(This story has been updated to add quotes and videos)
IOWA CITY − As a tense third quarter unfolded at Kinnick Stadium, it was easy to flash back to five Saturdays earlier.
Here was Iowa football, leading again by 13 points in the second half against a very good opponent.
Could the Hawkeyes get it done this time around? Or would they crumble and unravel like they did in an excruciating one-point loss against rival Iowa State?
The Iowa football program under Kirk Ferentz has always been centered around in-season development, improvement and playing its best football by November. The Hawkeyes showed in Saturday’s 40-16 win against visiting Washington that they’re a much better team now than they were Sept. 7, when they collapsed against Iowa State and lost in the final seconds.
“That was the first complete team game we’ve played all year,” said Iowa left tackle Mason Richman, who helped push the run game over 200 yards for the fifth time in six games this year. “That’s just great as a team to be able to show we’re improving. Now, the expectation is to do that every time.”
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Instead of trying to hold on for dear life, Iowa became the aggressor on Saturday … and did the pounding.
And Kaleb Johnson led the way in wielding the Hawkeye hammer.
Johnson racked up 166 yards rushing on 21 carries and scored Iowa’s first three touchdowns – two rushing, one receiving on an 18-yard pass – to lead a point-producing barrage. Iowa scored on seven consecutive possessions at one point, an unheard-of sentence in these parts in recent years.
Here’s another rarely-typed sentence: Iowa punted only twice.
Saturday marked Iowa’s highest-scoring game against a Big Ten opponent since a 51-14 win at Maryland in 2021.
“I think offensively we’re gaining ground,” Ferentz said. “Not where we want to be yet, but we’re getting there and did some good things.”
Defensively, Iowa remarkably held Washington to 10 points on its first nine possessions despite only forcing one punt. A blocked field goal, two turnovers (including a Jermari Harris interception in the third quarter) and three fourth-down stops epitomized defensive coordinator Phil Parker’s bend-don’t-break approach.
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LeVar Woods’ special teams, led by Drew Stevens’ four field goals, were dominant and tipped the field early and often in this game. More on that later.
There could be no better testament to the Ferentz legacy than to get his 200th win at Iowa with the team’s most complete performance of the season … despite being outgained by 65 yards. (Washington won the total offense battle, 393-328, for what it’s worth.)
“That’s a legend,” Harris said. “I’m blessed to play for him.”
Ferentz, of course, downplayed his role on the way to No. 200, which puts him five wins shy of Woody Hayes (205) for most all-time as a Big Ten Conference head coach.
“The honest answer is I was more focused on us getting four (wins for the season),” Ferentz said. “I didn’t want to think about being at 3-3 right now.”
We’ve been waiting all season long for four good quarters out of this Iowa team, and Saturday certainly ended the wait.
The Hawkeyes (4-2, 2-1 Big Ten Conference) announced that they are alive and well against a very good Washington team (3-3, 2-2), a week after a demoralizing 35-7 loss at Ohio State. And Ferentz, now 200-121 in 26 seasons at Iowa, has this team in a good place entering the second half of the regular-season schedule.
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“This was a big response for us,” linebacker Jay Higgins said. “I like how all three phases played together.”
Up next: Saturday’s trip to Michigan State (6:30 p.m. CT, NBC).
“We’ve had our fair share of success and adversity to this point,” said quarterback Cade McNamara, who threw his first two touchdown passes since Week 1. “The direction of this team, for this season, I think this was probably the most important game for our entire season. For us to get back on our feet and play a complete game of football (and) play to our potential … this was a big step for our team.”
Coming into this one, Washington was statistically superior vs. Iowa on offense and defense. But the Hawkeyes looked to have an advantage on special teams.
That certainly played out Saturday.
Washington’s first two kickoffs were short and followed by nice returns from Kaden Wetjen gave Iowa favorable starting field position at its own 31- and 37-yard lines.
The Huskies had a 14-play, 73-yard drive end with a blocked field goal by Yahya Black’s long left arm. The Hawkeyes had a three-play, zero-yard drive that ended with a 37-yard Stevens field goal. Advantage Iowa, by three points.
Rhys Dakin’s 61-yard punt with no return in a 7-7 game was a field-flipper. That started Washington on its own 15, and an Aaron Graves sack-fumble recovered by Max Llewellyn set up the Stevens field goal for a 10-7 Iowa lead.
Iowa’s second touchdown was set up by a six-yard net punt for Washington – 43 yards on the kick, 37 yards on a Wetjen return from a bouncing ball. McNamara hit Johnson for an 18-yard touchdown pass to cap a four-play, 35-yard, short-field drive for a 17-7 lead.
Even Washington’s first-half field goal was iffy. Grady Gross’ 32-yarder was so questionable that the fans in the South end zone thought it was wide right, and Ferentz even tried to challenge the ruling of a successful kick. Head official Tim O’Dey announced that the play was unreviewable because the ball traveled over the top of the upright.
“The only reason I pursued it a little bit, Jay Higgins swore it wasn’t good,” Ferentz said. “And he had a better seat than I did certainly. … It was worth a shot. To no avail, like a lot of replays.”
The NCAA rule book does state: “If the ball is higher than the top of the uprights as it crosses the end line, the play may not be reviewed.”
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Anyway, to finish the first half, Stevens’ 46-yard field goal as time expired was significant. Iowa had gotten to that point by a 53-yard run from Johnson. Normally in those situations, Ferentz might be inclined to take a knee. But giving Johnson one crack to try to break one was rewarded by the Iowa special teams.
Stevens finished 4-for-4 on field goals, including his final attempt of 51 yards. That was notable, considering Stevens missed a 51-yarder last week at Ohio State (his only miss of the season). That’s another example of improvement from this Iowa team.
Iowa’s first-drive struggles continued Saturday. Six opening drives, zero points at the halfway mark of the season – 32 plays, 97 yards, six punts.
But its second drive against Washington was a thing of beauty.
Offensive coordinator Tim Lester dialed up a variety of creative run calls to deliver the Hawkeyes’ longest drive of the season – nine plays, 80 yards and the game’s first touchdown. That set the stage for what was Lester’s most complete game as Iowa’s first-year OC.
Johnson uncorked back-to-back runs of 11 and 12 yards to start the drive, the second on a toss sweep. An 11-yard pass to Luke Lachey came next, then it was run-run-run-run-run-run on the next six plays to the end zone. An end around to Wetjen for 11 yards and a nifty 16-yard run from Kamari Moulton, which was sprung after a fake end-around handoff to Jacob Gill. That set up Johnson’s easy-looking, 6-yard TD run with Brendan Sullivan at quarterback.
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“That kind of goes to the personnel we have on this team,” McNamara said. “We have a lot of playmakers. A guy like Wetjen, that’s our kick returner. There shouldn’t be anyone better in space than (him). Especially that drive, once we got that first first down and established some tempo, I just thought we were going to roll.”
Impressively, Lester didn’t let up with a lead. Even up 30-10 in the fourth quarter after Iowa’s defense forced a turnover on downs, Lester called for a downfield pass. And McNamara zipped a 33-yard strike over the middle to freshman Dayton Howard, who turned his first career catch in college into his first touchdown.
McNamara, by the way, topped 100 yards passing vs. a power-conference opponent for the first time since Week 2 of last season. McNamara finished 8-for-14 for 108 yards and two touchdowns without a turnover.
That was a notable statement from both Richman and McNamara, considering it was the same week that four-star receiver Kaleb Brown left the program. While production was limited to three total catches for receivers, those plays all went for first downs and totaled 66 yards.
On a third-and-10 strike over the middle, McNamara hit Seth Anderson, who was playing in his first game this season because of nagging injuries, for a 27-yard gain that turned into 41 after a late hit. That was when the score was 20-10 in the third quarter.
“The wide receivers had their best week in practice,” McNamara said. “The pace that they’re playing with … like when I was able to hit Seth, that was man coverage. To be able to make plays dynamically, and for us to convert on the third downs that we’re doing, it’s huge for our offense.”
Howard also had a nice moment. He’s been getting on-field snaps (55 for the season entering Saturday) but had yet to get a catch. Somewhat hilariously in a lopsided outcome, Howard was so excited about his 33-yard touchdown (matching Iowa’s longest pass play of the season) that he drew a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty because of how emphatically he spiked the ball after scoring.
“Last year, he was a scout-team. Now here he is catching touchdowns and spiking the ball in the end zone,” McNamara laughed. “He’s gotten so much better.”
Tight end Addison Ostrenga (right arm) and fullback/tight end Hayden Large (ankle) missed the game with injuries. Starting left guard Beau Stephens also was in a boot afterward and was replaced mid-game by Tyler Elsbury. Strong safety Xavier Nwankpa left the game for a while but returned with an unspecified injury. Graves appeared to tweak his right knee but returned.
Injury or not, the Hawkeyes shuffled things up a lot in the secondary. Parker definitely made adjustments, featuring backup safety Zach Lutmer in multiple looks, including on dime defense. Lutmer made a nice tackle to stop one Washington fourth-down attempt.
“He’s a natural playmaker. He made some great plays this year in camp,” Harris said of Lutmer, a redshirt freshman. “Just getting him out there is great, because now you get a feel for the game. They get to practice faster and harder … and then it becomes easier when the game time comes. He’s going to be a great player. They’re all going to be great players.”
Harris was also referring to sophomore safety Koen Entringer, who subbed for Nwankpa at times. Parker went back to cornerback TJ Hall, who started Iowa’s first three games opposite Harris, to replace starter Deshaun Lee in the second half. Reserve cornerback John Nestor also had a fourth-down stop against Washington. One of the beauties of Parker is that he always seems to have another guy, out of nowhere, ready to jump in.
Against a Washington team that threw 50 passes (to gain 266 yards), that was crucial on Saturday.
“They were a good team. Hats off to them,” Harris said. “Offensively, they definitely posed some challenges to us. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a pass game like that in our league, other than Purdue back in the day.”
Hawkeyes columnist Chad Leistikow has served for 30 years with The Des Moines Register and USA TODAY Sports Network. Chad is the 2023 INA Iowa Sports Columnist of the Year and NSMA Co-Sportswriter of the Year in Iowa. Join Chad’s text-message group (free for subscribers) at HawkCentral.com/HawkeyesTexts. Follow @ChadLeistikow on X.
