A win is a win. This win was Iowa’s tenth of the college football season. In typical Iowa fashion, it was founded on its defense putting it in position to win the game. Iowa’s game-winning field goal was set up by a sequence of events that you could not have made up. Both teams had the ball twice with less than two minutes to play. Both teams threw interceptions in the final minute of regulation. Iowa’s 13-10 victory over Nebraska gives it its fifth 10-win regular season in the Kirk Ferentz tenure, and eighth win in the last nine contests against its neighbor to the west.
Game Clock Issue
Nebraska took over with the football at its own 11-yard line with just over two minutes to play in regulation. It felt like the Cornhuskers had the momentum with an opportunity to drive the field and ice the game. The Iowa defense forced a punt after just five plays. But it was a clock issue that went unnoticed that would be crucial for Iowa’s victory at the end of the quarter. Nebraska ran its second down play, which resulted in a completed pass. The game clock never started. 12 seconds of game time were saved on the clock operator mistake. Officials never made a clock adjustment, and play continued.
Two Minute Chaos
Iowa then took over following Nebraska’s put with just 55 seconds left. The Hawkeyes were averaging less than three yards per play in the third and fourth quarters. It had gone three and out on three of its last four drives. Taking a knee and heading to overtime felt like an obvious consideration, but Deacon Hill and the offense aired it out. On the third play of the drive, Hill threw an interception which set Nebraska up at its own 45-yard line.
Needing only 17 yards to get inside of field goal range, Nebraska was in position to win. But Iowa dropped Ethan Hurkett into zone coverage in the middle of the field on its second play of the drive. With 31 seconds remaining in the game, Chubba Purdy’s pass over the middle went right into the hands of Hurkett. The defensive lineman returned the ball 10 yards to the Nebraska 37 yard line.
On the ensuing play from scrimmage, Leshon Williams carried the football 22 yards up the middle inside the Nebraska red zone. Iowa called a timeout with just seven seconds left in the game. The 12 seconds that never ticked off the clock on Nebraska’s prior drive were what kept this game alive after Williams’ run. Iowa was able to center the football on the field and set up a 38 yard field goal attempt to win the football game.
Transfer Heroics
Iowa trotted out its field goal unit with four seconds left in regulation. Drew Stevens has hit his share of clutch field goals this season. But that wasn’t who Ferentz sent out onto the field. Stevens had two field goals blocked in this contest and sent two kickoffs out of bounds. He was off his game, and Iowa took to the backup Central Michigan transfer kicker.
Marshall Meeder was an engineering student at Central Michigan and was close to hanging up the cleats after last season. Iowa special teams coordinator LeVar Woods reached out to him in the transfer portal and asked him if he’d like to be a Hawkeye. Meeder joined the program this off-season but had not had an opportunity to see the field all season. In this moment with four seconds left in Iowa’s Black Friday game at Nebraska, Meeder’s name was called.
The game-winning, 38-yard field goal sailed through the uprights as time expired. It was Meeder’s first field goal attempt as a Hawkeye, and it gave this team its 10th regular season win. The snap was low, but Tory Taylor placed it, and Meeder sealed it. He was quoted saying, “It’s a great day to be a Hawkeye!” as he left the field in Lincoln.
Late Game Dramatics Lift Iowa Over Nebraska
The 10-2 Iowa Hawkeyes will practice this week in preparation for the Big Ten Championship Game. Its opponent will be decided on Saturday with the winner of Ohio State and Michigan. The Hawkeye offense averaged less than 250 yards per game this season, but it won ten games. Black Friday put its brand of football on display. It sent the Big Ten West out in the best way possible. The Iowa defense created a key turnover, and the special teams won it as time expired. The final score fell under the record-low 24.5 points total that closed prior to the Black Friday game.
