Game Report: Iowa Hawkeyes 13, Nebraska Cornhuskers 10

LINCOLN, Neb. — A closer look at Iowa’s 13-10 football win over Nebraska Friday at Memorial Stadium.

Turning point

Split it between defensive end Ethan Hurkett and running back Leshon Williams in the last minute of the game.

Things were feeling queasy for Iowa in the fourth quarter. The Hawkeyes had chances to open a nice cushion in the first half when they were racking up 200 yards and 12 first downs, but went to the break with just a 10-7 lead.

The Hawkeyes had one first down in the entire second half when Deacon Hill threw his last and worst pass of the day, a ball picked off by another Hill, Nebraska’s Tommi.

The Huskers took over at their 45 with 55 seconds left in regulation. Three plays later, Nebraska quarterback Chubba Purdy threw an interception even worse than Hill’s, gift-wrapped for Hurkett. He returned it to the Nebraska 37 with 15 seconds left.

On first down, Williams popped 22 yards to get the ball to the 15 and make a game-winning field goal try a lot easier. After a Hill kneel-down, Marshall Meeder, asked to kick for Iowa for the first time since he got there in August, made a 38-yarder as time expired for victory.

It didn’t clear the crossbar by much, but it did by enough to make him a hero in the Heroes Game.

By the numbers

6 — This was the sixth-straight Iowa-Nebraska game decided by one score and the Hawkeyes’ sixth straight win in Lincoln.

7 — Nebraska has seven consecutive losing seasons.

8 — It’s Iowa’s eighth 10-win season under Kirk Ferentz.

9 — Iowa hasn’t allowed a first-quarter touchdown in the last nine games.

10 — Iowa got inside the Nebraska 10-yard line four times in the first half. The results were a touchdown, a made field goal, and two blocked field goals.

18 — The Hawkeyes have won 18 of their last 19 November games.

31 — Meeder has made 31 career field goals. His first 30 were for Central Michigan.

57 — Iowa gained 57 yards in the second half.

66 — The 66-yard second-quarter touchdown pass from Purdy to Jaylen Lloyd was the longest play against Iowa this season.

Notebook

* San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy threw for a touchdown and 209 yards in the Niners’ 31-13 win over Seattle Thursday night.

Purdy’s brother, Chubba Purdy, threw for a touchdown and 189 yards Friday afternoon for Nebraska against Iowa.

* The over/under for this game dipped to 24.5 points at certain betting sites, smashing the record low set two weeks ago in the Rutgers-Iowa game. No game had ever been lower than 31.5 before the 2023 season. Four of Iowa’s games this season were lower.

Naturally, the “under” paid off for Iowa’s seventh-straight game.

* Nebraska’s home sellout streak was extended to a 397th game Friday, but c’mon. The tickets may all be sold, but there were thousands of empty seats.

Injury report

Iowa center Logan Jones didn’t play. Nor did wide receiver Diante Vines, who has started eight games this season, was out a second-straight week.

Hawkeye starting offensive tackle Gennings Dunker was injured in the first quarter and was replaced by Nick DeJong. Wide receiver Kaleb Brown didn’t play in the second half. Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said their availability for next week’s game was unknown.

Next game

Iowa will play the winner of Saturday’s Ohio State-Michigan game in the Big Ten Championship Game next Saturday in Indianapolis. (7 p.m., FOX).

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