Sept. 20, 2011
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IOWA CITY, Iowa — The red zone story for the Iowa Hawkeyes last Saturday wasn’t really what Kirk Ferentz’s squad did inside their opponent’s 20-yard line – although they were successful there, going a perfect 3-for-3 against the Pitt Panthers.
No, as fans of the Hawkeyes know and have celebrated, it’s what they did outside the 20 on their last two possessions in the fourth quarter that has people talking.
Trailing 27-17 after having cut its deficit by seven with a James Vandenberg to Keenan Davis scoring strike from 14-yards out, Iowa completed the largest comeback in school history with a pair of touchdown passes from Vandenberg to Kevonte Martin-Manley, both on the same route, the first covering 25 yards and the game-winner covering 22.
“It was good to see because Kevonte was really struggling in August. He had a good injury. He was out there practicing, but he was kind of a guy that was out there practicing….he didn’t really differentiate himself,” Ferentz said of the Hawkeyes’ slot receiver.
“(He picked) a good time to surface, that’s for sure.”
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“I don’t know if Kevonte is an all-Big Ten player yet, but he’s a good player.”
Kirk Ferentz
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The touchdown catches were the seventh and eighth receptions of the season for the redshirt freshman from Pontiac, Mich. It’s probably worth noting, too, that 6-foot, 205-pounder from Brother Rice High School leads Iowa’s talented receiving corps with three touchdowns.
“I don’t know if Kevonte is an all-Big Ten player yet, but he’s a good player,” added Ferentz.
Iowa will enter Saturday’s game against Louisiana-Monroe looking to add to some very positive red zone numbers in 2011: The Hawkeyes have been successful on 11 of it 12 visits inside the 20 in their first three games, registering four rushing touchdowns, three passing touchdowns and three field goals
Iowa has scored on 117 of its last 128 red zone possessions dating back to the Michigan State game in 2008. That 91 percent success rate includes 77 touchdowns.
Click HERE to watch this week’s Case IH Red Zone highlights package inside Hawkeye All-Access, the multi-media portal of hawkeyesports.com and a part of the Big Ten Digital Network.