Oct. 5, 2013
Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery 1 
| USATSI Gallery | Photo Gallery 3
The Iowa football team fell to Michigan State, 26-14, today inside Kinnick Stadium.
QB Jake Rudock completed touchdown passes to Damon Bullock (47 yards) and C.J. Fiedorowicz (10 yards). He has eight touchdown passes this season, five of which have been for 20-plus yards.
After starting the game 1-4 for 5 yards, QB Jake Rudock finished the half completing 11 straight passes for 138 yards.
RB Damon Bullock’s 47-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter is the longest play Michigan State has allowed this season. It is also the longest reception of Bullock’s career.
Three Hawkeyes finished the game matching or setting career highs in receptions and yards. WR Tevaun Smith caught a career-best six passes for a career-high 59 yards. Smith’s 36-yard reception in the second quarter was a career long. RB Damon Bullock matched his career high with five catches for a career-high 71 yards. WR Matt Vandeberg caught a career-best four receptions for a career-high 36 yards.
LB James Morris and LB Anthony Hitchens led Iowa with a game-high 12 tackles. Senior LBs Anthony Hitchens and Christian Kirksey rank third and 11th, respectively, among Big Ten leading tacklers. Morris has been credited with double-digit tackle games 16 times in his career, while Hitchens has 11 double-digit tackle games. Morris moves into 13th place on Iowa career tackles list. He has 336 career stops, trailing Melvin Foster (337), Aaron Kampman (342), and Dave Haight (346) for a spot inside the top 10.
K Mike Meyer made two PAT attempts, increasing his streak to 102 consecutive PATs, which is the fourth-longest active streak in the nation and ranks fifth best all-time in the Big Ten.
LB James Morris recorded his third interception of the season today. The Hawkeyes have recorded nine interceptions through six games. Iowa has 92 interceptions since the start of 2008. Entering today, the Hawkeyes’ 91 interceptions over that period rank seventh in the nation.
TE C.J. Fiedorowicz caught three passes today to extend his streak of consecutive games with a reception to 24. WR Kevonte Martin-Manley saw his similar streak end at 23 games. Martin-Manley left the game in the second quarter with a right leg injury and did not return. Fiedorowicz has 70 catches for 666 yards over the last 24 games, and has caught all six career touchdowns during the streak.
CB Desmond King and SS John Lowdermilk both recorded career highs in tackles. King made 11 stops, and Lowdermilk finished with nine tackles.
Iowa held its opponent scoreless in the first quarter for the fifth straight game.
Iowa outscored Michigan State 14-10 in the second quarter. The Hawkeyes have outscored their opponents 86-20 in the second quarter this season.
Iowa lost the turnover battle for just the second time this season. The Hawkeyes are 0-2 in those games (Northern Illinois (Northern Illinois, -2; Michigan State, -1). Iowa is 4-0 when winning turnover margin.
The Hawkeyes have converted on 103 consecutive PATs without a miss or block, and 36 consecutive games without a missed or blocked PAT, the seventh-longest streak of any school in the nation.
Michigan State won the toss and elected to defer to the second half. Iowa has started the game on offense in 146-of-180 games under Kirk Ferentz, including three times this season. The Hawkeyes started on offense against Northern Illinois (L, 30-27), at Minnesota (W, 23-7), and against Michigan State (L, 26-14).
Iowa will be idle next Saturday before returning to action at Ohio State on Oct. 19 (2:30 p.m. CT). The contest in Columbus, Ohio, will be televised by ABC.