Defense, punting allow Iowa to eke past South Dakota State in ugly season opener

IOWA CITY — The quarterback play certainly wasn’t pretty. The offensive line protection (or lack there of) wasn’t pretty. The kicking wasn’t always pretty. A lot of things weren’t pretty.

But the Hawkeyes did enough to eek past FCS-level South Dakota State with a 7-3 win Saturday.

A familiar formula worked for the Hawkeyes. Elite defense plus effective punting added up to a big advantage in the field-position battle.

“When one unit is struggling — the offense today — the other two need to pick us up,” quarterback Spencer Petras said. “And that’s exactly what the defense and special teams did today.”

The go-ahead score came in the third quarter when linebacker Jack Campbell stopped a run for a 1-yard loss and a safety. A 49-yard punt from Tory Taylor downed at the 1-yard-line set up the play.

Then Iowa’s Joe Evans was credited with a sack in the end zone late in the fourth quarter for Iowa’s second safety of the day. Again, the safety occurred after Taylor pinned the Jackrabbits deep in their own territory.

It was Iowa’s first game with two safeties since 2018.

The Hawkeyes never led by more than four points, and the Jackrabbits got the ball back with 37 seconds left and the ball on their own 20-yard-line.

But Iowa’s defense once again made the critical stop.

The Hawkeyes held the Jackrabbits’ potent offense to just 2.1 yards per play Saturday.

SDSU quarterback Mark Gronowski, after earning FCS Freshman of the Year recognition from Phil Steele in spring 2021, completed just 10 of 26 passes for 87 yards.

The Jackrabbits’ rushing attack averaged 1.1 yards per carry on the ground against Iowa’s defensive front.

“We put a couple fires out,” defensive back Terry Roberts said.

Taylor, meanwhile, had an exceptional performance.

Taylor’s first two punts were for 57 and 55 yards. He finished with 10 punts, seven of which landed inside the South Dakota State 20-yard-line.

“At one point I said, ‘This kid is a freak,’” South Dakota State head coach John Stiegelmeier said.

Iowa’s offense, met with frequent booing from a sellout Kinnick crowd, was much less impressive.

“Obviously we need to grow offensively,” Petras said. “And I think we will. I don’t think this is representative of our offense at all.”

The unit had some promising opportunities, but could not execute. The Hawkeyes started three first-half drives in South Dakota State territory, and they had three first-half points to show for it.

SDSU punter Hunter Dustman shanked a 17-yard punt, giving the Hawkeyes a golden opportunity early in the first quarter, but Iowa couldn’t take advantage. The Hawkeyes went three-and-out on a drive that started on the SDSU 27-yard-line, and Aaron Blom missed a 40-yard field goal.

When the Hawkeyes finally reached the red zone late in the third quarter, running back Leshon Williams’ fumble gave the ball back to the Jackrabbits.

Petras completed 11 of 25 passes and had one interception. Head coach Kirk Ferentz defended the starting quarterback’s performance afterward.

“He was doing a good job out there, but we didn't support him enough,” Ferentz said.

Iowa was especially thin at wide receiver. Nico Ragaini and Keagan Johnson were both out, leaving the Hawkeyes with only two scholarship players participating in warmups. A young offensive line allowed an excess of pressure as well.

The running game didn’t do much better, averaging 1.6 yards per carry. An injury kept No. 1 back Gavin Williams out of uniform Saturday.

Going back to last year, Saturday’s win marked the second time in the last three games that Iowa’s offense did not score a touchdown.

“Clearly a lot of things we have to get better at and work on,” Ferentz said.

As ugly as it was, it’s still a win, though. Iowa is 1-0 going into the Cy-Hawk game against Iowa State next week.

“1-0 is better than being 0-1,” Leshon Williams said.

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