‘Cost us a touchdown and a quarterback’

IOWA CITY - On Ricky Stanzi's right, Iowa had a tackle, tight end and an H-back. Then, the ball was snapped.

The tackle blocked down. The tight end went into his route. The H-back brushed off the defensive end and ran into pattern. Not long after the ball was snapped, Stanzi had no one on his right except Northwestern defensive end Corey Wootton.

It was a massive heart attack, for the game and, maybe, the Hawkeyes' season.

The 6-foot-7, 280-pounder sacked Stanzi, forced a fumble the Wildcats recovered for a touchdown and bent the Iowa quarterback's right ankle in a disgusting angle, pretty much bending the tide in Northwestern's 17-10 upset over No. 8 Iowa on Saturday.

What went wrong, besides everything?

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz didn't get into too many details.

“Obviously, we didn't get a good enough block, delay on their defensive end. He made the play,” he said. “It's a good play on their part, bad play on ours.

“It cost us a touchdown and a quarterback, unfortunately.”

It was a second-and-10 from Iowa's 6-yard line, with the Hawkeyes leading 10-0. Stanzi was coming off an interception on the last drive that allowed Northwestern to flip field position. NU punter Stefan Demos pinned the Hawkeyes at their 6 with a 31-yard punt.

The call was a naked bootleg off a play-action fake. A risk from your 6, yes, but it's also a play Iowa has made into a pillar of its offense.

It blew up in the worst way possible.

“It's unfortunate to see Ricky get injured. He's been having such a great year, it's been a magical ride and you never like to see a competitor get injured,” Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald said. “As a big momentum play, not only getting the sack and causing the fumble but getting the touchdown, that play was critical from a momentum standpoint.”

Iowa's right tackle Kyle Calloway blocked down. Tight end Allen Reisner gave Wootton a look before sprinting into his route. H-back Brett Morse gave Wootton a shove before going out for a pass.

Wootton, who suffered torn ACL and MCL in a knee in NU's bowl game last year, barrelled up field. Stanzi turned right into him. He had no time to react.

“Corey is continuing to get closer and closter to finally getting over the hump of him becoming the player he wants to be,” Fitzgerald said.

After Stanzi, redshirt freshman James Vandenberg led Iowa no points and only 121 yards total offense on 9 of 27 passing. The Hawkeyes will try to hang on to a portion of the Big Ten lead at Ohio State next week with a freshman quarterback making his first start.

“We're going to go over there and try to be aggressive and see if we can't score points,” Ferentz said. “It's going to be tough with just 10.”