IOWA CITY, Iowa – The No. 21 ranked University of Iowa football team fell to Iowa State in the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series, 20-19, on Saturday afternoon on Duke Slater Field at Kinnick Stadium.

The Cyclones outgained the Hawkeyes, 361 to 303 yards, including out pacing the Hawkeyes 260 to 107 in the second half.

Cade McNamara connected on 13-of-29 passes for 99 yards. He had two interceptions.

Kaleb Johnson led the Iowa rushing attack with 187 yards on 29 attempts and two touchdowns. Jacob Gill led the Hawkeye receivers with 47 yards on four receptions.

Defensively, Jay Higgins led the way with 11 tackles (six solo) and Nick Jackson had eight tackles (four solo). Max Llewellyn had a sack and Ethan Hurkett added a tackle for a loss.

QUOTING KIRK FERENTZ

“Obviously a tough loss for our football team. It kind of gets back to this rivalry; it’s basically what it’s advertised, tough, hard-fought games. They’re unpredictable, and certainly over the last X amount of years it’s been really close. They played a really good game. Credit to them. Compliments to them, the way they competed. They did a great job, and we came up short.

Most important thing, it’s going to hurt for a while and we’re going to have to move forward and see what we can do to build off of this, and I’ll get to that in a second.

Just a couple takeaways. The first half, our defense played really well and we scored 13 points. In the second quarter we kicked two field goals, one was off really good field position, the other was after a really nice drive, and had an opportunity at least on one of those to get a touchdown and to come up with two field goals there, it’s a couple missed opportunities, and came back and got us a little bit.

We threw a pick at the start of the second half, which was not a total calamity. We gave them the ball in the minus 25; they had 75 to go, but really what happened there, they had a couple possessions where they moved the ball and scored touchdowns, so their credit.

I was happy with the way the offense responded after their first touchdown. We came back and drove it and answered it with a touchdown. So that was certainly encouraging.

But came up short here at the end. They did a good job moving the ball, and credit to their field goal kicker. A 54-yard field goal is a pretty impressive effort on his part.

We played cleaner football, had the one turnover and three penalties. I thought our guys played hard and prepared hard. That’s kind of it in a nutshell.

The biggest thing right now for our football team, we still have 12 weeks in front of us, 10 games, and you never want to lose a game certainly, but the biggest thing is, like any time of the season, it’s how are you going to respond to it. It’s important for our guys to understand. I believe we have a good football team here, good leadership, good coaching staff, and when you lose, you have to move forward and respond. This one is going to hurt for a while, but we’ll move forward and learn from it tomorrow and go back to work on Monday.”

PHOTOS

HOW IT HAPPENED

• After both teams traded punts on their opening drives the Hawkeyes needed only two plays and 45 seconds on their second possession to find the end zone. After Cade McNamara connected with Jacob Gill on a 16-yard completion, Kaleb Johnston broke open a 27-yard dash to the end zone.
• Iowa capitalized on a Jay Higgins interception that set the offense up at the Iowa State 12-yard line. Drew Stevens connected on a 23-yard field goal to end a seven-play drive with 13:38 remaining in the first half.
• Kaleb Johnson flipped the field with a 37-yard rush followed by a 26-yard rush to set the Iowa offense up at the ISU 14. The Hawkeyes scored on a 21-yard field goal from Stevens with 1:11 left in the first half to cap the 10 play, 77-yard drive.
• Iowa State got on the board on its second drive of the second half with a three-yard completion from Rocco Becht to Jayden Higgins to cap a nine play 75-yard drive.
• Iowa responded on its next possession with a 54-yard rush from Kaleb Johnson to start a seven play 79-yard drive that was capped with a three-yard touchdown rush from Johnson. The two-point conversion was no good.
• The Cyclones responded immediately on their next play from scrimmage with a 75-yard touchdown pass to Jaylin Noel with 4:36 remaining in the third quarter.
• With 11:31 remaining in the game the Cyclones connected on a 46-yard field goal to cut into the Hawkeye lead. It ended a five play, 23-yard drive that elapsed 2:00.
• Iowa State connected on a 54-yard field goal with six seconds remaining on the game clock to take a one-point lead and ultimately the game.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

• Junior Kaleb Johnson recorded his second straight and sixth career 100-yard game, finishing with 187 yards on 25 attempts with two touchdowns, tying a career high.
  • He is the first player to have 100 yards in the first two games of the season since 2017 (Akrum Wadley) and the first Hawkeye since 2021 (Tyler Goodson) to have back-to-back 100-yard games.
  • Johnson is the first player to have two touchdowns in consecutive games since Goodson in 2020.
  • He is the first Hawkeye to reach 100 yards against Iowa State since Akrum Wadley in 2017 (118 yards) and his rushing yards are the most by an Iowa player in the series since Tavian Banks had 182 in 1996.
  • He had a 27-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. It was his second 25+ yard touchdown rush of the season.
  • Johnson had rushes of 26, 27, 37 and 54 yards in the game.
    • He has five runs of 25+ yards this season and two of 50+ yards in 2024.
  • Johnson has four touchdowns this season and 13 for his career.
  • Johnson had 105 yards in the first half (his second career game with 100+ yards in the first half).
• Senior QB Cade McNamara completed 13-of-29 passes for 99 yards and two interceptions.
  • He is now 18-5 in his career as a starter.
• Senior LB Jay Higgins led the team with 11 tackles (6 solo) for his first double-digit tackle game of the season. He also had an interception and a forced fumble.
  • Higgins has 12 career games with 10 or more tackles.
  • He had a first quarter interception – the second of his career – to force the game’s first turnover. He returned the pick five yards to the ISU 12.
• Junior K Drew Stevens made two field goals from 23 and 21 yards in the second quarter. He is 4-for-4 in field goal attempts this season.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

• Iowa shut out Iowa State in the first half – the first time the Cyclones have had a scoreless opening half since 2013.
  • The Hawkeyes held their opponents scoreless for the first 96:52 minutes of the 2024 season.
• The Hawkeyes’ defense forced one turnover, turning the miscue into three points.
  • Iowa has a 4-1 advantage in turnovers this season.
• It marks the first time since 2015 that Iowa rushed for 200 yards against the Cyclones.
• It also marks the first time that the Hawkeyes have rushed for 200+ yards in back-to-back games since it did against Illinois and Nebraska in 2018.
• It is the 29th consecutive game Iowa’s defense has allowed fewer than 400 yards — the longest active streak nationally.
• Iowa State won the toss and elected to defer to the second half. The Hawkeyes have played 317 games under head coach Kirk Ferentz. Iowa has opened the game on offense 233 times (149-84). The Hawkeyes have opened the game on defense 84 times (48-36).

UP NEXT

The Hawkeyes will return to action Sept. 14, hosting Troy in their nonconference finale. The game will kickoff at 3 p.m. (CT) and is sold out.