Iowa football rewind: Examining Hawkeyes’ bizarre path to victory over Nebraska

IOWA CITY — Many of Iowa football’s statistics against Nebraska, in most cases, might not seem like winning numbers.

Only one Iowa drive went 30-plus yards. The Hawkeyes were outgained, 334-164. (Yes, Nebraska really had more than twice as many total yards as Iowa had.) Nebraska had four times as many first downs as Iowa had (20-5).

Yet the Hawkeyes were the ones jubilantly hoisting the Heroes Trophy following their ninth win over Nebraska in the last 10 years.

“I know statistics are important, but sometimes you just have to find a way to win,” Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said. “And our team did that.”

Here are some observations after rewatching the Hawkeyes’ unique path to victory:

Kaleb Johnson’s breakout play

Almost half of Iowa’s offensive yards came on star running back Kaleb Johnson’s 72-yard touchdown reception on the first play of the fourth quarter. For as many impressive rushing plays as Johnson has contributed in 2024, this reception was arguably even more impressive.

Johnson caught a pass from quarterback Jackson Stratton on the right side with ease despite the throw being slightly behind the ideal spot for it.

The 225-pound running back ran through a small opening between offensive lineman Nick DeJong, tight end Luke Lachey and wide receiver Seth Anderson’s blocks. The player Anderson was blocking, Marques Buford Jr., got a hand on Johnson, but it did not slow him down.

Another three Nebraska players — 230-pound linebacker John Bullock and defensive backs DeShon Singleton and defensive lineman Ty Robinson — fell like bowling pins as they (unsuccessfully) tried to take Johnson down.

Johnson then ran along the west sideline, made a cut to the left as defensive back Malcolm Hartzog failed to tackle him by his legs. Johnson finally outran Nebraska linebacker Mikai Gbayor in the open field on his way to the end zone.

The players that Johnson easily evaded are usually not quite so easy to evade. Nebraska’s 106 missed tackles this season, according to Pro Football Focus, are not far off from Iowa’s 98 missed tackles or even Ohio State’s 95 missed tackles.

Nebraska’s array special teams blunders

Nebraska’s muffed punt (and Iowa cornerback John Nestor’s recovery) in the third quarter certainly changed the dynamics of Friday’s game, as it opened the door for the Hawkeyes’ first and only red-zone trip.

A remarkable set of Nebraska special teams blunders set up the game-changing moment.

Nebraska returner Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda waved for a fair catch. The punt landed in front of him as he made a bad read on where the ball was going to be. It then bounced over him and toward the end zone.

Garcia-Castaneda never touched the ball, however, so all that Nebraska had to do was not touch the ball. It would not be ideal field position (at their own four-yard line), but the Huskers would at least maintain possession.

His Husker teammates seemingly did not realize that, though, as multiple players made diving efforts to recover the punt. That included linebacker Vincent Shavers Jr., who barely touched the ball before Iowa’s Nestor recovered it.

Had Shavers realized that Garcia-Castaneda didn’t touch the ball or simply was a half-second slower on his dive, Nebraska would maintain possession. The same goes for if Garcia-Castaneda simply caught the relatively routine punt in the first place.

Instead, Iowa got another spark from its special teams unit en route to another comeback win over its Big Ten rival to the west. (One would be forgiven for getting a slight sense of deja vu from 2021.)

Iowa’s fourth-down decision-making works out

Had Iowa not eked out a win in Friday’s close contest, its goal-to-go opportunity following Nestor’s recovery would have been one of the bigger what-ifs.

The Hawkeyes settled for a field goal on fourth-and-goal from the 2-yard line, surely to the chagrin of some fans. Even Ferentz “wanted to go for it badly.”

“I’ll be brutally honest; I didn’t have confidence we were going to make it on the fourth-and-one down in there,” Ferentz said. “I do know this — if we didn’t get points at that point, it could be problematic. I’m hoping something was going to happen later in the half. So, fortunately it did.”

Iowa also was conservative on whether to go for it or punt when it had relatively favorable field position, most notably when Rhys Dakin punted on a fourth-and-1 on the Nebraska 49-yard line.

“We punted twice from midfield, right? I'm sure we were getting booed,” Ferentz said. “Sometimes you can't be a fan. Like you just have to think about what's going on, how we're playing and think big picture.”

Iowa overcomes one-dimensional offense

Stratton’s stat line against Nebraska — 8-of-15 for 112 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions — will not leap off the page, but looked respectable at first glance.

Those numbers come with a big asterisk, though.

Take out the 72-yard touchdown reception — a play where Johnson caught the pass behind the line of scrimmage and literally did the legwork — and Stratton would have been 7-of-14 for 43 yards. Instead of a passer rating of 139.7, he would have had a passer rating of 75.8.

Iowa’s lack of passing threat allowed Nebraska to essentially go all-out against Iowa’s rushing attack — a tactic that held the Hawkeyes to a season-low 49 rushing yards. A staggering seven of Johnson’s 17 rushing attempts resulted in a loss of yards.

Nebraska’s stop-the-run-at-all-costs strategy was evident on a third-and-4 in the first quarter when Nebraska had nine players lined up within five yards of the line of scrimmage. The other two were about six yards away from the line of scrimmage. Stratton had Jarriett Buie in single coverage downfield, but they could not connect.

“That’s going to be the matchup to watch tonight,” NBC analyst Colt McCoy said on the broadcast after the play. “Can Nebraska’s DBs play man coverage and allow Nebraska’s front to just swarm the quarterback, stop the run, rush the passer?”

If Stratton could connect with his receivers on passes like the aforementioned one to Buie, it would have gone a long way in keeping Nebraska’s defense honest against the Hawkeyes’ rushing attack.

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com

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