Hawkeyes run out of time, fall to Badgers

By Brendan Stiles

HawkeyeDrive.com

IOWA CITY, Iowa — In the final minute of a back-and-forth contest, the No. 13 Iowa Hawkeyes had a chance to pull off some magical, something that many black-and-gold cladded fans inside Kinnick Stadium on Saturday had become accustomed to over the past couple of years.

But at a moment where time was of the essence, the Hawkeyes just simply didn’t have enough of it.

In the blink of an eye, it was No. 10 Wisconsin, not Iowa, coming off the field with the Heartland Trophy after the Badgers defeated the Hawkeyes, 31-30. The loss dropped Iowa to 2-1 in the Big Ten, and 5-2 overall.

The Hawkeyes found themselves trailing late after Badger running back Montee Ball scored from eight yards out on a play that was reviewed with just over a minute remaining. Ball came into the game for an injured James White, who left with a leg injury sustained in the first half.

“We didn’t do enough to win,” senior quarterback Ricky Stanzi said after a 25-of-37 performance passing for 258 yards and three touchdowns. “We left a lot of plays out there, and just didn’t have what it takes. They played a great game.

“They outplayed us in every way throughout the whole ballgame.”

Wisconsin struck first with a 33-yard field goal on its opening possession. Iowa managed to answer when sophomore running back Adam Robinson scored from one yard out to give the Hawkeyes a 6-3 lead. Robinson would finish the game with 114 yards rushing on 23 carries.

But that’s when one of Iowa’s biggest blunders occurred, as Wisconsin’s J.J. Watt was able to block the PAT attempt from freshman kicker Michael Meyer, keeping it 6-3.

The Badgers would respond when quarterback Scott Tolzien found Bradie Ewing in the back of the end zone for a 7-yard touchdown to go ahead 10-6. Iowa would take a 13-10 lead into the locker room when Stanzi found senior tight end Allen Reisner for a 3-yard touchdown strike.

“It was a pretty simple play,” Reisner said in describing his touchdown catch. “They got mixed up on defense and I was in there. I didn’t really see what happened because I was running my route.”

Throughout the entire second half, this game would seesaw back and forth. Wisconsin running back John Clay would score two touchdowns on the ground in the third quarter and the Badgers took a 24-20 lead into the fourth quarter. Sandwiched in between his two scores was a 45-yard touchdown pass from Stanzi to senior wide receiver Derrell Johnson-Koulianos, who finished the game with five receptions, tying him with former Hawkeye Kevin Kasper as Iowa’s career leader with 157 receptions.

The Hawkeyes would take a 27-24 lead in the final period when Stanzi found junior wideout Marvin McNutt for a six-yard touchdown pass. Iowa would add a 40-yard field goal from Meyer after senior safety Brett Greenwood recorded an interception, and the Hawkeyes had a 30-24 lead with 8:35 remaining.

“I just saw the guy crossing,” Greenwood said about his interception. “So I just took him and picked him up.”

Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema made a gutsy call on the Badgers’ following possession, calling for a fake punt when Wisconsin faced a 4th-and-4 from its own 26. Punter Brad Nortman fielded the snap and proceeded to run right up the middle for 17 yards. That led to what ended up being the winning score by Ball.

“They executed it,” Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said. “The punter did a great job of being patient, let us drop out, he took it and ran with it.”

Iowa did have one final chance to win the game, and was able to move the football into Badger territory. But after calling its final timeout with 12 seconds left, Stanzi completed a 4-yard pass to Robinson, who was unable to get out of bounds.

“We wanted to burn the timeout and just go from there,” Ferentz said. “I guess we could have gone the other way. Might have saved us two seconds or something like that.”

And with that, the Hawkeyes now find themselves needing to rebound next week against a Michigan State squad that will come into Kinnick Stadium with an 8-0 record after defeating Northwestern on Saturday, 35-27.

“There is a lot of football left to be played, and I think that’s where our focus needs to be,” senior offensive lineman Julian Vandervelde said. “Right now, we’re sitting at 5-2. What we have to do now is focus not so much on how many games we have left and the rest of the road. We just need to focus on Michigan State and get ready for them when they come in next week.”

Iowa’s game against Michigan State is scheduled as a 2:30 p.m. Central kickoff, with the game being televised by either ABC or ESPN.