IOWA CITY, Iowa–The University of Iowa football team was defeated by Iowa State, 10-7, on Saturday afternoon in the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk series on Duke Slater Field inside Kinnick Stadium.

Iowa State had a 313-150 advantage in total offense in the game.

Senior Spencer Petras finished 12-of-26 for 92 yards. Senior Sam LaPorta led the team with eight receptions for 55-yards and sophomore Leshon Williams had a team-high 34-yards on 14 carries with a touchdown.

Defensively, sophomore Cooper DeJean finished with 11 tackles (six solo), an interception and two pass breakups. Senior Seth Benson had 11 tackles, while junior Quinn Schulte and senior Riley Moss both had nine tackles with seven solo. Senior Jack Campbell had nine tackles and senior Terry Roberts had an interception.

PHOTOS

QUOTING COACH FERENTZ

“Obviously, all of us are disappointed with the loss. Congratulations to our opponent. I thought our guys played with good effort and were ready to go. We got off to a really good start, positive start, and then from there things didn’t work out so well, obviously.

I thought our guys really worked hard, missed some opportunities. Not that there were a lot of them, but the ones that were there, couldn’t cash in. Did a lot of good things on defense certainly and a lot of big special teams plays, and then stating the obvious, we have work to do, obviously, to move the football, and we’re going to have to score points to be successful. That’s where our focus goes.

Just got a locker room full of guys that are really invested, that play hard, that care about each other. Don’t have many answers right now other than we go back to work tomorrow and see what we can figure out and try to move forward.”

HOW IT HAPPENED

• After forcing a three-and-out on the first possession, Lukas Van Ness blocked the Cyclone punt which was recovered by Reggie Bracy to set up an Iowa drive starting at the Iowa State 16-yard line. Back-to-back rushes up the middle by Leshon Williams put the Hawkeyes in the endzone. The extra point attempt by Aaron Blom was good.

• After three drives that ended in punts, the Cyclones drove down the field going 49 yards over eight plays. With the ball on the one-yard line Kavon Merriweather forced a fumble which was recovered in the endzone for a touchback by Logan Klemp.

• After a Hawkeye punt the Cyclones went 76 yards over 14 plays to set up a 22-yard Jace Gilbert field goal.
• Lukas Van Ness blocked his second punt of the game for the Hawkeyes with 7:44 in the third quarter.
• The Cyclones took over on the 1-yard line and went on a 21 play 99-yard drive over 11:49 to score a touchdown on an 8-yard pass from Hunter Dekkers to Xavier Hutchinson.
• The Hawkeyes drove 43-yards on six plays over the final :38 seconds to set up a 48-yard field goal but the attempt from Aaron Blum was no good as time expired.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

• DE Lukas Van Ness blocked two Iowa State punts, tying a school record.  It is the sixth time a Hawkeye has had multiple blocks in a single game and Van Ness is the fifth Hawkeye to accomplish the feat.
  • Ken Iwebema had two blocks against Syracuse in 2007 and against Illinois in 2005.
  • Van Ness tied the school record for blocked punts in a game with two inside Iowa State territory. The only other Hawkeye to block two punts in the same game was Sean Considine at Iowa State in 2003.
  • His first block of the game set up the Hawkeyes’ first touchdown. It was Iowa’s first punt block of the season and first since the 2021 regular season finale at Nebraska (Henry Marchese).
  • Van Ness blocked his second punt in the third quarter, giving Iowa possession at the Iowa State 20. The possession ended with an Iowa turnover at the goal line.
• RB Leshon Williams had a 9-yard touchdown run in the first quarter for his first career touchdown. Williams led the Hawkeye rushing attack with 34 yards on 14 attempts.
• DB Cooper DeJean had his first career interception in the second quarter.  The interception occurred in the end zone and was downed for a touchback.   DeJean had a career high 11 tackles (six solo), one interception and two pass break-ups.
• DB Terry Roberts had his first interception of the season (second of his career) on Iowa State’s opening drive of the second half.
• LB Seth Benson finished with 10 tackles – second most on the team.  It was his seventh career game with 10 or more tackles.
• DB Quinn Schulte (9), DT Logan Lee (8) and DB Terry Roberts (6) each tallied career highs in tackles. DB Riley Moss tied a career high with nine tackles.  LB Jack Campbell also had nine tackles, moving his career total to 198.
• TE Sam LaPorta’s 2-yard catch in the second quarter was the 100th of his career. He had a career-high eight receptions for 55 yards.
• WR Alec Wick had his first career reception for 14 yards on the game’s final drive.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

• Iowa scored on its first offensive possession, going 16 yards on two plays following the first blocked punt.  It was the first game since last season against Minnesota (10 plays, 39 yards, FG) that the Hawkeyes scored on their first possession of the game.
• Iowa’s defense forced three turnovers – two interceptions, one forced fumble.
• The defense notched its first turnover of the season in the second quarter with a forced fumble at its own goal line. DB Kaevon Merriweather had his first career forced fumble, jarring the ball loose from ISU RB Jirehl Brock. LB Logan Klemp recovered in the end zone for the touchback.
• Iowa had interceptions on consecutive possessions in the second and third quarter. Cooper DeJean had an interception in the end zone with 57 seconds left in the first half. Terry Roberts intercepted Dekkers at midfield on the first possession of the second half.
• Iowa State had three possessions in the red zone (0, 4, 12) in the first half, but came away with just a field goal.  The Hawkeye defense did not allow a touchdown in the first seven quarters of the season.
• Freshman Aaron Graves became the sixth Hawkeye freshman to see action this season.  He joins a list that includes: T.J. Hall (DB), Kaleb Johnson (RB), Xavier Nwankpa (DB), Addison Ostrenga (TE) and Drew Stevens (K).
• Iowa won the toss and elected to defer. The Hawkeyes have played 290 games under head coach Kirk Ferentz. Iowa has opened the game on offense 215 times (137-78). The Hawkeyes have opened the game on defense 75 times (42-33).

UP NEXT

The Hawkeyes host Nevada on Saturday, Sept. 17 at Kinnick Stadium in their final nonconference game of the regular season.  The game will kick off at 6:30 p.m. (CT) and be televised on BTN.