Iowa’s second-half letdown against Iowa State costs more than just Cy-Hawk trophy

IOWA CITY — Kirk Ferentz knew not to take Iowa football’s 13-0 halftime lead for granted.

“This is hardly over,” Ferentz told the CBS sideline reporter at halftime Saturday at Kinnick Stadium.

Ferentz was right, as Iowa State erased the 21st-ranked Hawkeyes’ halftime lead and delivered a sharp reality check to a team that entered the 2024 season with College Football Playoff aspirations.

One of the trademarks of Iowa’s success in recent years — its outstanding defense — came up short in a disastrous second half, leading to a 20-19 loss to its in-state rival.

The same defense that held Illinois State scoreless last week and led the country in yards allowed per play in 2022 and 2023 — struggled mightily in the second half.

The Hawkeyes (1-1) allowed 20 points — more than they gave up in any of the previous five Cy-Hawk games — and 260 total yards in the second half alone.

Almost all of Iowa State (2-0) quarterback Rocco Becht’s 272 passing yards came in the second half. Becht, making his second Cy-Hawk start, completed 23 of 35 passes, including a 30-yard strike to Jaylin Noel to set up Kyle Konrardy’s game-winning 54-yard field goal with five seconds left.

Iowa State “took advantage of what we gave them,” Iowa defensive back Sebastian Castro said.

“They knew what we were going to do in certain situations, and we just didn’t adjust right away,” Castro said. “They executed exactly what they wanted to do.”

The loss certainly does not fall exclusively on the defense, though.

Iowa quarterback Cade McNamara was 13-of-29 for 99 yards and threw two interceptions. One set up an Iowa State touchdown drive, and the other was on the final play of the game. He had only one completion for 20-plus yards.

Iowa running back Kaleb Johnson had a fantastic performance — 25 carries for 187 yards and two touchdowns — but no other running back had more than 20 yards on Saturday.

Iowa also struggled to take advantage of opportunities, including on a pair of situations inside the Iowa State 5-yard line that resulted in field goals on fourth down.

“That’s obviously an area we’re going to have to improve on,” Ferentz said after the game.

The Hawkeyes also failed to convert a two-point conversion after their third and final touchdown — an opportunity that, if successful, would have forced Iowa State to go for a touchdown in the final seconds instead of the game-winning field goal.

“I thought it gave us our best chance to win the football game,” Ferentz said of the two-point conversion attempt.

It was Iowa State’s second consecutive Cy-Hawk win at Kinnick Stadium. After Iowa won six consecutive Cy-Hawk games from 2015-21, Iowa State has taken two of the last three games.

“It’s going to hurt for a while, and we’re going to have to move forward and see what we can do to build off of this,” Ferentz said.

As bitter as the loss of a rivalry trophy may be, Saturday’s outcome also damages Iowa’s path to postseason prosperity.

Before Saturday’s game, ESPN’s Football Power Index gave the Hawkeyes a 10.7 percent chance of appearing in the 12-team CFP. The Cy-Hawk loss does not entirely close the door on Iowa’s CFP hopes, but the path is notably harder.

Only one of Iowa’s remaining 10 regular-season opponents is ranked, and that is No. 2 Ohio State — a foe that will be overwhelmingly favored against the Hawkeyes.

If Iowa loses at Ohio State on Oct. 5 and wins its other nine remaining games, the Hawkeyes’ resume — a 10-2 record potentially without any ranked wins — would be unlikely (although impossible) to garner a ranking high enough for the last at-large bid.

If Iowa State succeeds in the Big 12 and works itself into playoff contention, that could minimize the impact of Saturday’s loss on Iowa’s resume. But any CFP hypotheticals may be premature after the Hawkeyes mustered only 25 yards in the fourth quarter against a respectable-but-unranked Iowa State team.

“We still have 12 weeks in front of us, 10 games,” Ferentz said. “And you never want to lose a game certainly, but the biggest thing is, like any time of the season, it’s how are you going to respond to it.”

Iowa will conclude its nonconference slate next Saturday at home against Troy at 3 p.m. The Trojans, with new head coach Gerad Parker, are 0-2 after losses to Nevada and Memphis.

“If I don’t watch Troy and I don’t study those guys, then we fall another game,” linebacker Jay Higgins said, “and now we’re in the same boat.”

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com

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