Nebraska (5-6, 3-4) is better than its record looks, and Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz has made sure his team knows it.
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The Hawkeyes will already represent the West division in the Big Ten Championship game, as they remain the only unbeaten team in the conference. The Canzeri runs finished drives of two and one plays, and both took longer than Iowa linebacker Parker Hesse’s four-yard interception return for a touchdown after tipping a Tommy Armstrong Jr. pass to himself in the second quarter.
Nebraska pulled to 21-17 on Imani Cross’ 4-yard run in the middle of the third quarter.
“One thing about Iowa, my impression of them, is that there’s not a lot of fancy stuff”, said defensive end Jack Gangwish, a lifelong farmer who’s become a kind of player spokesman for this Nebraska team, which is merely trying to make a bowl in Riley’s first season.
Besides the having bragging rights and a shot in the college playoffs, some fans say that it’s the experience that the Hawekyes bring that keeps Sioux City faithful and fans of Iowa football. They surrendered 348 passing yards to Michigan State (despite Connor Cook missing a number of throws), 274 passing yards to Purdue and 301 yards through the air to Minnesota. Iowa needs a win to continue its run to a national title. The Cougars are also well positioned to earn a bid to a New Year’s Six bowl game, likely the Fiesta Bowl, if they win the league championship. Next week will be the Hawkeyes’ first chance to answer that, because Iowa hasn’t played anyone now ranked higher than No. 16 (Northwestern). The Hawkeyes are getting odds of -1.5 points at Nebraska today, while the over/under total has been set at 58 points.
Iowa finished 12-0 for the first time in school history.
Iowa’s defense stepped up in a big way following the score.
“They’re real physical”, Canzeri said “I’ve told people before that we have the best fullbacks in the country because of the amount of intensity that they face every single game, the physicality that they have and the mental toughness to just run in there and try to knock someone out on every single play”.
“All we can do is win each game”.
Instead of going for it on fourth-and-1, why not kick a field goal to get within eight points, or one possession? Quarterback C.J. Beathard found tight end George Kittle on a 10-yard touchdown pass to put the Hawkeyes up 7-0. “It was those other parts we couldn’t overcome”. “He’s really the catalyst of that team”.
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Iowa is now 12-0 for the first time in school history, and while they did make a few mistakes in this matchup, they gave little hope to Nebraska by shutting the door in the second half behind running back Jordan Canzeri and their defense. “I didn’t. I felt like I let the seniors down”. “Everybody’s obviously aware of the ramifications for them”. “It’s about the teamwork and relationships”. I appreciate that about them. “When you get teams like that, that’s when you have a change to do something”.
