What an incredible Football Game we were able to see on Saturday Night. Outside of the Penn State finish in 2008 that has to be the most electrifying finish I've seen in Kinnick Stadium. Marshall Koehn kicking a 57 yard field goal as time expires to win it 27 to 24. How did Iowa find a way to win probably one of the more physical Football games I've seen.
The Pittsburgh Defense Iowa faced Saturday Night was so physical and to be honest might have got a way with using their helmets to make big hits. CJ Beathard took an absolute beating from the Panthers but kept getting back up. Offensively Iowa knew coming in that running the football would be extra tough and right from the start the Hawkeyes were looking to the passing offense. There has always been a major question for this team and that is can they win without having a productive rushing attack? I think they answered that question in a big way Saturday Night. CJ was 27 of 40 for 258 yards 0 TD 1 Interception. The Hawks took an early lead on their second drive to open the scoring. Iowa was set up first and 10 at the 48 after an interception by Desmond King. The Hawks picked up two first downs before the drive stalled out and Marshall Koehn made a 43 yard field goal.
Pittsburgh put together a nice drive going 70 yards in just 7 plays but Desmond King once again made a diving interception in the end zone. The 4th drive for the Hawkeyes started with a bomb as CJ Beathard hit Tevaun Smith for 51 yards. Smith hasn't been totally involved in the offense but with the single coverage he was able to make a big play. On 3rd and 5 Beathard showed off his ability to run scrambling for a 9 yard TD. It had the makings of a blowout Iowa leading 10-0 when Beathard made his only real mistake of the game. Jake Hillyer ran a deep out and CJ just didn't put enough on the throw, he was picked off setting up the Panthers at the Iowa 15. One play later Pitt scored on a PA pass hitting their big tightend to make it 10 to 7. On the next drive for Iowa Beathard took an absolute shot looked to me like it could have easily been targeting. I've seen a lot less called targeting, this officiating crew from the ACC was really bad. The Iowa defense forced another 3 and out giving the offense the ball back for one last drive before halftime.
This was the drive that showed me what type of quarterback we have. The second play of the drive after just being crushed one drive ago Beathard stood right in the pocket hitting Tevaun Smith on a post for 18 yards. On another second and 10 Iowa ran some different plays spreading out the Pittsburgh defense Beathard connected with Henry Krieger Coble for 14 yards and a first down. On 3rd and 1 Beathard scrambled for 4 yards to pick up the first down. On 3rd and 4 Beathard found Matt Vandeberg on a quick slant for another first down. With first and goal at the 11 Iowa ran the exact same play twice, Vandeberg came in motion faking the reverse while Canzeri received the hand off slipping through the Pitt defense to put Iowa ahead 17 to 7 at halftime.
After Pittsburgh drove down for a field goal it was just 17 to 10. Iowa started out running the ball with 3 straight runs to pick up a 1st down. On 3rd and 10 Beathard from the pocket threw a strike to his tight end Coble for 13 yards. On 3rd and 11 CJ Beathard threw a pass that he probably wants back Tevaun Smith ran a stop and go getting behind the defender but CJ just overthrew him by a couple of yards. That play would have easily been a touchdown and really would have changed the dynamic of the game. The very next play Pittsburgh blocked the punt and suddenly the game was tied at 17. Two of the Panthers TD's were set up by their defense or special teams. The Hawkeyes went 3 and out so Pittsburgh had the ball all the momentum on their side. Jordan Lomax who was flying around the field came up with a huge stop to set up 4th and 1. Pittsburgh tried everything they could to draw Iowa off sides but instead took the delay of game and punted.
The Hawks finally started to get the run game going with Canzeri picking up 9 yards on the first play. 2nd and 1 Iowa ran PA as Beathard found Hillyer for 32 yards to put Iowa in business. 3rd and 3 once again CJ showed his ability to scramble picking up another first down. On first and 10 the Hawkeyes were called for holding making it 1st and 20 although I didn't see much of a hold on Austin Blythe. Two beautifully designed screen plays. One that almost broke loose to Vandeberg who was tripped up. The second one was a HB screen to Canzeri which went for 17 Yards and a first down. Picking up a first down after being behind the chains is something we couldn't do last season. The very next play Beathard made probably his best throw of the night it was a PA to Canzeri and Beathard quickly set his feet hitting Vandeberg for 12 yards putting the ball at the one. 2 plays later Canzeri punched it in to give the Hawkeyes a 24 to 17 lead. The Drive was 11 plays 80 yards and a huge answer when Pittsburgh had all the momentum.
Pittsburgh went right back down the field converting two 4th down conversions including a 4th and 15 right before they tied the game at 24. Tyler Boyd who might be the best receiver we see this season had his way at times catching 10 passes for 131 yards and the tying TD. Iowa got the ball back with just 48 seconds left in the game. The key on any last minute drive is to get that first 1st down. CJ did exactly that scrambling for 12 yards on the first play of the drive. Beathard on 2nd and 6 scrambled for another first down. 3rd and 10 only 8 seconds to go CJ scrambled to get 8 yards setting up Hawkeye history. Marshall Koehn blasted a 57 yard field goal to win the game, it was kind of fitting that the Panthers best player Tyler Boyd was back to watch the ball just carry over his head and go through for a Hawkeye victory.
Offensively CJ Beathard hooked up with 7 different receivers, Tevaun Smith had 3 catches for 73 yards, Jacob Hillyer had two catches for 52 yards, Henry Krieger Coble had 5 catches for 48 yards, Matt Vandeberg caught 7 passes for 45 yards and Jordan Canzeri had 7 receptions for 30 yards. This offense is really starting to come together they are getting better and better each week. Jake Duzey should be back soon so he will add yet another dimension to this offense. The first two games the Hawks were very balanced and on Saturday it was the passing game that helped get the Win. Iowa as a team ran for 105 yards on 29 carries. Canzeri had 12 carries for 49 yards with most of those coming in the second half.
Defensively the big star was Desmond King he had 2 interceptions and made a number of big tackles at the line of scrimmage. Desmond was assigned the coverage duty on Tyler Boyd and although he did make some big plays King did a pretty good job on him. The defensive line wasn't able to get a lot of pressure on the QB but did come up with 2 more sacks on the night. The linebackers played very well again Cole Fisher had 12 tackles to lead the team. Outside of the two big plays where the tight ends got free they were very good in pass coverage. The Iowa run defense continued to dominate vs a good running Pitt team only allowing 55 yards on 27 carries.
This was an absolute huge victory, Iowa as we know plays a lot of close games. Over the past few years the close games hadn't been going our way. This year Iowa has been tied at 17 entering the 4th quarter the last two weeks. Both times it was the Hawkeyes making plays to win and that was the difference Saturday Night. This is starting to have the feeling of a special season the offense is getting better, and the defense looks very strong. We will find out a lot about this team in two weeks when the Hawks got to Madison but first Iowa needs to take care of business against North Texas. This should be a game Iowa can get a big lead then rest some of the starters in the second half but I'll preview that game in the next couple days.
Thanks for Reading
Go Hawks.
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