IOWA CITY, Iowa – The University of Iowa football team was defeated by No. 4 Michigan on Saturday afternoon, 27-14, on Duke Slater Field inside Kinnick Stadium.

The Wolverines took a 10-0 lead in the first quarter and led 20-0 through three quarters. Iowa outscored Michigan 14-7 over the final 15 minutes.

Michigan had the advantage in total offense outgaining the Hawkeyes, 327-281, with 155 yards through the air and 172 yards on the ground.

Senior Spencer Petras was 21-for-31 for 246 yards and a touchdown. Sophomore Luke Lachey led the team with four receptions for 84 yards including a touchdown reception. Sophomore Leshon Williams carried the ball eight times for 34 yards, and freshman Kaleb Johnson had 12 carries for 32 yards and a touchdown.

Senior Seth Benson had 14 total tackles (six solo) and senior Jack Campbell finished with 11 tackles (three solo).

PHOTOS

QUOTING COACH FERENTZ

“I’m never discouraged by our players. I thought the effort was there. I thought we had a good week of preparation and practice. I thought the guys were wired in, and we knew what we were up against, what we had to do today to be successful.

Credit our opponent; they did a good job of setting the tone and made it difficult for us in offensive and defensive phases, special teams maybe not as much, but they did a good job there.

As crazy as it may sound, from where I stood, I thought our guys played hard and I saw some growth in our football team.

Time will tell. We’ll go from there. We’ll look at the tape tomorrow. We’ll go back and lick our wounds a little bit, hopefully learn and grow. We’ll move forward on Monday, and that’s our plan right now.

We have a bye week coming up after this, and we’ve known that, and our request to our players is be focused on these six weeks, the six-week block, and we’ll figure things out afterward, and that’s our plan.”

HOW IT HAPPENED

• After a touchback to open the game the Michigan offense drove down the field using 11 plays to go 75-yards over 5:07 scoring on a 16-yard rush by Ronnie Bell.
• The Wolverines converted on a 44-yard field goal to cap off a 13 play 54-yard drive with 8:28 remaining in the first half.
• With a 13 play 61-yard drive Michigan extended their lead to 13 connecting on a 35-yard field goal with nine seconds left on the clock.
• Michigan drove 67-yards from the 33-yard line over 10 plays to score on a 12-yard pass from J.J. McCarthy to Donovan Edwards.
• The Hawkeyes got on the board with a seven play 44-yard drive that lasted 2:37. Kaleb Johnson found the end zone on a two-yard rush to the right. The drive saw Spencer Petras connect with Monte Pottebaum for 17-yards, Arland Bruce IV for 3-yards and Nico Ragaini for 16 and 28-yard gains.

• On third and two with 1:19 remaining in the game Michigan found the end zone with a 20-yard rush by Blake Corum. The touchdown capped a three play 28-yard drive.
• The final score of the game came with eight seconds remaining as Luke Lachey caught a five-yard touchdown pass from Spencer Petras to cap a five play 75-yard drive.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

• QB Spencer Petras completed 21-of-31 passes for a season-high 246 yards and one touchdown. The 246 yards are the most for Petras since the 2021 season in a road game at Maryland (259 yards).
• Petras completed passes to a season-high nine different receivers. TE Luke Lachey had a career-high four catches for 84 yards and his first career touchdown in the fourth quarter – a 5-yard reception.
• RB Kaleb Johnson had 32 rushing yards on 12 attempts and one touchdown – a 2-yard score on the first play of the fourth quarter. It was Johnson’s third career touchdown.
• LB Seth Benson finished with a career high 14 tackles, his second game with 10+ stops this season. It is his eighth career game with 10 or more tackles.
• LB Jack Campbell had 11 tackles, his third game with 10+ tackles this season and the eighth of his career. He has had eight or more tackles in all five games this season.
• Campbell moved up nine spots into 52nd place on Iowa’s career tackles list with 227 career stops.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

• Michigan’s touchdown in the third quarter was the first points Iowa’s defense has allowed in the third quarter this season.
• The Hawkeyes did not commit a turnover for a third straight game – a first since the 2019 season (vs. Rutgers, at Iowa State, vs. MTSU).
• Iowa won the toss and elected to defer. The Hawkeyes have played 293 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 77 times (43-34).

UP NEXT

The Hawkeyes return to action Oct. 8 with a road game at Illinois.  The game will kickoff at 6:30 p.m. (CT) from Memorial Stadium and it will be televised on BTN.