| OPPONENT | IOWA at PURDUE (Ross-Ade Stadium) |
| DATE | Saturday, Oct. 24, 2020 |
| KICKOFF | 2:40 p.m. (CT) |
| TELEVISION | BTN |
| RADIO | HAWKEYE RADIO NETWORK |
1st and 10
1: Kirk Ferentz’s 162 wins in all games coached as a member of the Big Ten Conference tie Joe Paterno for fifth all-time in league history. Ferentz is one of five coaches in Big Ten Conference history to win at least 150 games as a member of the Big Ten Conference. The top five includes Woody Hayes (202), Amos Alonzo Stagg (199), Bo Schembechler (194), Joe Paterno (162), and Ferentz (162).
2: Iowa has won five of its last seven Big Ten openers. Iowa is opening the season against a conference opponent for the first time since 1980. The Hawkeyes opened that season with a 16-7 win at Indiana.
3: QB Spencer Petras is expected to be the fifth Hawkeye quarterback under Ferentz to make his first career start on opening day. The others are 3-1. Petras has 11 career pass attempts (6-11, 25 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT).
4: Iowa returns its top seven pass catchers from 2019. The group combined for 216 receptions, 2,681 yards, and 15 touchdowns. Those numbers include 89 percent of last year’s total receptions, 90 percent of last year’s receiving yards, and 94 percent of last year’s receiving touchdowns.
5: Since 1999, both of Kirk Ferentz’s Big Ten championships have been with a first-year starting quarterback. Brad Banks led Iowa to a share of the conference title in 2002, and Drew Tate did the same in 2004. In 2015, first-year starter C.J. Beathard was given the keys to the offense and drove Iowa to the Big Ten championship game and Rose Bow
6: WR Ihmir Smith-Marsette returns as the top kickoff returner in Big Ten history. Smith-Marsette averages 29.9 yards on 45 career kickoff returns, the best in school and Big Ten history.
7: RB Tyler Goodson has rushed for a touchdown in four straight games, dating back to 2019. He is the first Hawkeye to rush for a touchdown in four straight games since Akrum Wadley in 2016. The last Hawkeye to rush for a touchdown in five straight games was Mark Weisman, who went seven straight games with a rushing touchdown in 2014.
8: K Keith Duncan enters 2020 as Iowa’s all-time career leader in field goal percentage (84.4). He has made 38-of-45 career field goal attempts. He led the country with a Big Ten single-season record 29 field goals made in 2019, and was a consensus first-team All-American, the 26th in program history. Duncan was named the Bakken-Andersen Kicker of the Year in the Big Ten Conference in 2019, and was one of three finalists for the Lou Groza Award.
9: The Hawkeyes had 12 interceptions in 2019, and have 53 interceptions since 2017, more than any other team over the last three years.
10: Iowa is 97-32-2 (.748) in season-opening games, including an 18-3 mark under coach Kirk Ferentz. The Hawkeyes have won six straight season openers and are 18-1 since 2001.
PETRAS TO MAKE FIRST CAREER START ON OPENING DAY
QB Spencer Petras is expected to be the fifth Hawkeye quarterback under Ferentz to make his first career start on opening day. The others are 3-1.
Iowa enters the season with a quarterback room that has a combined zero career starts and 11 career pass attempts. Sophomore Spencer Petras owns all 11 career pass attempts. He was 0-1 as a true freshman in 2018, and 6-10 for 25 yards as a redshirt freshman in 2019. He has no career touchdowns or interceptions in three career games played. He has one career rushing touchdown (1 yard).
Since 1999, both of Kirk Ferentz’s Big Ten championships have been with a first-year starting quarterback. Brad Banks led Iowa to a share of the conference title in 2002, and Drew Tate did the same in 2004. In 2015, first-year starter C.J. Beathard was given the keys to the offense and drove Iowa to the Big Ten championship game and Rose Bowl.
Ferentz teams have also finished in the Associated Press top 10 on five occasions, and in four of those seasons the Hawkeyes were led by a first-year starter — Banks in 2002, Nathan Chandler in 2003, Tate in 2004, and Beathard in 2015.
Since 1979, Iowa quarterbacks to make their first career start on opening day:
Year Quarterback Opponent (result) Comp Attempts Yards TDs INTs
2017 ^Stanley Wyoming (W, 24-3) 8 15 125 3 1
2013 ^Rudock N. Illinois (L, 30-27) 21 37 256 1 2
2004 ^Tate Kent State (W, 39-7) 13 22 136 2 1
2003 ^Chandler Miami, Ohio (W, 21-3) 12 19 129 2 0
1994 Driscoll C. Michigan (W, 52-21) 13 19 175 0 0
1986 Vlasic Iowa State (W, 43-7) 15 25 286 2 1
1982 Long Nebraska (L, 42-7) 5 7 31 0 1
1979 Suess Indiana (L, 30-26) 17 30 227 1 0
^Under Ferentz
NEW DRIVER, EXPERIENCED WHEELS
Iowa returns its top seven pass catchers from 2019, including wide receivers Nico Ragaini, Brandon Smith, Ihmir Smith-Marsette, and Tyrone Tracy; running backs Tyler Goodson and Mekhi Sargent; and tight end Sam LaPorta. The group combined for 216 receptions, 2,681 yards, and 15 touchdowns. Those numbers include 89 percent of last year’s total receptions, 90 percent of last year’s receiving yards, and 94 percent of last year’s receiving touchdowns.
FERENTZ MOVES UP BIG TEN CHARTS
Head coach Kirk Ferentz has 97 Big Ten wins as Iowa’s head coach, the fourth most of any coach in Big Ten Conference history.
Ferentz’s 162 wins in all games coached as a member of the Big Ten Conference tie Joe Paterno for fifth all-time in league history. He is one of five coaches in Big Ten Conference history to win at least 150 games as a member of the Big Ten Conference. The top five includes Woody Hayes (202), Amos Alonzo Stagg (199), Bo Schembechler (194), Joe Paterno (162), and Ferentz (162).
Ferentz (162-103) became Iowa’s all-time winningest coach on Sept. 1, 2018. The Hawkeyes defeated Northern Illinois, 33-7. It was Ferentz’s 144th win as Iowa’s head coach, one more than his predecessor, Hayden Fry (143-89-6). Fry coached Iowa for 20 years (1979-98). Ferentz is in his 22nd season in 2020.
Both Ferentz (162, 97) and Fry (143, 96) rank in the top five in overall wins and Big Ten wins. Only Iowa and Michigan have two coaches ranked in the top 10 of both win categories (Bo Schembechler 194, 143; and Lloyd Carr 122, 81).
Iowa is the only school in the country to have just two head football coaches since 1979.
THE SERIES
Purdue holds a 48-39-3 advantage in the series that began with a 16-0 Iowa win in 1910.
The Hawkeyes have won five of the last seven meetings, 10 of the last 14, and four of their last five visits to Purdue. Iowa is 17-28-1 all-time in games played in West Lafayette.
Iowa and the Boilermakers battled to a 21-21 tie at West Lafayette in 1994. That game marks the last tie game for Iowa before the college football tie-breaker system was put in place.
RETURN TO SENDER
Senior WR Ihmir Smith-Marsette returns as the top kickoff returner in Big Ten history. Smith-Marsette averages 29.9 yards on 45 career kickoff returns, the best in school and Big Ten history. Smith-Marsette has 1,344 kickoff return yards, fifth all-time in program history.
In 2019, Smith-Marsette became the first player in school history to return two kickoffs for a touchdown in the same season. He did it in consecutive games to end the season. He had a 95-yard kickoff return for a touchdown against Nebraska, tying for the 10th longest in school history, and a 98-yard return against USC at the Holiday Bowl, the seventh longest in school history, an Iowa bowl record, and tying a Holiday Bowl record.
Smith-Marsette is Iowa’s top returner in receiving yards (722) and all-purpose yards (1,333), and ranked second on the team in receptions (44). He had a team-high 10 touchdowns; five receiving, three rushing, and two kickoff returns. He set a career high with 121 receiving yards in Week 11, his second career 100-yard receiving game (Rutgers, 113).
Smith-Marsette has 1,270 career receiving yards, 30th all-time in program history. He has 2,834 all-purpose yards, 17th all-time.
Smith-Marsette scored three touchdowns at the 2019 Holiday Bowl (all in the first half), tying Shonn Greene’s Iowa bowl record. He is the second Hawkeye in program history to score a touchdown via rush, reception, and kickoff return, in a single game (George Rice, vs. Purdue in 1951). He is the first college player since 1998 (Deuce McAllister, Independence Bowl) to score a touchdown via rush, reception, kickoff return in a bowl game.
GOODSON LEADS GROUND GAME
RB Tyler Goodson started the final four games of 2020 and became the first true freshman in program history to lead the team in single-season rushing yards (638). The last redshirt freshman to lead Iowa in single-season rushing yards was Ladell Betts in 1998 (679 yards). Goodson led the team with five rushing touchdowns, and had 24 receptions for 166 yards. His 158 combined touches led the team.
In Iowa’s 23-19 win against #7 Minnesota in Week 10, Goodson became the first true freshman to start at running back under Ferentz since 2012 (Greg Garmon).
Goodson has rushed for a touchdown in four straight games, dating back to 2019. He is the first Hawkeye to rush for a touchdown in four straight games since Akrum Wadley in 2016. The last Hawkeye to rush for a touchdown in five straight games was Mark Weisman, who went seven straight games with a rushing touchdown in 2014.
DUNCAN GETTING HIS KICKS
Senior K Keith Duncan enters 2020 as Iowa’s all-time career leader in field goal percentage (84.4). He has made 38-of-45 career field goal attempts. He led the country with a Big Ten single-season record 29 field goals made in 2019, and was a consensus first-team All-American, the 26th in program history. Duncan was named the Bakken-Anderson Kicker of the Year in the Big Ten Conference in 2019, and was one of three finalists for the Lou Groza Award.
Duncan has two game-winning field goals in his career. He kicked a 33-yard field goal as time expired to defeat No. 2 Michigan, 14-13, at home in 2016. He connected on a 48-yard attempt to give Iowa a 27-24 lead with one second left at Nebraska in 2019.
DEFENSE RANKS AMONG NATION’S BEST
Senior Chauncey Golston returns to lead a defense that ranked in the top 20 in scoring, rushing, passing, and total defense in 2019. Iowa was fifth in the country in scoring defense (14.0 ppg), 12th in total defense (308.2 ypg), 14th in rushing defense (112.5), and 19th in passing defense (195.7 ypg). The Hawkeyes held seven-of-13 opponents to their season-low point total. Golston is the lone returning among the front four. He led the Big Ten and ranked sixth in the nation with three fumble recoveries last season.
Iowa’s scoring defense (14.0) was the second lowest total of the Ferentz era (13.0 in 2008). The Hawkeyes allowed just 16.6 first downs per game, 12th fewest in the country and third in the Big Ten, and just 21 touchdowns, third fewest in the country (San Diego State 19, Georgia 20).
GOING THE OTHER WAY
The Hawkeyes intercepted at least one pass in the final seven games of the 2019 season, including a 25-yard interception return for a touchdown by LB Ben Niemann at the 2019 Holiday Bowl. Niemann’s interception was the first of his career, Iowa’s final score of the season, and extended the Hawkeyes’ streak with a pick-six to 12 consecutive seasons. Iowa has had at least one interception returned for a touchdown in 17 of the last 19 seasons.
The Hawkeyes had 12 interceptions in 2019, and have 53 interceptions since 2017, more than any other team over the last three years.
The Iowa secondary returns two starters in cornerback Matt Hankins and safety Jack Koerner. In addition, Dane Belton started four games at the “cash” position last year as a true freshman. He is expected to split time between “cash” and safety to start the season.
