IOWA CITY, Iowa – The University of Iowa football team defeated Washington, 40-16, on Saturday afternoon on Duke Slater Field at Kinnick Stadium. The victory is head coach Kirk Ferentz’s 200th career win as a member of the Big Ten Conference, moving him into sole possession of second place in league history. He trails only Ohio State’s Woody Hayes’ 205 wins.

Cade McNamara was 8-for-14 for 108 yards and two touchdowns. Kaleb Johnson had two touchdowns on the ground and hauled in one receiving score, he rushed for 166 yards on 21 attempts.

The Hawkeyes scored on all but three drives and were 5-for-5 in the red zone en route to the victory in Washington’s first trip to Iowa City since 1964.

“That is huge,” said McNamara. “That is what we are trying to do every single week. Whether we win or lose we are trying to get better. That is probably the thing that I am most proud of this week, I didn’t feel like there was any lack of intensity or any times where our mistakes really impacted the pace of the game or our momentum.”

Dayton Howard pulled in a touchdown on his first career reception. Luke Lachey had two receptions for 20 yards, Johnson had three receptions for 22 yards.

The Iowa defense tallied up 94 tackles; they were led by Jay Higgins with 14 (five solo), Nick Jackson with 11 (four solo) and Xavier Nwankpa with 10 (four solo). Aaron Graves recorded two sacks and two forced fumbles. Jermari Harris pulled in his third interception of the season.

Drew Stevens connected on 4-of-4 field goals including a long attempt of 51 yards.

QUOTING KIRK FERENTZ

“Certainly it’s just a great feeling. Night and day from losing. There’s nothing harder than that. I am happy for our team. Really proud of the guys.

The biggest thing this week was getting back on our feet and going back to work because the schedule is not going to go away. Really pleased with the way the guys prepared, the way they kept focused on things that were important. Certainly today it showed, and they competed the full 60. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a great effort by everybody.

To that point, I thought we played good complementary football today. When we do that, it gives us a chance to have good outcomes. Whether it be the kicking game, which we thought we had some opportunities there. Rhys punted really well. That first punt was a big thing for us.

Obviously the field goals. Drew did a great job there. I think the return game was a big factor in the game too. We were hopeful that we would have some opportunity.

Wetjen has done a good job returning kicks, and we thought with the hang time that their kickoff guy and punter had that we might have some chances. The guys did a great job. They were on top of it.

A huge play in the game in my mind was Jermari’s interception. They’re driving the ball to about the 25, something like that, and he came up with that pick. Then we come back and get a field goal off that.

So just a lot of good complementary football, guys feeding off each other a little bit. Just proud of the way the guys responded and have responded this way.

Good second half for us and feels good to get the win. Feels great to be in Kinnick and get the win here and just want to compliment our fans. I thought they were really a big part of the game. They were really into it, loud, and appreciate that. Great deal.”

PHOTOS

HOW IT HAPPENED

• After a three and out from the Hawkeyes opened the game, the Huskies drove down the field on their first possession, but a 32-yard field goal attempt was blocked by Yahya Black to keep Washington off the board.
• Iowa capitalized on their next drive with a nine play 80-yard drive that was capped with a Kaleb Johnson six-yard rushing score.
• Washington responded with a 14 play, 75-yard drive that lasted 7:14 and ended with a five-yard touchdown reception from Denzel Boston.
• After forcing a Washington fumble the Hawkeyes scored on a Drew Stevens 37-yard field goal with 4:43 remaining in the first half.
• The Iowa defense forced a Washington punt and Cade McNamara connected with Kaleb Johnson on an 18-yard touchdown reception with 1:28 remaining in the half. The score came at the end of a five play, 35-yard drive that lasted 1:40.
• Washington connected on a 35-yard field goal with 29 seconds remaining in the half to end a nine play, 58-yard drive.
• A 53-yard rush from Kaleb Johnson with 13 seconds remaining in the half set up a 46-yard field goal from Drew Stevens as the clock expired to give the Hawkeyes a 20-10 lead at the break.
• The Hawkeyes first possession of the second half culminated in a 25-yard field goal from Drew Stevens. It was a nine play 47-yard scoring drive.
• Kaleb Johnson found the endzone for the third time with 14:56 in the fourth with an eight-yard rush. The drive lasted eight plays and 61 yards.
• After a fourth down stop from the Iowa defense, Iowa capitalized on the field position striking on the next play with a 33-yard touchdown pass from Cade McNamara to Dayton Howard.
• Drew Stevens pushed the lead to 30 connecting on a 51-yard field goal with 9:45 remaining in the game.
• A Washington two-yard touchdown pass to Rashid Williams with 2:58 left in the game ended a 17-play, 75-yard drive that lasted 6:45.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

• RB Kaleb Johnson finished with 166 yards on 21 attempts, including two touchdowns — a 6-yard touchdown in the first quarter and 8-yarder in the fourth quarter.
  • It is Johnson’s fifth game with two or more rushing touchdowns this season.
    • He also had an 18-yard receiving TD in the second quarter – the first of his career.
    • It is his second three TD game this season (at Minnesota). He is the first Hawkeye running back since 2012 (Mark Weisman) to have multiple three TD games.
  • Johnson’s 100-yard game is his fifth in six games this season and the ninth of his career.
    • His five 100-yard games are tied for the 10th most in a single season in program history and his nine career 100 yard games are tied for the eighth-most all-time.
  • He had a 53-yard rush in the second quarter – his third-longest rush of the season – and a 23-yarder in the third quarter. He has 16 20+ rushes on the year.
  • Johnson has 11 rushing touchdowns — the most by a Hawkeye since Jordan Canzeri in 2015.
  • Johnson now has 2,179 career rushing yards, the 13th-most in program history.
• QB Cade McNamara completed 8-of-14 passes for 108 yards and two touchdowns – an 18-yarder to Johnson in the second quarter and a 33-yarder to Dayton Howard in the fourth quarter.
  • It is his fourth game as a Hawkeye with two or more touchdown passes.
  • The 33-yard touchdown pass is the longest of the season and it ties for the longest pass of the season.
• QB Brendan Sullivan went 2-for-2 in leading Iowa to red zone points in the game.
  • Sullivan is 6-for-6 in guiding the team to points in the red zone this season (five TDs, one FG).
• WR Dayton Howard had a 33-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter for his first career reception and touchdown.
  • The 33-yarder is tied for the team’s longest reception of the season.
• WR Kaden Wetjen had a career-long 37-yard punt return in the second quarter and finished with 122 all-purpose yards (11 rushing, 74 kickoff return and 37 punt return yards).
• DB Jermari Harris recorded his team-best third interception of the season and returned it 32 yards on the interception return.
  • It is his eighth career interception – tied for the 20th most all-time.
• LB Jay Higgins (14) and LB Nick Jackson (11) both posted double-digit tackle games in the same game for the fourth time in their careers (at Penn State, Michigan State, vs. Tennessee, Washington).
  • It is Higgins’ third game with 10+ tackles this season and the 14th of his career. He has led or tied for the team lead in every game this season.
  • It is Jackson’s first 10+ tackle game this season and the 24th career double-digit tackle game.
    • Jackson made his 500th career tackle in the second quarter. He is fourth in FBS history in career tackles with 503.
  • FS Xavier Nwankpa recorded a career-high 10 tackles.
  • Higgins, Jackson, and Nwankpa are the first trio of Hawkeyes to notch 10+ tackles in a single game since Jack Campbell, Matt Hankins, and Zach VanValkenburg did in 2021 against Minnesota.
  • DL Yahya Black blocked a Grady Gross field goal in the first quarter. It was his first career blocked field goal, and it is the second straight year Iowa has blocked a field goal (Logan Lee vs. Iowa State, 2023).
  • DL Aaron Graves had a second quarter forced fumble and DL Max Llewellyn had the fumble recovery.
    • It was Graves’ second career forced fumble and Llewellyn’s first career fumble recovery.
    • Graves also had two sacks – his second game with two or more sacks this season.
  • P Rhys Dakin had two punts for 116 yards (58.0 average) in the game, including a career-long 62-yard punt in the second quarter. He had two 50+ yard punts in the game (55, 62).
  • K Drew Stevens tied a career high with four field goals, connecting from 37, 46, 25 and 51 yards.
    • It is Stevens’ season high in field goals and it is the third time in his career making four field goals.
    • He 10-of-11 in field goal attempts this season, including 4-for-4 from 40-49 yards.
    • It was Stevens’ fifth career 50+ yard field goal.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

• The Hawkeyes improved to 29-0 when scoring 21+ points since 2020.
• First time Iowa has scored 40+ points against a Big Ten team since it did at Maryland. (2021)
• Iowa improves to 75-3 when leading by eight points at any point in a game since the start of the 2015 season.
• The Hawkeye rushing attack surpassed 200 yards for the fifth time in six games. The last time Iowa had five 200+ yard games came in 2013.
• Iowa’s defense forced a second quarter fumble and a third-quarter interception – its 10th and 11th forced turnovers this season (seven interceptions, four fumble recoveries).
  • The Hawkeyes have an 11-5 advantage in turnovers this season, turning them into 25 points.
• Iowa had a nine play, 80-yard touchdown drive on its second offensive possession. It was the longest drive (by yards) this season.
• Washington finished with 393 yards of total offense. Iowa has held its opponent under 400 yards in 33 of the last 34 games.
• Washington won the toss and elected to defer to the second half.  The Hawkeyes have played 321 games under head coach Kirk Ferentz. Iowa has opened the game on offense 235 times (150-85). The Hawkeyes have opened the game on defense 86 times (50-36).

UP NEXT

The Hawkeyes return to action Oct. 19, traveling to East Lansing to face Michigan State. The game will be televised on NBC beginning at 6:30 p.m. (CT).