Of course McNutt is on the 'hands' team

IOWA CITY -- On the one where he tied the record, Marvin McNutt kind of fumbled the ball as he went to hand it back to the official.

He's done this 21 times now, so you'd think it would've been a smooth flip. Did he maybe think about keeping that football?

"Oh no, no way," McNutt said. "I tied the record, haven't beaten it. It really doesn't matter. I'm trying to keep doing whatever I can to help this team win."

McNutt's 35-yard TD reception in the fourth quarter of Iowa's 41-31 victory over Northwestern on Saturday tied the school's career TD reception record. He shares it with Tim Dwight (1994-97) and Danan Hughes (1989-92). McNutt finished the night with six receptions for 87 yards.

"He's hard to stop," said Iowa quarterback James Vandenberg, who completed 14 of 22 for 224 yards, an interception and two TDs. "He's been great for a long time here. He's a great weapon and he's hard to stop."

All the flow that was missing from Iowa's passing game last week at Penn State showed up against Northwestern.

Iowa had two TD drives that went three plays and 70-plus yards. On back-to-back plays, Vandenberg completed a 31-yarder to junior wide receiver Keenan Davis and then hit Davis for a 47-yard TD, Iowa's second-longest play this season.

The second three-play drive was 17-yard completion to Davis, 13-yard run by running back Marcus Coker and the 35-yarder to McNutt.

"Iowa has great talent on the perimeter," Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald said. "Marvin is a really good player. I'm glad he's graduating this year. That's great."

Iowa sports information is kind of in numbers watch with McNutt.

Career-wise, McNutt has 123 catches (10th) for 2,119 yards (fifth). His 17.2-yard average on receptions is the best for an Iowa receiver. McNutt is on pace for a 1,000-yard season (573 yards). He'd be the first to reach that milestone since Kevin Kasper in 2000.

Those are all big, shiny numbers, but leave it to the coach to boil it down to what wins games. Other than big numbers, of course.

"He made a couple of big plays on the onside kick recoveries," Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said.

He did just that, recovering two onside kicks in the fourth quarter. He returned one 14 yards to Northwestern's 24, setting up Iowa's final TD and a 41-24 lead with 3:56 left.

When a team faces on obvious onside kick situation, the special teams coach puts in the "hands" team. This is a group of receivers and tight ends who earn their scholarship by catching the ball.

McNutt has been on hands team since he moved to wide receiver as a sophomore. You just never saw it until Saturday night.

"Those are huge, those are probably more important than a touchdown," said McNutt, who has three 100-yard receiving games this season. "When the game's on the line, you have to concentrate knowing you're probably going to get a good shot. You have to concentrate and make sure you do your job."

For the record, McNutt talked about the onside kick recoveries before the record during the postgame.