Oct. 27, 2007
Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery 1 
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Iowa won the coin toss and deferred to the second half. Iowa has started on offense in 91 of its last 101 contests. Today marks the second game this year in which Iowa won the toss and deferred (at Penn State). The Hawkeyes have started the game on offense in 93 of 107 contests under Kirk Ferentz.
Today marked Iowa’s fifth overtime game and its first between Michigan State and Iowa. Today’s thrilling 34-27 double overtime win improves Iowa’s all-time overtime mark to 4-1. Today was only the second overtime contest in Kinnick Stadium. The Hawkeyes won in double overtime at Penn State (26-23) in 2000 and at Syracuse (20-13) in 2006. In single overtime games, Iowa won at Penn State (42-35) in 2002 and lost at home to Michigan (23-20) in 2005.
Today was Iowa’s 28th consecutive sellout, dating back to the 2003 season. The last Hawkeye game not sold out was vs. Buffalo (9/6/03).
Iowa has won 30 of its last 35 games in Kinnick Stadium, dating back to the 2002 season. The Hawkeyes boast the 13th-best home winning percentage in the country over the last five years (2003-07).
The home team has won the last eight meetings. Iowa has now won seven of the last 10 games in the series. The Hawkeyes have won the last six contests played against the Spartans in Kinnick Stadium.
RB Albert Young finished the game with 179 yards on 34 attempts and two touchdowns. His totals from today are his second-highest rushing total of his career (202 at Northwestern in 2005). The 179 yards rank as the 21st-highest total in Iowa single-game history. Today’s totals moved the senior moved past Fred Russell into fourth place in Iowa career rushing. Young now has 2,927 yards on 606 carries.
Young had a 26-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. The score was Young’s second of the year. The 26-yard touchdown run is Iowa’s longest running score of the season. The previous long was an 11-yard touchdown run by QB Jake Christensen at Iowa State. On Iowa’s next possession, Young had a 29-yard run, which set up a three-yard scoring run by Young, his second rushing score of the game.
Today marked RB Albert Young’s first multiple rushing touchdown game since scoring twice at Northwestern (11/5/05). He has rushed for two touchdowns in a contest four times in his career. The previous three games were during the 2005 campaign (Northwestern, Northern Iowa and Indiana). Young has now scored 132 career points, a total that ties Nick Bell and Owen Gill for 14th on Iowa’s career scoring chart.
Sophomore Chad Geary started his first career game today at defensive end, replacing the injured Ken Iwebema. Iwebema started nine straight games before missing today’s contest. Geary totaled two tackles and a sack for eight yards loss today. Also, True freshman Bryan Bulaga and sophomore Dan Doering both earned their second career start in as many weeks today. Bulaga started at left guard, while Doering started at right guard.
Iowa has not scored on its opening drive in any of its nine games. Michigan State failed to score on its first possession. Three of Iowa’s opponents (Purdue — TD, Iowa State and Illinois — field goals) have scored on their first possession.
RB Damian Sims had a 30-yard run in the second quarter, Iowa’s longest run from scrimmage this season. The previous long was RB Albert Young’s 26-yarder last week at Purdue.
PK Daniel Murray kicked a 43-yard field goal in the second period. He later kicked a career-long 47-yarder in the fourth quarter. His previous best, before today’s contest, was 41 yards (at Wisconsin). Today marked the third time this season Murray converted two field goals in a game (at Wisconsin and at Purdue). Murray finished the game 2-3, as he missed a 40-yard attempt (wide left) in the fourth quarter. The redshirt freshman finished the game with a single-game career-high 10 points.
P Ryan Donahue booted a career-long 82-yard punt in the fourth quarter, which is the second-longest punt in Hawkeye history. Lonnie Rodgers had an 83-yard punt vs. Oregon State on Sept. 26, 1962. Donahue punted eight times for 413 yards, for an average of 51.6 yards. Donahue had four punts over 50 yards today (50, 53, 55 and 82 yards) and had one punt downed inside the 20.
WR Paul Chaney, Jr. caught his first career touchdown in overtime to tie the game (27-27), hauling in a 23-yard scoring reception.
RB Jevon Pugh scored his first career touchdown in the second overtime from one yard away to grab a 34-27 advantage.
QB Jake Christensen has thrown at least one touchdown in all four home games this season (4 vs. Syracuse, 3 vs. Indiana, 1 vs. Illinois and 1 vs. Michigan State). The sophomore improves to 4-1 as a starter in home games.
LB Mike Humpal had 10 of his game-high 18 tackles in the first half and also had a pass break-up. The 18 tackles equal a career high (vs. Illinois). Humpal, who ranks second in the league in tackles, has led the Hawkeyes in tackles the past five contests. Additionally, he has posted double-digit stops in six games this season, including four of the last five.
Iowa entered today’s game ranked 14th nationally in turnover margin. The Hawkeyes had one takeaway today, recovering a fumble in the fourth period, to increase its turnover margin to +9 for the season. DB Bradley Fletcher forced his second career fumble, while LB A.J. Edds recovered his first career fumble. Iowa failed to turn the takeaway into points, as Daniel Murray missed a 40-yard field goal. As a unit, Iowa forced three fumbles today.
Iowa rushed for 230 yards today, marking the second time this season the Hawkeyes rushed over 200 yards in a game (250 vs. Northern Illinois).
Iowa scored 14 third-quarter points today, the most it’s scored in the third period this season. The previous high was 10 at Iowa State. The Hawkeyes own a 50-24 scoring advantage over the opposition in the third quarter this season.
DB Bradley Fletcher collected a career-high 13 tackles and also forced his second career fumble. DB Charles Godfrey matched career high with 12 tackles (9 solo) today. He also had 12 tackles vs. Ohio State in 2006.
DE Bryan Mattison forced his seventh career fumble today. He also had six tackles and a sack for six yards loss.
Iowa averaged 8.6 yards on 21 second plays. All four Iowa plays resulting in 20 yards or more occurred on second down.
Instant Replay was not used in today’s contest.
Iowa will play its regular season road finale next Saturday at Northwestern (11:05 a.m.).