Game Report: Michigan Wolverines 27, Iowa Hawkeyes 14

A closer look at Iowa’s 27-14 loss to No. 4 Michigan Saturday at Kinnick Stadium.

Turning point

It wasn’t anything dramatic. It was methodical, punishing, and came right out of the blocks.

Iowa won the coin flip, opted to defer, kicked off to Michigan. The Wolverines went 75 yards in 11 plays, the last one a 16-yard run by wide receiver Ronnie Bell. Michigan rushed for 51 yards on seven carries in the drive, a far cry from the 2.2 yards per rush the Hawkeyes had been allowing.

There was no answer. Iowa was blanked on its next possession and for the first three quarters. It was outgained 236 yards to 91 in the first half, with Michigan in possession of the ball for over 20 minutes, with 18 first downs to the Hawkeyes’ five.

It was 13-0 at halftime, and the Hawkeyes never got closer than 13 points again.

They made things somewhat interesting in the fourth quarter when they had the ball at the Michigan 6 with a fourth-and-2, but were stopped on downs with the Wolverines ahead 20-7. Michigan scored on its next possession.

By the numbers

0 — The Hawkeyes didn’t have a turnover for the third-straight game.

1 — Iowa gave up a first-half touchdown for the first time this season.

13 — The Hawkeyes had gone 13 consecutive quarters without a touchdown against Michigan before getting one on the first play of the fourth quarter.

27 — Iowa allowed 27 points, more than it had given up (23) over the first four games of the season.

59 — Michigan has outscored Iowa by 59 points (69-10) since last December.

1500 — Iowa was +1500 to win the game at halftime ($10 to win $150) on at least one online sportsbook. It wasn’t a good bet.

2005 — The Wolverines hadn’t won at Kinnick since 2005, and it was Jim Harbaugh’s first win here as a player or coach. He quarterbacked No. 2 Michigan when it lost 12-10 to No. 1 Iowa at Kinnick in 1985.

Notebook

* Michigan running back Blake Corum and his team’s offensive linemen were the bosses when it mattered.

Corum had 29 carries for 133 yards and a touchdown, his 10th of the season. Michigan rushed for 174 yards against a defense that had allowed just 73 rushing yards entering the game.

* Harbaugh gave the Hawkeyes and state of Iowa a shoutout after the game.

“This is a team that really prides themselves on blue-collar mentality,” he said. “They are a hardworking and physical team. I always try to have our team be like that.

“I even looked it up one time, and the whole blue-collar thing started in Iowa. I can’t remember the town, I think Des Moines, but the guys were wearing blue jumpsuits working in the mines.”

According to Iowa’s Department of Agriculture, there are 192 underground coal mines in Polk County and approximately 2,700 throughout Iowa.

“It’s people who do manual labor, people who work hard,” Harbaugh said. “We respect that and try to be about that. When you are playing a team like that, it’s exciting and challenging.”

* Besides all the players who were back to note the 20th anniversary of Iowa’s 2002 Big Ten co-championship team, another visitor here was Ettore Ewen.

Ewen is a former Hawkeye defensive lineman better known as Big E in the WWE. He was at field level with a microphone and got the fans fired up between the third and fourth quarters.

The ‘02 guys, about 25 of them, were feted during a second-quarter timeout. They were in possession of their Big Ten title trophy.

* The weather was lovely. It was sunny and 65 degrees at the 11:05 a.m. kickoff and only got better.

So that was something.

Injury report

Iowa cornerback Terry Roberts returned after a one-game absence to play on special teams.

The Hawkeyes didn’t appear to have any new injuries.

Next game

The Hawkeyes head to Champaign, Ill., Saturday to face Illinois at 6:30 p.m. (BTN). The Illini belted Wisconsin 34-10 in Madison Saturday to improve to 4-1 overall, 1-1 in the Big Ten.