IOWA CITY, Iowa – Junior Tyler Goodson ran for a career-high 153 yards and three touchdowns to lead the fifth-ranked University of Iowa football team to a 30-7 victory over Kent State on Saturday afternoon on Duke Slater Field inside Kinnick Stadium.

The win is the Hawkeyes’ 300th in Kinnick Stadium, moves Iowa to 3-0 on the season and is the team’s ninth straight victory dating back to the 2020 campaign.

Goodson, who had touchdown runs of 46 and 35 yards, led an Iowa offense that finished with a season-high 228 yards rushing and 440 yards of total offense. Goodson carried the ball 22 times for his sixth career 100-yard game and averaged 7.0 yards per attempt.

“We had a pretty good day in the run game,” said Goodson. “Kent State had a good defense, but the guys up front did a good job with their assignments and that the running backs had a split second to get upfield.  From there it was the running back’s job to take it to the house.

“We have a good offense and we have guys that can make plays.  From this day we have to take the momentum and get better and better throughout the season.”

So good, that @tgood1110. 💯

We have all 3⃣ of his career-high TD runs here. pic.twitter.com/KHhLOo4Mq4

— Iowa On BTN (@IowaOnBTN) September 18, 2021

Junior Spencer Petras completed 25-of-36 attempts for 209 yards and one touchdown. Junior tight end Sam LaPorta had a touchdown on a team-high 65 yards and seven receptions, while junior Tyrone Tracy, Jr., had five catches for 43 yards.  Nine different players had a reception in the game.

Defensively, the Hawkeyes were a thorn in the Golden Flashes’ side, limiting Kent State to 265 yards, including 80 rushing yards on 41 carries.

Iowa was disruptive, tallying with seven sacks, 10 tackles for loss and forced one turnover. Junior Jack Campbell had a game-high 11 tackles (three solo), 0.5 sacks, one tackle for loss and a key forced fumble at the goal line to keep Kent State out of the end zone.

Five different Hawkeyes had a sack, including two by redshirt freshman Lukas Van Ness and junior Joe Evans and 1.5 by senior Zach VanVelkenburg.

PHOTOS

QUOTING COACH FERENTZ

“I am pleased to get the victory today. This is the kind of game we expected. We knew Kent State was a good football team. They’re competitive. Coach Lewis and his staff have done a nice job there. We knew they’d come in and compete hard, and they weren’t going to be taken a backseat to anything or anybody.

“I am happy to get the win, and it’s going to be a good experience for our team because there are a lot of things to highlight that we still have to get better at, and that’s a process. That’s the race that we run all week long.

“Overall, we had a pretty good week at practice. I thought the effort today, our guys were ready to go and they played hard, and there were a lot of good responses out there to some things that didn’t go so well, so happy with the responses.

“As far as areas of improvement, obvious the penalties hurt us today. There’s no great explanation for that other than concentration or just being out of position. Either way, that’s something we have to do a better job of. They are always inopportune, and we had a couple today that really hurt us, especially that one drive opening the second half there, two major penalties. That’s not a good thing.

“Defensively we try to pride ourselves and try to weekly do a good job against big plays, defending big plays. I think most defensive teams do that, and we weren’t real successful doing that today at times.

“Special teams were overall pretty good. Tory did a nice job, especially that last punt, but we missed a couple opportunities, too. Even there it was kind of indicative of maybe some of the challenges that we were facing there.

“The bottom line is that we came here to get the win. That’s the best you can do. Week to week we’re just trying to win the games in front of us and got that done. I thought there were some good efforts; good to see Goodson get going here a little bit and get him on track, and hopefully we’ll see some growth I think up front on both lines, so hopefully we’ll see that when we look at the film, but my sense is that’s probably the case. We’re going to keep pushing forward, but happy to get the win.”

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Iowa’s defense scored for the third straight game, securing the team’s first safety since 2018 at Penn State. After a 57-yard punt by Tory Taylor (and a three-yard loss following gunner Terry Roberts’ tackle on the return), Kent State took over on its own 8.  On third-and-3 from the 15, the Golden Flashes snapped the ball over Dustin Crum’s head into the end zone and Van Ness and Valkenburg got the safety sack to give Iowa the 2-0 lead.
• The Hawkeyes wasted little time extending its lead as Charlie Jones returned the free kick 25 yards to the Iowa 4. On third-and-1 from the 46, Goodson took a pitch 46 yard untouched to make the score 9-0.
• Kent State answered with a five-play, 75-yard scoring drive courtesy of the big play. On the second play, Crum connected with Keshunn Abram for 48 yards to the Iowa 27.  Two plays later, the two connected again, this time for a 23-yard touchdown to make the score 9-7 with five minutes remaining in the first quarter.
• Iowa took over at its own 5 yard line with 8:57 remaining before using a 20 play touchdown drive to take a 16-7 lead. The Hawkeyes converted four third downs during a series that lasted 8:38.   Freshman Arland Bruce IV made his first career catch on third-and-3 to move the ball into Kent State territory and redshirt freshman Gavin Williams had an 11-yard reception to get Iowa into the red zone.  On third-and-goal from the 5, Petras closed out the series with a 5-yard touchdown pass to LaPorta with 19 seconds left in the first half.
• The Golden Flashes moved the ball on their first two drives of the third quarter, moving 40 yards into Iowa territory before turning it over on downs. After forcing an Iowa punt, Kent State moved 76 yards with a 15-play drive. On first-and-goal from the one, Iowa forced a turnover when Campbell jarred the bar loose from Bryan Bradford as he was reaching for the goal line and Riley Moss recovered in the end zone for a touchback.
• The Hawkeyes seized the momentum with a six-plus minute drive, covering 80 yards over 11 plays. Petras opened the series with an 18-yard competition to LaPorta and Gavin Williams had a 4 yard rush to convert a fourth-and-2 from the KSU 40. On third-and-9, Goodson extended the Hawkeye lead to 23-7 with a 35-yard touchdown run with 32 seconds remaining in the third quarter.
• Iowa pushed its lead to 30-7 with a four-play, 64-yard scoring drive in the fourth quarter. Petras opened the drive with a 14-yarder to Tracy, Jr., before hitting Nico Ragaini for 48 yards on a pump fake, go route along the Iowa sidelines to the 2.  On the next play, Goodson powered his way into the end zone for his third touchdown of the game.

POSTGAME NOTES

• Iowa has won its last nine games. The Hawkeyes have outscored their last eight opponents, 305-113, averaging 33.9 points per game offensively and allowing 12.6 ppg during the winning streak. Iowa has scored at least 25 points in each win.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

• Petras has led Iowa to nine consecutive wins. He was 25-of-36 for 209 yards passing today. The 25 completions are one shy of matching a career-high. Petras is 141-of-240 with 1,548 passing yards during Iowa’s nine-game winning streak. He has thrown 10 touchdowns and two interceptions over the last nine games.
• Goodson rushed 22 times for a career-high 153 yards and a career-high three touchdowns, the third-multi-touchdown game of his career. The last Hawkeye to rush for three touchdowns in a single game was Akrum Wadley in 2017 vs. Nebraska. Goodson recorded his sixth career 100-yard rushing yard game, his first this season.
• Goodson has 11 rushing touchdowns in the last nine games. Goodson is averaging 105.8 yards per game (5.4 per carry) during Iowa’s nine-game winning streak.
• LaPorta had a team and career-high seven receptions. LaPorta’s second-quarter touchdown was the second touchdown of his career.
• Moss’s fumble recovery in the end zone was the first fumble recovery of his career.

The 7⃣ @HawkeyeFootball sacks today were the most in a game since 2005.

Relive all of them ⤵️. pic.twitter.com/FaRKXNbEyt

— Iowa On BTN (@IowaOnBTN) September 18, 2021

• Iowa’s defense registered seven sacks against Kent State, its high total since registering seven sacks against Northwestern in 2000. Van Ness recorded a career high in sacks (2) and tackles (7). Evans recorded career highs in sacks (2) and tackles (5).
• Campbell had a game and career-high 11 tackles. Campbell added half a sack and forced a fumble at the goal line that was recovered by Moss.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

• The Hawkeyes won their 300th game at Kinnick Stadium since the stadium opened in 1929. The first game played at Kinnick Stadium was Oct. 5, 1929, a 46-0 Hawkeye win against Monmouth. Iowa’s 100th win at Kinnick was a 31-19 victory over Arizona on Oct. 4, 1969. The 200th win at Kinnick Stadium was a 44-19 victory against Miami, Ohio, on Sept. 8, 2001. Iowa is seventh Big Ten school to celebrate at least 300 wins in its home stadium.
• Iowa’s first-quarter safety was the first safety for the Hawkeyes since 2018 (at Penn State).
• Iowa’s 20-play touchdown drive at the end of the second quarter is its longest in the Ferentz era and the longest scoring drive in terms of plays since an 18-play touchdown in 2003 (vs. Illinois).
• Iowa has won 14 straight nonconference games, including 11 regular season nonconference victories and three bowl wins. Iowa’s last nonconference loss was at the 2017 Outback Bowl.
• Iowa has played 25 straight games without surrendering 25 points, the longest streak in the nation among Power 5 teams.
• Iowa has scored at least 25 points in each of its wins during its winning streak. It is the first time in school history Iowa has scored 25 points or more in nine straight games.

UP NEXT

The Hawkeyes host Colorado State on Sept. 25 at Kinnick Stadium. The game is televised on FS1 beginning at 2:30 p.m. (CT).

POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE