Hawkeyes football: Where improbable walk-off victories are baked into the November cake

IOWA CITY — If the end of Friday’s improbable Iowa football victory had been a one-time thing, you’d say the Hawkeyes got lucky.

However, this was not an isolated incident. Ending a game with a winning field goal after forcing your way just to stay close is Iowa’s calling card. Happy? As Branch Rickey, president and general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, said in a comment he made famous in 1946, “Luck is the residue of design.”

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz had a different saying in mind as he walked onto the Kinnick field after his team’s last-second 13-10 win over Nebraska, the second such win over the Huskers by that score in the last two seasons stadium left.

“I thought of a quote from Albert Einstein,” Ferentz said, “that not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.”

“I think that sometimes explains how things go in sports… as much as you want to analyze it, slice it, dice it, cut it into pieces and so on. I know stats are important, but sometimes you just have to find a way to win and our team did that.”

Most of the stats all night were against the Hawkeyes. They were outrebounded, 334 yards to 164. They had five first downs to Nebraska’s 20. But Ferentz pointed to three program staples that his men once again delivered:

There are very few penalties (1), turnovers (none, up to two by the Huskers) and outstanding special teams.

Taking care of these areas will help you survive until you finally do other successful things. Like Kaleb Johnson’s incredible 72-yard run in the fourth quarter after catching a short pass from Jackson Stratton. For example, when defensive end Max Llewellyn picked off Husker quarterback Dylan Raiola at the Nebraska 36 with 20 seconds left and the game tied at 10.

Like Drew Stevens’ last-second 53-yard field goal.

“I looked at it and said, ‘What is that, 53?’ He’s got it,” Iowa senior linebacker Nick Jackson said.

Of course he did it. That’s what Iowa does, especially as November moves into December. Since 2018, Iowa has achieved six Big Ten wins by margins of either a last-second field goal or a last-30 second field goal.

That includes Miguel Recinos, Keith Duncan, Marshall Meeder and now Drew Stevens, who are walk-off winners against Nebraska.

Stevens almost hit the right goal post. Then in that series, he led a team sprint across the field to the challenge cup before being hugged a hundred times by his teammates.

It was the difference between an 8-4 and 7-5 regular season record. What is much more important is that the 23 seniors were able to play their last home game with a great feeling.

“It was just an end to the story,” Jackson said.

“You’re going to cry,” his linebacking partner, senior Jay Higgins, teased. “I don’t even know this kid.”

Jackson and Higgins held court together in an interrogation room in Kinnick. You could listen to them for hours. Higgins noted how fans booed when the team stepped up offensively in the first half, punting instead of a 4th-and-1 at the Nebraska 49 in the first quarter.

You know, Ferentz stuff. He said he wanted to go to the yard himself, but wasn’t confident enough in his team’s ability to do it.

Plus, he always plays the long game. If the offense is bogged down, just keep playing for field position. Stay within striking distance, be ready to strike in the moments that come to fruition.

“This is Iowa football,” Higgins said. And he loves it.

“To be honest,” Ferentz said, “there really wasn’t much to be happy about at halftime.” But no one let that get to them.

“You just have to keep finding ways to win. And it all starts with the boys having to play hard and put in a lot of effort. And you have to have a certain faith.”

Oh, and one more thing. At this level, you really need great talent to be on par with what Johnson has done all season.

Nebraska led 10-3 early in the fourth quarter when Johnson got his big bite. The route from Stratton to Johnson was shorter than the distance most people travel from the living room to the refrigerator. And then…

“He passed a guy, he passed a guy, he passed a guy,” Jackson said. “I don’t know what else you can do on this run.”

Johnson lost everyone’s attacking efforts between Ogallala and Omaha. It was awesome and ridiculous.

Then Llewellyn woke up to his moment. Stevens rose to his. And a team that had led by a total of zero seconds in this game was ahead when the clock showed only zeros.

Any way you slice it, dice it, slice it, the team without all the yards and first downs had the most points. Warm hearts on a cold night.

Comments: (319) 398-8440; [email protected]