Iowa vs. Washington Game Report: Numbers and notes from the Hawkeyes’ 40-16 win

IOWA CITY — A closer look at Iowa’s 40-16 win over Washington Saturday at Kinnick Stadium.

Turning point: A series of second-quarter special teams successes spurred Hawkeyes

Punting, and special teams in general, are winning when they’re good. Especially when the opponent’s aren’t. They helped Iowa turn a 7-7 score into a 20-10 halftime lead.

Freshman punter Rhys Dakin blasted a career-long 61-yarder with 7:16 left in the first half to give Washington the ball at its 15. Three plays later, Aaron Graves sacked U-Dub quarterback Will Rogers to force a fumble that Iowa’s Max Llewelyn recovered at the Washington 19.

Three plays later, Iowa’s Drew Stevens broke the 7-7 tie with a 37-yard field goal. Washington had a subsequent three-and-out, hit a 43-yard punt, and surrendered a 37-yard return by Kaden Wetjen to the Washington 29.

Iowa scored five plays later for a 17-7 lead, and stayed in front the rest of the way.

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Weirdly, considering the score, Washington (393) gained 65 more yards than the Hawkeyes (328). Better special teams and ball protection tilted the field and scoreboard Iowa’s way.

By the numbers: Washington at Iowa

0 — Iowa had a 0-yard scoring drive in the second quarter, which ended in a Stevens field goal. It also had a 5-yard drive for a field goal in the fourth quarter.

1 — Cade McNamara had his first passing touchdown against a Power 4 conference team since he joined Iowa. He threw for two scores, his first two since he threw three TD passes in the season opener against Illinois State.

3 — Kaleb Johnson scored three touchdowns for the Hawkeyes, two rushing and his first of the season receiving. He has 13 TDs this season, and at least one in each game.

4 — Stevens made all four of his field-goal tries, the last one from 51 yards.

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166 — Johnson had his fifth 100-yard rushing game, and reached that mark late in the second quarter. He finished with 166 yards, his fourth game of at least that much.

200 — Career wins for head coach Kirk Ferentz at Iowa, good for the second most wins by a Big Ten coach, behind only Amos Alonzo Stagg.

Iowa football notebook

* Iowa’s Seth Anderson, out with injury most of the season, got his first catch of the year on a third-and-10 conversion for the Hawkeyes on their first second-half possession.

The reception went for 27 yards, and an unnecessary roughness penalty on Washington turned it into a 41-yard play for Iowa, to the U-Dub 13.

* Another first-catch guy for Iowa turned it into his first touchdown. That was redshirt freshman Dayton Howard, who had a 33-yard catch-and-go for a fourth-quarter score.

* Many in the Kinnick Stadium crowd were quite sure Grady Gross missed a 35-yard field goal for Washington with 29 seconds left in the first half. The officials looked at each other before signaling the kick was good.

It was not reviewable because the kick went above the goal post.

* Washington was stopped on downs on consecutive fourth-down possessions, on fourth-and-4 and fourth-and-2. The Huskies were 1-of-4 overall on fourth-down conversion tries.

* The Huskies had a Williams-to-Williams touchdown with 2:58 left when Demond Williams Jr., threw a 2-yard pass to Rashid Williams. Both are freshmen.

* An Iowa fan named Joe got hit in the face by a Drew Stevens kickoff behind the end line and was knocked off his feet. He lived to tell about it.

* Washington brought a band of a few dozen members, and they sat at the top of the grandstand in the northeast corner.

* Former Iowa quarterback Spencer Petras set Utah State’s record for pass completions in a game Friday night when he went 41-of-59 for 461 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions in the Aggies’ 59-41 home loss to UNLV. He also lost a fumble.

Petras was at Iowa from 2018-23 and was 20-11 as the starting quarterback. He had three TD passes in a game twice as a Hawkeyes. His single-game high in passing yardage at Iowa was 265. He topped that in each of his last three games, and has thrown for 1,126 yards and eight touchdowns in that time for the 1-5 Aggies.

Iowa football injury report

Hawkeye tight end Addison Ostrenga was held out of the game due to injury.

Washington senior edge rusher Zach Durfee did not play.

Iowa’s next game

The Hawkeyes head to Michigan State (3-3, 1-2) Oct. 19 for a 6:30 p.m. game against the Spartans on NBC. Michigan State didn’t play this weekend.

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