IOWA CITY, Iowa– In a game punctuated by three rain delays (lasting 236 minutes) the University of Iowa football team defeated Nevada, 27-0, early Sunday morning on Duke Slater Field inside Kinnick Stadium.

The Hawkeyes finished the six hour and 59-minute marathon with a season high 337-yards of offense.

Senior Spencer Petras was 14-of-26 for 175 yards. Sophomore Arland Bruce IV led the team with three receptions for 50-yards and a touchdown and freshman Kaleb Johnson had a team-high 103-yards on 7 carries with two touchdowns.

Defensively, senior Jack Campbell finished with 10 tackles (three solo). Sophomore Lukas Van Ness tallied eight tackles (three solo) and 1.5 sacks. Sophomore Cooper DeJean had an interception and two pass breakups.

PHOTOS

QUOTING COACH FERENTZ

“We got off the mat and got back in the fight and did a good job in unusual circumstances tonight. So to stay focused, that was good to see.

Just really pleased. We showed some progress in certain areas. Happy about that. Obviously, it was good to get Nico back and Keagan back and then Brody was able to get involved a little bit too at the receiver position. So gave us a few more guys to throw to.

All in all, the team effort was good. Again, you go 60 minutes broken down over seven hours, not easy to do.

Defensively, you all saw the game, those guys played a good game. They were aggressive and very tough to run against and they made the passing yardage tough as well. I thought especially in the first half. It was a little disjointed once we got back in the second half. But in the first half I thought we had a little rhythm offensively.

The run game wasn’t perfect, but we did some better things so that was encouraging.

And then the kicking game overall was really good. Drew Stevens did a nice job. Good to see him get a field goal. Tory once again was really good and the coverage was good too on those plus-50 punts so happy about that.”

HOW IT HAPPENED

• On the second play of the fifth drive the Hawkeyes found the end zone on a 40-yard touchdown run by freshman Kaleb Johnson.

• Cooper DeJean tallied his second pick in the same number of weeks to set the Hawkeyes up at the 41-yard line. To cap off a four play 41-yard drive Spencer Petras connected from 21-yards out to a wide open Arland Bruce IV in the end zone.

• The Hawkeyes scored on their third consecutive drive as Drew Stevens connected from 43-yards out to cap an 11-play 69-yard drive.
• After the third lightning delay of the game Nevada lined up for a 57-yard field goal but the kick was no good. The Hawkeyes took over at the 39-yard line and Petras connected with Nico Ragaini on a 46-yard pass to set up a 39-yard field goal by Stevens.

• Johnson scored his second touchdown of the day over six hours after his first on a one play 55-yard touchdown run with 8:22 left in the fourth quarter.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

• RB Kaleb Johnson tallied his first career 100-yard game, finishing with 103 yards and two touchdowns on seven attempts for a 14.7 yard average.  He scored his first career touchdown from 40 yards out on his first carry of the game and he had a 55-yarder in the fourth quarter.
• Johnson is the first Hawkeye freshman to rush for 100 yards in a game since Tyler Goodson (13-116-1 TD) at Nebraska in 2019.
• QB Spencer Petras completed 14-of-26 attempts for a season-high 175 yards and one touchdown.  Petras moved into 12th place on the Iowa career passing yards list with 3,850 yards.
• WR Arland Bruce IV caught a 21-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter for his second career receiving touchdown (fifth TD overall).  Bruce IV had a team-high three catches for 50 yards.
• WR Nico Ragaini and WR Keagan Johnson made their season debuts after missing the first two games because of injury. Ragaini had two catches for 56 yards, including a 46-yarder in the third quarter.  Johnson had one catch for seven yards and was targeted five times.
• RB Jaziun Patterson became the seventh true freshman to see action this season.  He rushed six times for 20 yards.
• DB Cooper DeJean intercepted a pass in the first quarter for his second interception in as many games and second of his career. DeJean also had two tackles and two pass breakups.
• LB Jack Campbell had a game high 10 tackles.  It is his second game this season and seventh career contest with 10 or more tackles.  Campbell surpassed the 200-career tackle mark in the game; he now has 208 tackles, which puts him in 68th in program history.  He moved past the likes of Leroy Smith, Ben Niemann and Ed Miles.
• DL Lukas Van Ness had a career-high eight tackles and DL John Waggoner had a career-high six tackles.  Van Ness also had 2.5 TFL and 1.5 sacks, giving him nine career sacks.
• DL Aaron Graves had his first career sack in the third quarter.  Graves finished with a career-high four tackles and 1.5 TFL in the game.
• K Drew Stevens went 2-for-2 on field goal attempts in the first two attempts of his career.  He made a 43-yard field goal on his first attempt in the second quarter and connected on a 32-yarder in the third quarter.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

• Saturday’s game included three weather delays — 80-minutes (8:36 p.m. to 9:56 p.m.), 110 minutes (10:05 p.m. to 11:55 p.m.) and 46 minutes (11:57 p.m. to 12:43 a.m.) – for a total of 3:56.
  • It is the second weather delay in Kinnick Stadium history. Iowa’s game against Tennessee Tech was delayed 84 minutes on Sept. 3, 2011.
  • Iowa’s last game that included a weather delay came on Sept. 14, 2019, at Iowa State.  There was a 2:55 delay at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, Iowa.
• Iowa had a season-high 337 yards of total offense, rushing for a season-high 162 yards on 35 attempts, averaging 4.6 yards per carry.  Seven different receivers caught a pass in the game and the passing attack had a season-high 175 yards and one touchdown.
• Iowa’s defense posted its first shutout since 2019 – a 20-0 win at Northwestern (10/26/19). It was the Hawkeyes’ first shutout in Kinnick Stadium since defeating Rutgers, 30-0, on Sept. 7, 2019.
• The Hawkeye defense limited Nevada to 151 yards of total offense.  The Wolfpack entered the game averaging 336.3 yards.
• Iowa has limited two of its first three opponents to 151 yards or less.  (South Dakota State, 120 yards; Nevada, 151 yards).  It is the first time since 1986 that the Hawkeye defense has held two of the first three opponents to 160 yards or fewer (125 at Iowa State; 159 vs. NIU; 150 at UTEP).
• Iowa improves to 14-7 all-time in night games at Kinnick Stadium.
• Nevada won the toss and elected to defer. The Hawkeyes have played 291 games under head coach Kirk Ferentz. Iowa has opened the game on offense 216 times (138-78). The Hawkeyes have opened the game on defense 75 times (42-33).

UP NEXT

The Hawkeyes return to action Sept. 24, opening Big Ten Conference play at Rutgers (3-0).  The game will kick off at 6 p.m. (CT) at SHI Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey, and it will be televised on FS1.