Hawkeyes Come Up Short

Nov. 20, 2010

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IOWA CITY, Iowa — Two times this Big Ten Conference season the nationally ranked Iowa Hawkeyes secured a takeaway in the fourth quarter but failed to turn it into seven points. Saturday afternoon at Kinnick Stadium, the Hawkeyes said enough was enough.

Iowa needed just two plays to take Shaun Prater’s interception of Ohio State’s Terrell Pryor and convert it into a touchdown thanks to the strong legs of Marcus Coker. The freshman running back gained 26 yards on his first touch after the turnover the crashed forward for one, a touchdown and 17-10 lead with almost 12 minutes to play.

The Buckeyes, however, responded with 10 unanswered points, the go-ahead touchdown coming by Dan Herron from one yard out with 1:47 to play at the end of a 12-play, 76-yard drive.

The pick that gave the Hawkeyes its brief fourth quarter lead was Iowa’s second of the game. They were the only turnovers in the game.

Iowa’s performance wasn’t without its bright spots, however. Freshman middle linebacker had another big game, collecting nine tackles. Coker, another freshman, gained 70 yards on nine carries.

“We had some good things going on (today), and (Marcus) is certainly one of them. He’s really done a great job. To me, today was his most impressive outing. Did a nice job over in Indiana a few weeks ago,” Kirk Ferentz said of his rookie running back.

“But, today, the lights were on. Pretty good defensive football team here playing. Thought he made a good showing of himself, so you’ve got to give him a lot of credit.”

Junior wide receiver Marvin McNutt also contributed a game-high seven catches for 92 yards, 19 of which that came on game’s first scoring play in the first quarter. And, senior Ricky Stanzi said good-bye to Kinnick Stadium with a sterling performance of 20-for-31, 195 yard and a touchdown.

McNutt’s touchdown grab completed an 8-play, 87-yard drive that included pretty 15-yard pass-and-catch between Stanzi and Derrell Johnson-Koulianos and runs of 18, 7 and 5 runs and an 11-yard catch by Coker.