(Iowa City, IA) — It can be argued that Iowa did not outplay Nebraska on Friday evening but the Hawks made the big plays late in the game and Drew Stevens hit a 53 yard field goal as time expired to beat the Cornhuskers 13-10.
With the game tied at 10 with 35 second remaining in the 4th quarter, Nebraska was on their own 43 yard line and trying to drive into field goal range. Dylan Raiola went back to pass but Max Llewellyn would hit the freshman QB, strip the ball, and then recovered it in one swift move. The officials originally ruled that Raiola was down by contact but quickly changed it to a fumble and an Iowa recovery. After review, the spectacular play by Llewellyn was upheld and the Hawkeyes had it at the Nebraska 36 yard line with 20 seconds left.
Iowa ran two plays but got nowhere so with 3 seconds left it was up to Stevens to hit a long kick, only one yard off his career high and he hit just barely inside the right upright for the win. It was the second year in a row that Iowa beat Nebraska on a last second field goal — last year it was Marshall Meeder who kicked a 38 yarder to win by an identical 13-10 score.
Nebraska had a 10-0 lead in the first half — scoring a John Hohl 31 yard field goal on their first drive of the game and then Dante Dowdell got a 1 yard TD run with 41 seconds in the first half. Iowa’s offense was non-existent with only 20 yards of total offense and one first down. Kaleb Johnson who is 2nd in the nation in rushing was held to 10 carries for 16 yards.
On the opening drive of the 3rd quarter, the Huskers took advantage of an Iowa pass interference call to move to the Hawkeye 16 but Hohl missed a 34 yard field goal. Iowa got it to midfield but was forced to punt. Isiah Garcia-Castaneda would let it bounce in front of him and the ball took a weird Iowa bounce. It did not hit him but Vincent Shavers did not know that and in the process of trying to recover what he thought was a muff, he touched it and it became a fumble and John Nestor recovered it for Iowa. The Huskers defense did hold Iowa to a short field goal by Stevens but the Hawkeyes were on the board, down 10-3.
The Huskers would move to midfield on their next drive but Nestor made another big play stopping Isiah Neyor 2 yards short of a first down and Nebraska punted it to the Iowa 14. On the first play of the 4th quarter, Jackson Stratton threw it to Johnson in the flat and he bulled his way through 4 Husker defenders, broke away and outraced everybody for a 72 yard TD catch and run. It tied the game at 10-10.
Neither team could not move the ball on their next two possessions setting up the final few seconds with Llewelyn’s play and Stevens kick. Iowa had only 164 yards of total offense — 72 of which came on Johnson’s long TD. The Huskers had 334 total yards — Dylan Raiola was 22-32 passing for 190 yards. Emmett Johnson had 18 carries for 71 yards and Dowdell 13 carries for 50 yards and 1 TD. Johnson was held to 45 yards rushing on 17 carries but had 2 catches for 73 yards and 1 TD. Stratton was 8-15 passing for 115 yards and 1 TD.
On defense, Jay Higgins had 12 tackles for Iowa, Sebastian Castro 11 tackles, and Ethan Hurkett had a big game with 9 tackles including 2 sacks. Nebraska’s defense did have 9 tackles for a loss but did not create a turnover.
Iowa finishes the regular season at 8-4 while the Huskers finish 6-6. Both teams will learn which bowl game they will play in next Sunday December 8
