Iowa 24, Northwestern 10: An 11-second answer and a third-down wall
No. 19 Iowa beat Northwestern 24-10 behind a 96-yard kickoff return and a defense that allowed one third-down conversion in 11 tries.
Northwestern finally got on the board with 4:14 left in the third quarter. Eleven seconds later, the lead was back to 18.
Jackson Kleather's 45-yard field goal cut No. 19 Iowa's lead to 14-3, and Braeden Jackson returned the ensuing kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown. That return, and an Iowa defense that held Northwestern to 1 of 11 on third down, settled a 24-10 Hawkeyes win at Ryan Field on Saturday.
Northwestern won the turnover battle 2-0, had more first downs (19 to 14) and held the ball for 31:47. It still never got within two scores after halftime.
How it was won
Iowa scored on its first two touchdown drives through Hank Brown. He ran 21 yards for a score at 11:10 of the first quarter, then found Tony Diaz for a 24-yard touchdown at 13:25 of the second. Caden Buhr converted both, and it was 14-0 at the half.
The third quarter turned on the sequence above: Kleather's field goal at 4:14, Jackson's 96-yard return at 4:03, then Buhr added a 52-yard field goal at 1:08 to make it 24-3.
Northwestern's only touchdown came late. Nicco Marchiol threw a 2-yard score to Joseph Himon II with 1:51 left, and Kleather's kick made it 24-10.
The yardage was close. Iowa finished with 296 total yards to Northwestern's 286. The difference was in how they were gained. Iowa ran for 170 yards, led by L.J. Phillips Jr. with 128 on 21 carries. Brown was efficient through the air, 16 of 21 for 126 yards with a touchdown and an interception, and added 18 rushing yards and a score on three carries. Diaz caught two passes for 43 yards; Reece Vander Zee had three for 36.
Iowa converted 7 of 13 third downs. Northwestern converted 1 of 11, and that number explains how 19 first downs produced 10 points.
Marchiol carried the Wildcats' offense, completing 24 of 32 passes for 181 yards and the touchdown, and leading the team with 52 rushing yards on 23 carries. Griffin Wilde and Luke Dehnicke each caught five passes for 52 yards. Himon ran six times for 27.
Against the number
Iowa closed as a 3-point favorite and won by 14, covering by 11. The kickoff return alone accounted for more than the spread.
The total closed at 42.5. With 34 points scored, the under came in by 8.5, and it was never seriously threatened: the teams had 14 points combined at halftime.
On the moneyline, Iowa closed at -162 and Northwestern at +136, a price that gave the Wildcats a little better than a 40 percent chance. The full closing board is on the game page.
What's next
Iowa is 7-2 and has won two straight since the 13-10 loss at Minnesota, outscoring Wisconsin and Northwestern 54-10 in that stretch. The Hawkeyes host Purdue on Saturday, November 14, on NBC.
Northwestern falls to 6-3 and has lost two in a row, following the 34-26 defeat at Oregon. The schedule does not ease: the Wildcats travel to No. 12 Ohio State on Saturday, November 14, on Fox. Iowa lost to Ohio State 31-14 earlier this season, and Northwestern will need far better than 1 of 11 on third down to stay with the Buckeyes.
