Game Notes: Iowa vs. Northwestern

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1st and 10
1: The Hawkeyes have a Big Ten best nine-game regular season conference winning streak, their longest streak since winning 10 straight from 2001-02.
 
2: The Hawkeyes have won seven consecutive road games (the final road game at Illinois in 2014, all five road games in 2015, and last week at Rutgers). It’s their longest road winning streak in the Ferentz era.
 
3: RB Akrum Wadley recorded career highs in carries (26), yards (204) and touchdowns (4) last year against Northwestern. In two career games against Northwestern, Wadley has 41 carries, 310 yards, and five touchdowns.
 
4: DB Desmond King has been targeted 10 times this season, allowing six receptions for 41 yards. The average depth of route ran against King is 4.1 yards. He has allowed eight yards after catch (1.3 yards after catch per reception).
 
5: QB C.J. Beathard is 16-3 as Iowa’s starting quarterback, including 10-0 in Big Ten regular season games and 10-1 at Kinnick Stadium.
 
6: WR Matt VandeBerg ranks 10th in the Big Ten averaging 71.0 receiving yards per game and ties for 19th in school history with 106 receptions.  
 
7: DE Matt Nelson (4.0) and DE Anthony Nelson (3.5) rank second and fifth, respectively, in the Big Ten in sacks.
 
8: The Hawkeyes are +5 in turnover margin. Iowa has six takeaways — two interceptions, four fumble recoveries – and has turned five of the six takeaways into touchdowns.
 
9: P Ron Coluzzi averages 43.3 yards on 20 punts and has allowed just one punt return (0.0 yards).
 
10: Kirk Ferentz has 77 Big Ten wins, seventh all-time among the conference’s winningest coaches in Big Ten games. Lloyd Carr is sixth with 81 Big Ten victories.
 
    BIG TEN PERFECTION
    University of Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz has twice navigated the Big Ten regular season schedule with an undefeated record. The Hawkeyes were 8-0 in 2002 and shared the Big Ten championship with Ohio State, and 8-0 in 2015, winning the Big Ten West Division title. 
    Since 1954, when the conference schedule expanded to seven games, only six Big Ten coaches, including Ferentz, have multiple undefeated Big Ten seasons.

    FERENTZ CLOSING IN ON ROBERT ZUPPKE, LLOYD CARR
    Head coach Kirk Ferentz has 130 wins in all games played as a member of the Big Ten Conference. He ranks eighth in conference history, trailing Illinois’ Robert Zuppke, who won 131 games as a member of the Big Ten while coaching at Illinois. 
    Ferentz has 77 Big Ten wins, seventh among the conference’s all-time winningest coaches in Big Ten games. Lloyd Carr is sixth with 81 Big Ten victories.

    COLUZZI EARNED BIG TEN HONOR
    Senior Ron Coluzzi was named Big Ten Conference Special Teams Player of the Week for his play in Iowa’s 14-7 win at Rutgers.  The weekly honor is the first for the graduate transfer who is in his first season with the Hawkeyes.  Coluzzi (5-11, 182-pounds) is a native of Naperville who previously played at Central Michigan.
    In Iowa’s win over Rutgers, Coluzzi averaged 42 yards on seven punts, with a long of 55 yards.  Four of his kicks were placed inside the 20, as Rutgers recorded zero yards on just one return.  Coluzzi also had recorded touchbacks on all three of his kickoffs, allowing no returns.
    Through four games, Coluzzi is averaging 43.2 yards on 20 punts, with Hawkeye opponents recording just one return for no yards.  Coluzzi has also recorded 18 touchbacks on 22 kickoffs.
    Coluzzi is the second Hawkeye to be honored in 2016, as redshirt freshman Anthony Nelson was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week following Iowa’s opening win over Miami, Ohio.

    THE LONELY ISLAND
    Through four games, DB Desmond King has been targeted 10 times this season, allowing six receptions for 41 yards. The average depth of route ran against King is 4.1 yards. He has allowed eight yards after catch (1.3 yards after catch per reception).
    King has recorded 11 solo tackles and 8 assists, along with two pass breakups and a forced fumble.  He is also averaging 30.0 yards per kick return, second in the Big Ten, and 9.3 yards per punt return. 
King, the Jim Thorpe Award winner and unanimous consensus All-American, announced on Jan. 4 he would return to Iowa for his senior season. King is the only Thorpe winner ever to play a college season after winning the award. He led the Big Ten and ranked second in the country with eight interceptions in 2015, tying a school record. He was named the Tatum-Woodson Big Ten Conference Defensive Back of the Year and a finalist for Walter Camp Player of the Year. 
    The last time Iowa took the field with a national award winner was 2003, when senior PK Nate Kaeding was the reigning Lou Groza Award winner, presented to the nation’s top kicker.

    STREAKING ON THE ROAD, THROUGH THE BIG TEN
    The Hawkeyes have a Big Ten best nine-game regular season conference winning streak. Iowa was 8-0 in the Big Ten last year, including a 4-0 mark at home and a 4-0 mark on the road. The nine-game winning streak is Iowa’s longest since stringing together 10 straight from 2001-02. The school record for consecutive Big Ten regular season wins is 13, set between the 1920 and 1923 seasons.
The Hawkeyes have won seven consecutive road games (the final road game at Illinois in 2014, all five road games in 2015, and last week at Rutgers). It’s the longest road winning streak of the Ferentz era. The school record for consecutive road wins is eight, set from 1920-23. 

    HAWKEYE HISTORY 
    Iowa has played 1,211 games since beginning football in 1889. Iowa’s overall record is 628-544-39 (.533). That includes a 395-214-16 (.641) record in home games, a 232-331-23 (.413) record in games away from Iowa City, a 315-366-25 (.457) mark in Big Ten games and a 278-178-15 (.600) record in Kinnick Stadium.

    HAWKEYES ON HOMECOMING
    Iowa holds a 57-42-5 (.572) record in 104 Homecoming games.  Iowa has won five of its last six homecoming games, including a 29-20 win against Illinois last season. 
    Iowa is 17-4 on Homecoming since 1995, and 13-3 since 2000, including winning seven in a row from 2000-06.  The Hawkeyes are 7-3 against Northwestern on Homecoming, and 13-4 in Homecoming contests under Kirk Ferentz.  

    STOPS KEY IOWA REDZONE DEFENSE 
    The Iowa defense held Rutgers to zero points on three of its four redzone possessions last week in a 14-7 Hawkeye victory.
    After reaching the Iowa 11-yard line, sophomore DE Parker Hesse recorded a 13-yard sack on third down to take Rutgers out of field goal range on its opening drive of the game.
Rutgers reached a first and goal at the Iowa 3-yard line late in the second quarter, but the Hawkeyes held on four straight rushing plays, taking over on downs at the one.  Junior LB Josey Jewell was credited with a tackle on three of the four plays.
    Rutgers reached the Iowa 17-yardline late in the game, but a third down rush netted no gain and DB Brandon Snyder recorded a tackle for a two-yard loss on fourth down to stop the final threat of the game as the Iowa offense maintained possession for the final 4:40 of the contest.

    IOWA/NORTHWESTERN NOTES
•    Iowa has won four of the last five meetings.
•    Iowa’s scoring defense ranks third in the Big Ten (13.5). Northwestern’s scoring offense ranks 14th (16.3).  
•    Northwestern has no Iowa natives on its roster. Iowa’s roster includes 18 Illinois natives, more than any other outside state. 
•    Iowa has more wins against Northwestern (50) than any other Big Ten school.
•    Iowa has won the last three games at Kinnick Stadium.

    LAST MEETING: IOWA 40, NORTHWESTERN 10 (Oct. 17, 2015, Ryan Field)
    EVANSTON, Illinois — Running backs Akrum Wadley and Derrick Mitchell, Jr. combined for 326 all-purpose yards and five touchdowns to lift Iowa to a 40-10 victory over No. 20 Northwestern at Ryan Field. 
    Iowa got on the board with a K Marshall Koehn 36-yard field goal, and pushed its lead to 16-0 with a pair of Wadley second-quarter touchdowns — the first a 35-yard dash and the second from four yards away. Wadley rushed a career-high 26 times for 204 yards and four touchdowns while spelling starting running back Jordan Canzeri late in the first quarter after Canzeri sustained an injury.
    The Wildcats pulled within 16-10 before halftime with a field goal and 4-yard touchdown from QB Clayton Thorson to WR Christian Jones. It was all Hawkeyes in the second half, as Iowa scored 24 unanswered points and held Northwestern to 80 total yards over the final 30 minutes.
    Wadley scored two more touchdowns in the third quarter (two and four yards) to extend the Hawkeye advantage to 30-10. He became the seventh Iowa player to rush for a school-record four scores in a single game. His efforts earned him Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week accolades.
    Koehn added a 22-yard field goal, while Mitchell crossed the goal line from 13 yards away in the fourth period. 
    Iowa QB C.J. Beathard completed 15-of-25 passes for 176 yards, finding WR Matt VandeBerg on eight of his 15 completions for a game-high 78 yards. In addition to rushing 10 times for a career-high 79 yards, Mitchell caught a personal-best three passes for 43 yards.
    The defense held Northwestern to 198 total yards. LB Cole Fisher paced the Hawkeye tacklers with 10, nine of which were solo stops. LB Josey Jewell had six tackles, including 2.5 for a combined loss of 18 yards, and a forced fumble. CB Desmond King collected his sixth interception of the year to go along with two pass break-ups.

    THE SERIES
    Iowa holds a 50-24-3 advantage in the series that began with a 12-6 Iowa victory in 1897. The Hawkeyes are 26-9 all-time against Northwestern in games played in Iowa City. Iowa has won the last three meetings at Kinnick Stadium. 
    Iowa won 21 consecutive games over Northwestern prior to a 31-20 Wildcat win in 1995 in Evanston. The Wildcats hold a 10-9 advantage since snapping that Hawkeye win streak.  

    THE LONG AND SHORT OF IT
    Iowa’s two scoring drives in the 14-7 win at Rutgers covered 99 yards on eight plays and 26 yards on just one play.
    Iowa gained possession at its 1-yard line with 2:04 remaining in the first half and put together its longest scoring drive of the season, covering the 99 yards in 90 seconds.  Iowa did not face a third down on the drive, which ended with a 36-yard scoring pass from QB C.J. Beathard to TE George Kittle.
    Iowa took advantage of a Rutgers fumble for its winning margin.  The Hawkeyes took over at the Rutgers 21 and, following a false start penalty, scored on the first play from scrimmage when RB Akrum Wadley danced down the left sideline for the 26-yard touchdown. 
    Iowa has scored touchdowns after five of the six takeaways it has recorded in four games.

    HOMECOMING SUCCESS FOR WADLEY
    While Iowa celebrates Homecoming this week against Northwestern, junior RB Akrum Wadley celebrated his own homecoming last week in Iowa’s 14-7 win at Rutgers.  Wadley, a native of Newark, New Jersey, led Iowa’s rushing attack in the victory, rushing 12 times for 84 yards and scoring the game-winning touchdown in the fourth quarter.  Wadley also had two receptions for 38 yards.   

    SNYDER MAKES KEY PLAYS FOR DEFENSE
    Sophomore safety Brandon Snyder was in the right place at the right time for the Iowa defense in the win at Rutgers.  Snyder forced and recovered a Rutgers fumble with the scored tied in the fourth quarter, and the Hawkeye offense took advantage of the turnover with a touchdown.
    Later in the period with Rutgers facing a fourth down at the Iowa 17, Snyder was credited with a tackle for a two-yard loss, stopping Rutgers’ last chance to tie the game.  The Iowa offense took over and kept the ball the remaining 4:40 of the game.
Snyder led the Iowa defense with a career-best 13 tackles, including eight solo stops and forcing and recovering the only turnover in the game.  The forced and recovered fumble were career firsts.

    ALL ABOARD TO KINNICK STADIUM! 
    The Hawkeye Express, the passenger train that transports fans from Coralville to Kinnick Stadium, is once again available for fans traveling to Kinnick Stadium on Iowa Football game days.  The Hawkeye Express is in its 13th season.  
    Adults can ride the train for $12, round trip, while children (12-and-under) ride for free.  Tickets can be purchased in advance at the UI Ticket Office or on game day at the Hawkeye Express depot located near the boarding ramp.  Media credentials are accepted as well. The trip to Kinnick Stadium is approximately 10 minutes. 
    Free parking is located in lots near the Comfort Suites and Coral Ridge Mall.  Fans can begin boarding the train three hours prior to 11 a.m. kickoffs, and four hours prior to the start of afternoon and night games. Return trips begin at the start of the fourth period and run 90 minutes after the game.
    The Hawkeye Express is owned by the Iowa Northern Railway Company and operates on the Iowa Interstate Railroad.

    FERENTZ TOPS IN LONGEVITY
    Kirk Ferentz is in his 18th season as Iowa’s head football coach. He is tied with Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops as the longest active FBS head coaches. Ferentz was named Iowa head coach on Dec. 2, 1998, one day after Stoops was named head coach at Oklahoma. Stoops was a Hawkeye letterman from 1979-82.

    IOWA AT THE HEAD OF CLASS IN COACHING LANDSCAPE 
    The University of Iowa has produced four  active FBS head coaches, tied with Alabama for most in the country. Bret Bielema (Arkansas), Bob Diaco (UCONN), Bob Stoops (Oklahoma), and Mark Stoops (Kentucky) all earned undergraduate degrees from the University of Iowa. Bielema, Diaco, Bob Stoops, and Mark Stoops played for former UI head coach Hayden Fry. All four head coaches served as assistants under Fry. Bielema was an assistant coach on Kirk Ferentz’s staff from 1999-2001.

    KIRK FERENTZ RADIO SHOW
    Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz is featured on “Hawk Talk with Kirk Ferentz” each week during the regular season. The radio call-in show is hosted by Gary Dolphin, the play-by-play voice of the Iowa Hawkeyes.  The show airs live each Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. from Applebee’s in Coralville.