Iowa football rewind: Campbell’s interception, Ferentz’s final-minute timeout

Going into the fourth quarter of Iowa’s eventual ,13-10, win against Minnesota, the Hawkeyes did not force any turnovers. That usually does not bode well for the Iowa football team, which is 1-3 when tying or losing the turnover margin.

But then Jack Campbell was responsible for two in the fourth quarter — a forced fumble that stanched an 88-yard Minnesota drive and an interception that set up the game-winning drive.

"You never know when that play is going to happen,” Campbell said. “But it’s always a teammate that creates that opportunity for you.”

Here is a closer look at a few key plays from the 13-10 win, including Campbell’s interception:

The interception

Campbell’s interception came at a make-or-break time for both teams.

Minnesota had a third-and-7 on its own 33-yard line. If Minnesota did not pick up more yardage, it would have been a long attempt for a kicker who missed a 34-yard field goal earlier and whose longest as a Gopher was from 50 yards.

Minnesota quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis tried needling the ball to fellow redshirt freshman Le’Meke Brockington as he ran an in route. Iowa cornerback Riley Moss was right there with Brockington.

Moss, the reigning Big Ten Defensive Back of the Year, won that battle and tipped the pass.

“Riley Moss had made one heck of a play,” Campbell said.

Campbell darted toward Brockington and was in the perfect spot to catch the deflected pass.

“In my mind, I was just trying to get to the ball,” Campbell said.

The interception return

Campbell showed some finesse on his interception return as he evaded John Michael Schmitz, Minnesota’s best offensive lineman. No one else was close to Campbell as he ran into the end zone for what appeared to be a touchdown.

But an official called Campbell out of bounds at the Minnesota 45-yard line. Iowa players were among those to not agree.

“I was right behind him,” safety Kaevon Merriweather said. “He didn’t step out.”

At the time, a Campbell pick-six would have certainly been appealing.

It would have led to a seven-point lead in a game where points were few and far between for either team. Iowa would not have needed to rely on an offense that ranks last among Power Five teams in yards per game.

But now knowing what happened on the final Iowa drive, the official’s whistle may have actually benefited the Hawkeyes.

Had Campbell returned the interception for a touchdown, Minnesota would have received the ball with about two minutes remaining and two timeouts.

Instead, the Gophers had only 28 seconds and no timeouts. Of course, they only needed to get a field goal rather than go all the way to the end zone.

The less-time-but-fewer-points-needed trade-off would not necessarily be good for every matchup, but it was favorable for Iowa against Minnesota.

The Gophers had major issues throwing the ball in the second half — Kaliakmanis was 1-of-8 after intermission — and 28 seconds left them without the ability to rely on their star running back.

Icing your own kicker?

True freshman kicker Drew Stevens had the opportunity to win the game for the Hawkeyes in the final minute with a 21-yard field goal.

But right before Stevens’ attempt, Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz called a timeout.

Some confusion was evident considering Luke Lachey was looking back at the sidelines and seemed caught off-guard when it was snapped.

The Fox commentators were quick to note how Iowa was icing its own kicker. They initially speculated Iowa maybe did not have enough players on the field, but there were 11 out there.

When asked about the timeout afterward, Ferentz called it an “interesting sequence.”

“The plan was to take it down to one second,” Ferentz said.

Had it not been for the official review, there was about a 26 or 27-second differential between the game clock and play clock.

The clock stopped a few seconds early for the official review — 31 seconds remained on the game clock — preventing Ferentz from running the play clock all the way down to one second.

“I’m still trying to figure out why it got reviewed,” Ferentz said. “Silly me, I thought maybe they were going to give us a first down, which would have been nice. I guess they were reviewing to see if the ball was a fumble or not.”

Then as the field goal unit was preparing to finally go for the game-winner, Ferentz called the timeout.

“Everything got screwed up,” Ferentz said. “We ended up taking the timeout prematurely just because I was worried we were going to snap the ball and go.”

With the official review and Ferentz’s timeout, Stevens was waiting for seven minutes to attempt likely the most important field goal of his young career.

It didn’t matter in the long run. Stevens again was successful with the 21-yard field goal attempt, and Minnesota did little with the 28 seconds it had left.

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com