IOWA CITY, Ia. – Marvin McNutt did an extra enthusiastic fist-pump late Saturday night. The Purple Reign is over.
Iowa’s top receiver not only tied a school career record, but he also, finally, was part of a victory against border rival Northwestern.
The Hawkeyes’ 41-31 victory at Kinnick Stadium ended a three-game losing streak against a team they once dominated to the tune of 21 victories in a row, thus ending one of the most frustrating periods of recent Iowa football history.
“Coach (Kirk) Ferentz – he was the happiest guy in the locker room,” said defensive end Broderick Binns, one of the players responsible for keeping tabs on shifty Wildcats quarterback Dan Persa.
“We got two monkeys off our back – for playing bad last week at Penn State, and finally beating Northwestern.”
It happened for the first time since 2007 before a 70,585-fan sellout crowd that striped the stadium in black-and-gold.
“We needed a win tonight,” Ferentz said. “You can’t look at Northwestern and not be focused on their quarterback. It was a tough night’s work,”
There were stars aplenty, none bigger than safety Tanner Miller, who tied a school record by returning an interception 98 yards for a touchdown.
“We put good pressure on (Persa), and then I had two pretty good blocks,” said Miller, whose interception was the first of his career. “Once Micah (Hyde) threw a block, I had a pretty clear path to the end zone.”
The Hawkeye defense did a solid enough job against Persa to win, although the Wildcats had the ball 17 more minutes than Iowa, thanks largely to being successful on 16 of 22 third-down opportunities.
“Nobody is complaining, but when Miller picked it off, and took it back for seven, the defense is right back out on the field,” Ferentz said. “That’s a tough workout.”
Persa completed 31 of 40 passes for 246 yards and a touchdown – after accumulating 368 total yards in terrorizing Iowa a season ago.
In that game, he suffered a season-ending ruptured Achilles on the game-winning touchdown pass. He had elusive flashback moments Saturday when he wiggled away from defenders, but mostly he was contained.
“He got away a couple times, but for the most part, we did a good job,” Binns said.
Iowa improved its records to 4-2 overall and 1-1 in the Big Ten Conference. Northwestern fell to 2-4 and 0-3.
“We needed this for our confidence,” said McNutt, who caught six passes for 87 yards.
He enters Saturday’s 11 a.m. home game against Indiana with 21 career touchdown passes, a record he shares with Tim Dwight and Danan Hughes.
“Just a simple crossing pattern,” McNutt said of the 35-yard scoring play in the fourth quarter. “I got lost in the secondary, and Vandenberg found me.”
Iowa played with two injured defensive starters on the sidelines – middle linebacker James Morris and defensive tackle Thomas Nardo. Morris sprained an ankle against Penn State, and Nardo has an injured knee.
Also unable to play were backups – linebacker Anthony Hitchens (knee) and running back Jordan Canzeri (hamstring).
“We’ve always said that we have good backups,” safety Jordan Bernstine said. “This proved it.”
Iowa won despite Northwestern owning a 42-play advantage. The Hawkeyes won despite the Wildcats having 495 yards.
“We made the plays that counted,” Binns said.
A big one early was when Iowa went up 10-0 when Miller became the second Iowa player to return an interception for a touchdown.
Binns pressured Persa into throwing off-balance. Miller made the pick, and had clear sailing the other way once Hyde knocked a defender out of the way near mid-field.
“They were taking it down and moving the ball pretty readily at that point,” Ferentz said of the first-down play from the Iowa 7-yard line.
Vandenberg and Keenan Davis hooked up on a 47-yard scoring play as Iowa led 17-0 with 9:34 left in the second quarter, then Persa and Jeremy Ebert combined for a 6-yard scoring play late in the second quarter.
The score remained 17-7 Iowa until Adonis Smith raced 4 yards into the end zone, and it was a three-point game with 9:06 left in the third quarter.
The Wildcats tied the game at 17 on Jeff Budzein’s 47-yard field goal with 4:19 to play in the third quarter, and the Hawkeyes regained the lead on Marcus Coker’s 1-yard run with 14 minutes left in the game.
Coker rushed 22 times for 124 yards and two touchdowns. It was his third 100-yard game of the season.
“We had a lot to prove,” he said.
While turnovers were a Hawkeye problem during the three-game losing streak, they reversed that trend Saturday with 10 points off Wildcats turnovers.
“Turning the ball over . . . is a recipe for disaster,” Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald said. “We stopped ourselves with turnovers and some self-inflicted wounds.
“It’s not like Iowa did anything different than they typically do.”
Other than finally winning this rivalry.
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