Game Report: Iowa Hawkeyes 30, Kent State Golden Flashes 7

Here’s a closer look at No. 5 Iowa’s win over Kent State on Saturday at Kinnick Stadium.

Turning point

The mood inside Kinnick Stadium was already restless.

As Hawkeye fans were still trying to figure out how a Tyrone Tracy Jr. third-down catch was overturned via video review, stopping Iowa’s first drive of the second half, Kent State was on the doorstep of cutting into the Hawkeyes’ 16-7 lead.

That’s when the Iowa defense did what we’re becoming accustomed to this season — make a game-changing play.

Bryan Bradford took a handoff from the 1, was hit by Jestin Jacobs and fumbled into the end zone, where Riley Moss picked up the ball to give the Hawkeyes possession and maintain their nine-point lead with 6:37 left in the third quarter.

A 15-play, 76-yard Kent State drive went for naught.

The offense picked it up from there, going 80 yards on 11 plays and extending the lead to 23-7 via Tyler Goodson’s second of three rushing touchdowns, a 35-yarder with 32 seconds remaining in the third.

Iowa has scored 44 points from eight takeaways this season, and Jacobs and Moss have played key roles. Moss returned two interceptions for touchdowns against Indiana, and Jacobs also forced a third-quarter fumble against Iowa State last week that Jack Campbell returned for a TD.

By the numbers

0: Interceptions for the Kent State and Iowa defenses, which entered the game ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the FBS in the category with eight and six, respectively.

2: Points Iowa’s defense scored Saturday, its lowest output of the season. Lukas Van Ness and Zack VanValkenburg teamed up for a first-quarter safety after a high snap. The Hawkeyes scored 12 defensive points against Indiana and six versus Iowa State.

7: Quarterback sacks for the Iowa defense, including two from Van Ness and Joe Evans. VanValkenburg (1.5), John Waggoner (1) and Campbell (0.5) also contributed.

25: Consecutive games Iowa has allowed fewer than 25 points, the longest current streak of any Power Five program.

80: Yards rushing for Kent State, 280 shy of its season average.

129: Receiving yards for Kent State’s Keshunn Abram (on five catches) in the game’s first 20 minutes, more than Iowa had allowed to any receiver in a full game since Penn State’s Jahan Dotson had 139 last Nov. 21. Avery scored the Golden Flashes’ TD on a 23-yard pass from Dustin Crum. He finished the game with six catches for 138 yards.

153: Career-high rushing yards for Goodson on 22 attempts (7.0 per carry). He gained 15 yards on the first play of the game and took a pitch 46 yards to the end zone in the first quarter and added a 2-yard TD run in the fourth.

300: Iowa victories at Kinnick Stadium. The Hawkeyes are now 300-188-15 at Kinnick since the stadium opened in 1929.

7,318: Unsold tickets.

Notebook

Pregame jitters. The people who get them the worst may be the families of the players.

“I’m very nervous as a mom,” Susy Colby of Cedar Rapids said as she waited for Iowa’s team buses to arrive at Kinnick Stadium early Saturday afternoon. “His dad isn’t. But his grandma is nervous as well.”

“His” was a reference to Connor Colby, a first-year freshman from Kennedy High who is a second-team offensive tackle for the Hawkeyes.

“It’s something special, for sure,” Susy said. “His first offer came the day before his 16th birthday. They came pretty quick. He had seven or eight offers in the first six months.”

But Connor grew up a Hawkeye fan, and Iowa was an easy sell to him.

“I’m just happy he has the opportunity,” said Connor’s grandmother, Connie Colby of Cedar Rapids. “He worked hard for it.”

The Colbys were surrounded by other families of players, including the Britts. Justin Britt is a third-year sophomore who started at right guard Saturday.

“There are six of us here,” said Justin’s father, Samuel Britt of Indianapolis, who also admitted to being nervous before games. “We leave home at 4 on Friday afternoon, pull into Coralville around 10:30. And wait.”

Samuel said his family (“three skirts and three shirts,” he called his daughters and sons) has gotten very familiar with the road from Indianapolis.

“We know the World’s Biggest Truck Stop (in Walcott) well,” he said.

Iowa’s Arland Bruce IV and Gavin Williams made their first career catches.

Bruce, a true freshman receiver from Olathe, Kan., who played his senior season at Ankeny, made a 6-yard reception in the second quarter.

Williams, a redshirt freshman running back from West Des Moines Dowling, picked up a first down on the same drive with an 11-yard catch. He entered the game after Kelly-Martin fumbled for the second time in the game and third time this season. Kelly-Martin’s first fumble was recovered by Kent State.

Injury report

Iowa guard Kyler Schott played after missing the first two games with a foot injury, but did not start.

Iowa redshirt freshman defensive end Ethan Hurkett, a Cedar Rapids Xavier grad, limped off the field in the fourth quarter.

Up next

Iowa has one more non-conference game next week, hosting Colorado State (1-2) at 2:30 p.m. (FS1). The Rams also played a Mid-American Conference team this week, picking up their first win of the season, 22-6 at Toledo. Iowa and Colorado State have never met in football.