IOWA CITY, Iowa – The University of Iowa football team defeated Purdue, 20-14, on Saturday afternoon on Duke Slater Field at Kinnick Stadium.

Kaleb Johnson rushed for a team high 134 yards on 17 attempts including a 67-yard touchdown rush. Leshon Williams had 74 yards rushing on 13 attempts. Erick All led the team in receiving with 97 yards on five receptions and a touchdown.

Deacon Hill connected on 6-of-21 passing attempts for 110 yards and the score to All.

“We worked on that play all week,” said Hill. “Play action and Erick was going to slip through on the wheel route. I was just trying to get him the ball and let the playmaker score. It was a huge momentum boost for our team, a great drive and a great job by Erick all around.”

The Hawkeyes out rushed the Boilermakers 181-110 and averaged 5.2 yards per play to Purdue’s 4.5.

Defensively, the Hawkeyes tallied up a season high six sacks. They were led by Jay Higgins who had 12 tackles (two solo) and an interception. Logan Lee had 10 tackles (five solo) with two sacks. Joe Evans, Aaron Graves, Deontae Craig, and Max Llewellyn each recorded a sack. Cooper DeJean also pulled in an interception.

“I am very proud of everyone in that defensive line room,” said Evans. “We got together as a unit for a player-led meeting on Thursday and said just how important it was to play for each other out there. Play for each other and have some fun… Win games, have fun and be proactive. Really proud of those guys and how we all competed today.”

QUOTING KIRK FERENTZ

“Happy to get the win. It was hard-fought, obviously Big Ten play, it’s going to be that way each and every week and we certainly anticipated that.

We came into today with a lot of respect for Purdue. Tough defense to move the ball against and do some things and then their offense had really been looking good.

So proud of our guys in all phases. Certainly a lot to clean up, a lot to play for and I just told them to enjoy the win. Hopefully we grew a little bit today and we still have plenty of room for improvement, that’s obvious. We’ll worry about that tomorrow, but right now happy to get the win and get a Big Ten win, that’s always a good thing.”

PHOTOS

HOW IT HAPPENED

• After both teams traded punts to open the game Deacon Hill connected with Kaleb Johnson for a 13-yard game before Johnson flipped the field with a 67-yard scamper into the end zone for the first Hawkeye score of the game.
• Cooper DeJean returned an interception 41-yards and the Hawkeyes added to their lead as Drew Stevens connected on a 27-yard field goal.
• Purdue got on the board with 32 seconds remaining in the first half on a 43-yard touchdown pass to complete a seven play 69-yard drive.
• Drew Stevens connected on a 23-yard field goal to cap a nine play 75-yard drive on Iowa’s first possession of the second half.
• Deacon Hill connected with Erick All with 14:24 remaining in the game for a 22-yard touchdown pass. The touchdown capped a six play 46-yard drive.
• Purdue cut into the Hawkeye lead with 2:54 remaining in the game scoring on a 2-yard touchdown rush to end a six-play drive that covered 74 yards and 1:59.
• Iowa’s defense stood its ground on the next drive and forced a turnover on downs to set up a pair of kneel downs to end the game.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

• RB Kaleb Johnson rushed for 134 yards – the second-most of his career — on 17 carries and one touchdown in his first game since Week 2 at Iowa State.
  • It is Johnson’s first 100-yard game this season and the fourth of his career.
  • Iowa has two 100-yard rushing games in 2023 (Leshon Williams vs. WMU).
  • Johnson had a 67-yard touchdown run on the second play of Iowa’s second drive – his second touchdown of the season. It is Iowa’s longest offensive play this season and the second longest career rush. (Both have come against Purdue, 75 yards in 2022).
• QB Deacon Hill completed 6-of-21 passes for 110 yards and one touchdown, a 22-yarder to Erick All in the fourth quarter. It is Hill’s second career touchdown pass.
• TE Erick All had a team-high five receptions for 97 yards and one touchdown – a 22-yarder in the fourth quarter. It is All’s second straight game with a touchdown and team-leading third this season.
• DB Cooper DeJean had an interception in his second straight game, picking off Hudson Card in the first quarter and returning it 41 yards to the Purdue 5. It is DeJean’s seventh career pick.
• LB Jay Higgins had his first career interception in the fourth quarter. Higgins also finished the game with a team-high 10 tackles, his fourth double-digit tackle game of the season (and fifth of his career).
• DL Logan Lee had a career-high 10 tackles, including 2.5 TFL and two sacks. It is the first time Lee has recorded 10 or more tackles in a game.
• DE Joe Evans had six tackles, including a career-best four TFL.
• K Drew Stevens made two field goals – from 27 and 23 yards. Stevens is now 10-of-13 on field goal attempts this season.
  • It is Stevens’ eighth career game with two or more field goals.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

• Iowa has allowed 14 or fewer points in 12 of its last 19 games.
• The Hawkeye defense allowed 357 yards of total offense to Purdue. It is the 20th consecutive game the unit has allowed 400 or fewer yards, the longest active streak nationally.
• Iowa recorded its sixth and seventh interception of the season in the game. The Hawkeyes turned the turnover into three points, their 30th points off turnovers this season.
• The Hawkeyes finished with season highs in sacks (6) and TFL (12). Iowa entered the game with three sacks over its first five games. (Iowa also had 12 TFL in the Music City Bowl win over Kentucky last season.)
• Iowa’s rushing attack finished with 181 yards in the game – the second-most this season and the most against a Big Ten opponent since Iowa ran for 184 yards at Purdue in 2022.
• Iowa improves to 68-2 since 2015 when leading by eight points at any point in a game.
• It was Iowa’s 19th consecutive game not giving up 400 yards which is the longest active streak in the FBS.
• Iowa won the toss and elected to receive. The Hawkeye have played 307 games under head coach Kirk Ferentz. Iowa has opened the game on offense 225 times (144-81). The Hawkeyes have opened the game on defense 82 times (47-35).

UP NEXT

The Hawkeyes next hit the road, traveling to Madison to face Wisconsin on Oct. 14. The game will be nationally televised on FOX beginning at 3 p.m. (CT).