Iowa secures Big Ten championship game berth with narrow win over Illinois

IOWA CITY — It is finally safe to book your travel to Indianapolis.

After looking like the division favorites earlier in the season — and then not, and then favorites again — 16th-ranked Iowa (9-2, 6-2) clinched the outright Big Ten West title and a Big Ten championship game berth with its 15-13 win over Illinois (5-6, 3-5) at Kinnick Stadium on Saturday.

“Probably a fitting way for us to get this done because there’s nothing easy today,” Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said. “Goes right down to the end there, certainly. ... It points back to the character of the guys we have.”

The win seemed unlikely for much of the second half. Illinois led as late as the five-minute mark in the fourth quarter while Iowa’s offense struggled to muster any productive drives.

But then Iowa running back Kaleb Johnson delivered the spark the offense desperately needed as he broke free for a 30-yard, go-ahead touchdown run with 4:43 remaining.

"I saw green grass and just ran,“ Johnson said. ”When I see green grass, I run. ... I was just reading the safety right there -- whether I should press up and go in or go out. I pressed him, went outside and used my speed.“

The drive started in excellent field position after Kaden Wetjen’s 17-yard punt return. Then on the third play of the drive, quarterback Deacon Hill connected with wide receiver Nico Ragaini for a nine-yard gain that kept the drive alive.

“That was the spark to the beginning of that drive,” wide receiver Kaleb Brown said. “Without those, I don’t know where we would be.”

Especially after Iowa’s failed extra-point attempt, Illinois still had an opportunity to retake control of the game.

However, the Phil Parker-led Iowa defense made critical stops in second, third and fourth-and-short situations to force a turnover on downs in Illinois territory.

Iowa’s offense then ran out the last three-plus minutes off the clock against an Illinois team that had already burned two of its three timeouts.

The Iowa defense, while not perfect, did enough to keep the game close until the offense found some life.

It even contributed the first points of the game when Joe Evans sacked Illinois quarterback John Paddock and forced a fumble that the Illini recovered in the end zone for a safety.

“I’m going to give credit to (Deontae) Craig on that one, on the safety,” Evans said. “We ran a U game, kind of like Ohio State. So he picked the tackle and I just wrapped around and was able to make the play. That was a huge play for us.”

The Hawkeyes held Paddock, the reigning Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week, to 22-of-47 passing for 215 yards.

Illinois, which was without leading rusher Kaden Feigin, averaged 2.8 yards per carry against Iowa’s quickly-improving run defense.

On the other side of the ball, Iowa’s offense continued to show improvement in the passing game although the rushing results were mostly futile.

Hill went 19-of-29 for 167 yards and had one touchdown and no interceptions. His 4-yard toss to Addison Ostrenga gave the Hawkeyes a 9-3 lead in the second quarter.

Brown, the former four-star recruit who transferred from Ohio State, had a career day. Brown had seven receptions on 10 targets for 71 yards.

Iowa’s rushing attack picked up 114 yards while averaging 3.2 yards per carry. Leshon Williams had a team-high 54 rushing yards on 16 carries. Johnson was not far behind with 53 yards on 10 carries.

Iowa won despite not forcing any turnovers. It also did not give up any turnovers on the offensive side of the ball.

Iowa also won despite being without star defensive back and special teams player Cooper DeJean, who suffered a season-ending injury during practice this week.

Higgins noticed Illinois’ game plan change because of the loss of DeJean.

“They were getting the ball out of the quarterback’s hands as soon as possible,” Higgins said. “You can tell their game plan changed, and we did a great job of adapting.”

Saturday’s win moved Kirk Ferentz ahead of Michigan’s Bo Schembechler for third-most all-time wins as a Big Ten head coach.

The win also clinched the Hawkeyes’ second division title in the last three seasons. In the 10 years of the Big Ten West’s existence, Iowa has won three division titles.

“When you play hard, you put yourself in positions like this,” Higgins said. “Obviously, the Big Ten championship is a team’s goal in the Big Ten. ... After a good bowl game win (last year), we understood what our goals were. And I feel like we did a good job this year.”

Iowa still has more work to do before going to Indianapolis, though, as it visits Nebraska on Friday with hopes of reclaiming the Heroes Trophy.

The Hawkeyes will face next week’s Ohio State-Michigan winner for the conference title on Dec. 2.

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com