6-0. The Iowa Hawkeyes are once again 6-0. After battling past the Fighting Illini, the Hawkeyes look even more impressive, which is a big statement because the Hawks have exceeded many of the fans' expectations. This past Saturday, the Hawkeyes were able to defeat Illinois on homecoming weekend at Kinnick 29-20.
The Hawkeyes were coming off a remarkable 10-6 win against the Wisconsin Badgers in Madison when they went to battle against Illinois, who also won their Big Ten opener against Wisconsin. The game started at 11 AM Central Time in Iowa City and was being televised nationally on ESPN2. Iowa received the opening kickoff, but were not able to do much on their opening drive. They were able to gain one first down after C.J. Beathard scrambled 14 yards after being chased out of the pocket, but were unable to do much after that. Fortunately for the Hawkeyes, the Illini were also unable to do much after the Hawks tough defense got a quick three and out to force a punt. On Iowa's next drive, Beathard threw a nice 21-yard pass to George Kittle, who scored last week's only touchdown, for the first touchdown of the game. The game was 7-0 Hawkeyes... at least, it should have been 7-0. Unfortunately, Marshall Koehn, the hero of Iowa's win against Pittsburgh, missed the PAT which would later become an important miss, alas the Hawkeyes only led 6-0 after scoring a touchdown. On Illinois' next drive, quarterback West Lunt drove the ball all the way down the field to Iowa's four-yard line. Then Fighting Illini running back Ke'Shawn Vaughn did something no one has done this season. Vaughn ran the ball into the in-zone for a touchdown against an Iowa defense that had never allowed a rushing touchdown until that moment. The homecoming fans at Kinnick were shocked and very disappointed. They were even more upset when kicker Taylor Zalewski did what Marshall Koehn did not, make the PAT to put the Fighting Illini up 7-6. After Illinois had scored, both teams traded empty possessions with each teams' defenses stumping their opponents' offenses. On Iowa's next drive, the Hawkeyes marched the ball all the way down to the Illinois' 1-yard line. The fans became rowdy, eager for their Hawks to retake the lead, but Iowa failed to get the ball in the in-zone and turned the ball over on downs. Luckily for the Hawkeyes, their defense was able to get the crowd on their feet by stopping the Illini offense in just four plays, forcing them to punt. The Hawks then took the ball down the field, and running back Jordan Canzeri got his first receiving touchdown of the year off of a 17-yard pass from Beathard. This time Koehn banged the kick right through the middle of the uprights and put the Hawkeyes up 13-7. After the Hawks scored, the game remained stagnant with both teams punting back and forth until the Hawks finally made a field goal with 15 seconds remaining in the half. The Illini chose the conservative route of just kneeling to bring the first half to a close with a score of 16-7 in Iowa's favor. On Illinois' first drive of the second half, they drove the ball down the field, but couldn't score a touchdown. They settled for a 37-yard field goal from Zalewski. Once again the game went back and forth with punts until the Illini yet again scored another field goal to bring the game to 16-13 Iowa. The Hawkeyes were looking beaten with their offense being unable to do much and Wes Lunt being able to practically do whatever he wanted in the second half. Fortunately for the Hawkeyes, Jordan Canzeri broke through the Fighting Illini defense and ran 75-yards for a touchdown, the longest Hawkeye run since Shonn Greene's 75-yard run. On the next drive for Illinois they marched the ball down the field and attempted a third trick play that did not go as well as the first two. The Fighting Illini had pulled off two trick plays for positive yardage earlier in the game, but when they tried pitching the ball to leading receiver Geronimo Allison and having him throw a pass, he got intercepted by Greg Mabin of the Hawkeyes. Luckily for the Illini, the Hawks offense was halted once again and they were able to drive down the field and score another touchdown. The score was now 23-20 in favor of the Hawkeyes. Iowa knew they needed a score so they marched down the field and went for a touchdown, but they failed. Iowa was only able to score a 34-yard field goal. As Koehn saw his kick go through the uprights, his heart was filled with joy, but only for a second. He looked up at the scoreboard and realized that the score was 26-20 with 3:20 to go. This was more than enough time for the Illini to score a touchdown, and if they did it right, they would take a 27-26 lead with practically no time for the Iowa Hawkeyes to come back. Marshall Koehn knew that if the Illini scored on the next possession and the Hawkeyes lost for the first time this season, it would be all on him. Luckily for Koehn and all of the Hawkeye fans around the world, the Hawkeyes did something they had done in previous games this season that was incredibly lucky. On the first play of Illinois' potential game-winning drive, running back Ke'Shawn Vaughn fumbled the ball, and it was recovered by the Hawkeyes. This was the second week in a row where Iowa forced a fumble on the opposing teams drive when they were threatening to take the lead with very little time left. Iowa was able to then get in field-goal range, and Marshall Koehn redeemed himself by making a 40-yard field goal to put the Hawks up 29-20, giving the Fighting Illini a very little chance to come back. The Illini were unable to take the ball down the field, however, and turned the ball over to the Hawkeyes on downs. Iowa was then able to get in victory formation and kneel the ball until the clock struck zero. The Hawkeyes had once again emerged victorious in a very close-fought battle against the Illinois Fighting Illini.
I agree
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