game’s opening drive, then coming back on offense with a six-play, three-minute, 76-yard drive that ended with a four-yard Marcus Coker run for a touchdown.
Iowa held Michigan to another three-and-out and was threatening to score again when a quick-snap sneak by quarterback James Vandenberg on fourth and one failed to pick up a first down. Michigan took over and drove 61 yards and scored on a five-yard pass from Robinson to running back Fitzgerald Toussaint just before the end of the first quarter.
Michigan’s holder couldn’t get the ball down on the snap on the extra point, however, and Michigan ended up down 7-6.
Iowa came back in the second quarter with an 11-play, 92-yard drive powered by a 27-yard run by running back Marcus Coker and a 14-yard pass from Vandenberg to wide receiver Marvin McNutt. A pass from Vandenberg to tight end C.J. Fiedorowicz got the Hawkeyes to a first down on the Michigan one-yard line, and Vandeberg hit tight end Brad Herman on a play-action pass on the next play to score a touchdown. The extra point made it 14-6. Iowa’s Mike Meyer tacked on a 42-yard field goal into the wind to make it 17-6 at halftime.
Michigan hit a field goal in the third quarter to make it 17-9. Late in the quarter, Iowa took over on a Michigan punt at the Hawkeye 38-yard line, and Iowa’s three big playmakers — Vandenberg, Coker and McNutt — went to work. Iowa ran 11 plays, with an eight-yard completion by Vandenberg to Keenan Davis and completions to McNutt of 15, 6 and 4 yards, the last converting a crucial third-and-two at the Michigan 24-yard line. Coker rushed four times on the drive, for 4, 2, 7 and finally a 13-yard touchdown run to make it 24-9 with just under 11 minutes to go in the game.
But the Wolverines weren’t done. After a 28-yard kickoff return, Robinson and Co. drove 57 yards in eight plays in only two-and-a-half minutes to make it 24-16.
Coker ended up rushing 29 times for 132 yards and two touchdowns. McNutt hauled in a career high 9 catches for 101 yards and Vandenberg finished 14 of 21 for 171 yards passing.
But it was the Hawkeye defense that shined on the gloomy day at Kinnick, containing Robinson to just 17 of 37 for 194 yards passing and only 55 yards rushing, both below average for the explosive, dual-threat quarterback.
The defense also showed marked improvement on third down, with Michigan converting only four out of 12 times.
Iowa next takes on Michigan State next Saturday at Kinnick Stadium in the team’s final home game of the year. No. 13 Michigan State barely held on at home to beat Minnesota, 31-24.
Category: Iowa Hawkeyes Football
Great win and heckuva result for this (rebuilding) Iowa squad, and going into the season, we all knew that didn’t we ?
The loss to Iowa St. was mitigated with a win agst Northwestern. No excuses for the result at Happy Valley while the loss last week could easily have been a win.
With the form going into this Michigan game, no one would reason Iowa was good enough to pull off an upset – Sheridan had Michigan favoured by 3.5 with score line at 58 – expecting a high scoring game, all down to Iowa’s suspect defense.
Happy to see the national press and all bookmakers WRONG on both counts and heads up defense for having got to grips with a Wolverine offense that averages 400+ yards/game.
No team comes with a more fearful reputation, the dual threat QB Robinson marshalling an explosive array of bodies and now, on the last home game, the question that begs an answer – are the Spartans an easier opponent comparitively ???
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As I mentioned in a post this past week, KF –while too predictable and rarely aggressive–is like Michael Myers from “Halloween.” Just when you think he’s dead, he rises up and tricks somebody…in this case, Michigan. The “Cover Two” (prevent) nearly cost us the game on the last drive, but individual effort got it done. The players deserve most of the credit for this week’s win.
We can still have a reallly good season, but defensively, we must play like we did today, every week.
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Iowa needs that ref crew back next week!
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Oh, pulllleeeeeeze! I the replay shows all of those calls were the right ones. If you’re a Michigan fan making that comment, grow up and stop whining. I recall at least two games that Michigan stole from Iowa because of refs…actual lousy calls, so bad that in 2005, a Sports Illustrated writer did a column about it.
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Luckeeeeeee ! Clearly pass interference at the end .
But all those who gave up on the Hawks after Minnesota owe the boys an apology.
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I don’t think it was pass interference. He was going for the ball and made contact as the ball arrived. If you get a chance to see a reply, watch it closely.
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I know it sounds like I’m being a “homer”, but I like the no call on that last play. Pass interference is over called in the game these days. I think it was good tight coverage. Quite frankly, it was a poor play call on Michigan’s part. A little luck is always good. Much better defense, but the Hawks still need to tackle better. Also should be able to get a first down on one of those last two drives and they never would have been down there. Good win. And, maybe Minnesota wasn’t as bad as we thought, pushed MSU to the limit today.
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I said all year that I love KF, but they have to learn from mistakes and not be too predictable. Today was a classic example, and my hat is off to them all.
Our personnel is not talented enough to force a predictable offense or defense down anyone’s throat. However, with a durable running back averaging a century a game, a solid quarterback who does not make mistakes very often and a defense that shows different looks and contains well, we can play with ANYONE!
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Great win today! We have had more than our share of poor officiating this year but today was the worst. Even if there was some contact on the last play it wouldn’t even come close to making up for all the no calls that would have helped the Hawks or hurt Michigan earlier in the game. Don’t relax now Hawks, keep up the intensity and there could be a good bowl out there for you! GO HAWKS!!!
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(ECHO EFFECT)
“Today I consider the Iowa Hawkeyes the luckiest football team on the face of this earth.”
— Lou Gehrig
Hose job after hose job for Michigan. This one was spelled out very specifically:
Later, with Michigan at the Iowa goal line, Robinson threw a pass into the back of the end zone, where it was caught one-handed. The receiver came down on his knee, in bounds, but the ball hit the turf out of bounds. The play was ruled an incompletion and was confirmed on review.
“One knee equals two feet.”
— John Madden
Oh, well, Iowa goes on the road soon … they’ll lose …
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Some of you posters seem to think it is OK to give excuses for the gopher loss and/or the clone loss (mitigated by beating the wildcats, are you kidding us?)
I enjoyed the win yesterday, but if this team loses every road game this year then there is a serious problem. One home loss and another 2 road losses = a bad year for a coach making 3.7 million per season. A Purdue loss will make this “rebuilding year” a lost year.
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