Game Report: Iowa Hawkeyes 22, Rutgers Scarlet Knights 0

IOWA CITY — A closer look at No. 22 Iowa’s 22-0 win Saturday afternoon over Rutgers (6-4, 3-4) at Kinnick Stadium. The Hawkeyes improved to 8-2 overall and 5-2 in the Big Ten.

Turning point

Fans surely scurried to their phones.

Just who in the heck is that No. 48 for Iowa? That’d be Zach Ortwerth, a true freshman tight end from University High School in St. Louis.

Iowa took over possession of the football with 6:22 left in the third quarter of a 3-0 game. On first-and-10 from their 21-yard line, Hawkeyes quarterback Deacon Hill dropped back on play action and threw a long pass over the middle and over the Rutgers defense to a wide-open Ortwerth.

He ran all the way down to the Rutgers 25 before being caught from behind and tackled. That was his first career catch, his first statistic of any kind in the four games he has played.

No, Iowa didn’t get a touchdown after the big play, only a 43-yard Drew Stevens field goal. But it seemed to help ignite the Hawkeyes offense, which put together a pair of TD drives in the fourth quarter.

By the numbers

4 — Rutgers had three false start penalties and an illegal snap infraction in the game’s first 21 minutes.

4 — It was the fourth-straight game Iowa didn’t allow a first-half touchdown.

8 — This is Iowa’s eighth consecutive season of at least eight victories.

16 — Iowa wins in its last 17 games in November.

194 — Big Ten victories for Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz. That ties Michigan’s Bo Schembechler for third all time in the conference.

223 — Passing yards in this one for Hill.

402 — Total yards Saturday for Iowa.

Notebook

* Iowa’s last shutout of a Big Ten opponent was Oct. 26, 2019. That came against Northwestern in Evanston.

* Big Ten Network color analyst Jake Butt was highly complimentary of the way maligned Iowa offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz put together play calls Saturday. Butt is a former All-America tight end at Michigan who played some in the NFL.

“I want to take a second to recognize Brian Ferentz. He has called a phenomenal game today,” Butt said. “He has put Deacon Hill in excellent position, that drive doing a good job of scheming it up, presenting easy, clean pictures for his quarterback. Certainly has taken his fair share of criticism, but there is no denying when you go back and turn on this tape, Brian Ferentz has called an excellent game, putting his offense in position to succeed against a top-10 defense in Rutgers. This is one of the best defenses in college football. Brian Ferentz has done a great job schematically getting his guys in an advantageous position.”

* A week after not getting any rushing carries, running back Kaleb Johnson got 10 of them in this game, accumulating 54 yards. The RB touches were distributing evenly about three Hawkeyes, as Leshon Williams had 13 carries for 63 yards and Jaziun Patterson had 14 for 53 and a touchdown.

* Iowa was the first FBS team since LSU in 1985 to have a 7-2 record while averaging fewer than 20 points per game. The Hawkeyes came in averaging 18.4. Additionally, Iowa’s offensive average of 225.3 yards per game coming in here were the fewest of any FBS team in the 2000s.

* This was a matchup of the two schools’ all-time leaders in football coaching wins, Greg Schiano of Rutgers and Kirk Ferentz of Iowa. Schiano was the National Coach of the Year in 2006. Ferentz was in 2002 and 2015.

* Three media people from New Jersey covered the game in person. Just because there is a huge population in the New Jersey/New York City area doesn’t mean there is huge interest in Rutgers football. The two NFL teams there still attract a lot of attention, rumor has it.

Injury report

Iowa offensive guard Beau Stephens and tight end Steven Stillianos were listed as “out” before the game.

Offensive linemen Rusty Feth and Logan Jones had been “questionable,” but Jones started and Feth played.

Next game

Iowa hosts Illinois (5-5, 3-4 Big Ten) next Saturday at 2:30 p.m. The game will be televised by FS1. The Illini defeated Indiana in overtime, 48-45, Saturday in Champaign. Illinois quarterback John Paddock passed for 507 yards and four touchdowns.

Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com