King does his thing (eventually)

AMES — For all the stripes that Desmond King has earned during his Iowa career, which now includes 27 consecutive starts at cornerback, he's still the new guy on this punt return thing.

You saw that during the Hawkeyes' 31-17 victory over Iowa State on Saturday. You saw King try to track the ball with the wind. You saw some indecision on whether or not to fair catch. He also caught a few inside the 10-yard line that maybe he shouldn't have. He didn't catch a few that maybe he should've.

Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz made a strong statement by inserting his most accomplished corner in at punt and kick returner. It looked shaky at times Saturday.

King even had one of those tiptoe sideline kick return thingies you all remember so well from the TaxSlayer Bowl. It was late in the first half, King fell out of bounds at Iowa's 2.

And then it hit.

In the fourth quarter, King broke up the middle on a called middle punt return and bailed Iowa out of horrible field position, going 34 yards to set up the Hawkeyes at the 50 with 6:08 left. This set up what became the game-winning drive, finishing with C.J. Beathard's 25-yard pass to wide receiver Riley McCarron.

'Once I caught the ball, it was kind of shut down (the middle) at first,' King said. 'And then, there it was.'

Iowa's offense steadily built confidence in the second half, but it was buried on its end of the field. On three consecutive drives in the late third and early fourth quarters, Iowa's starting field position was its 11, 17 and 6.

And then King hit.

'He's stuck with it, we stuck with him,' Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. 'He's earned that a little bit through what he's done for three-plus years.'

It was an up-and-down day overall for King. Iowa State punted seven times, but he was able to return only two. He also got caught by a step on a second-quarter TD pass that gave Iowa State a 17-10 halftime lead.

'You just have to keep a short-term memory,' King said. 'You just have to know that your time is going to come. Bad things are going to happen during games. You have to keep your head in it and play better.'

Just as King saved his best punt return for last, he came up with the interception that finished off the Cyclones. After King's punt return paved the way for Iowa's lead, King picked off a Sam Richardson pass on third-and-7 from ISU's 29 on the ensuing drive.

King did his thing, eventually.

'I figured an opportunity was coming,' King said. 'I just finally had to take that chance and get a return and get some field position for our offense, set up a scoring drive and get back on defense. We knew we were going to have to stop them and the play came and we held them down.'

IOWA GAME NOTES

Iowa at Iowa State Postgame Notes

Sept. 12, 2015

POSTGAME NOTES

Iowa (2-0) defeated Iowa State (1-1), 31-17, Saturday at Jack Trice Stadium.

Iowa outscored the Cyclones 21-0 in the second half and improves to 41-22 all-time against Iowa State.

Iowa regained possession of the Cy-Hawk Trophy and leads the 2015 Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series, 7-0, following wins in soccer, volleyball, and football. Saturday is the first of four trophy games on Iowa's 2015 schedule: Iowa State (Cy-Hawk), Minnesota (Floyd of Rosedale), Wisconsin (Heartland), and Nebraska (Heroes). Only Minnesota visits Iowa City.

The visiting team has won the last four meetings in the Cy-Hawk Series. Today's score marked the first time in five years the game wasn't decided by one possession.

The Iowa defense allowed 66 yards on 31 plays in the second half after allowing 244 yards on 31 plays in the first half.

The Hawkeyes converted 5-of-7 third downs in the second half, and 2-of-7 third downs in the first half.

INDIVIDUAL SUPERLATIVES

QB C.J. Beathard improved to 3-0 in his career as a starter. He is 1-0 at home, and 2-0 on the road (Purdue, 2014; Iowa State, 2015). He was 15-of-25 for 215 yards passing and a career high three touchdown. He rushed 10 times for 77 yards. The 10 rushing attempts was a career high.

RB Jordan Canzeri carried a career-high 24 times for 124 yards and a touchdown. He scored from eight yards on Iowa's final scoring drive. It was his fourth career rushing touchdown and second this season. Canzeri had had over 100 all-purpose yards for the second straight week. He had 143 total yards against Iowa State (124 rushing and 19 receiving).

WR Matt VandeBerg has scored a touchdown in three straight games. He caught touchdowns against Tennessee and Illinois State, and returned a fumble three yards today for a touchdown. VandeBerg played 22 career games before catching his first touchdown.

WR Matt VandeBerg had career highs in receptions (9) and yards (114). His 47-yard reception in the fourth quarter was a career long.

WR Riley McCarron's first catch of the season was a 25-yard, eventual game-winning touchdown. It was his first career touchdown.

TE Henry Krieger Coble had a career best 34 yards receiving.

DE Drew Ott left the game with three minutes left in the first quarter and did not return.

RB LeShun Daniels left the game in the second quarter and did not return.

Redshirt freshman TE Jameer Outsey made his first career start.

K Marshall Koehn has connected on five consecutive field goal attempts over the last five games. Koehn is 5-of-6 in his career on field goals 40-plus yards.

P Dillon Kidd punted five times for 237 yards. Kidd downed two punts inside the 20 and had two punts over 50 yards (55, 50, 49, 46, 37). He averaged 47.4 yards per punt.

DB Desmond King returned a punt 34 yards (career long) to set up Iowa's go-ahead touchdown drive. On Iowa State's ensuring possession, King intercepted a pass (first this season, fourth of career) to set up another Hawkeye touchdown. King added five tackles on defense.

MISCELLANEOUS

Iowa State won the toss and deferred. Iowa received the opening kickoff. In 17 seasons as Iowa's head coach, Kirk Ferentz and the Hawkeyes received the opening kickoff in 164-202 games (97-67). Iowa has started the game on defense in 38-of-202 games under Ferentz (20-18).

The Hawkeyes have played 58 consecutive games without a missed or blocked PAT, the longest streak of any school in the nation. Iowa has converted on 176 consecutive PATs during the streak.

Instant replay was used three times today:

1) Iowa State incomplete pass (confirmed)

2) Iowa State third-down conversion: Lazard (overruled)

3) Iowa State third-down conversion: Lazard (confirmed)

UP NEXT

The Hawkeyes host Pittsburgh on Saturday, Sept. 18, at 7 p.m. (CT) at Kinnick Stadium. Tickets are available at the UI Athletic Ticket Office.

l Comments: (319) 398-8256; marc.morehouse@thegazette.com