IOWA CITY, Iowa – The University of Iowa football team defeated Northwestern, 40-14, on Saturday afternoon on Duke Slater Field at Kinnick Stadium. The Hawkeyes outgained the Wildcats 355 to 163 and forced three turnovers.

Cade McNamara was 7-for-13 for 73 passing yards with a touchdown and an interception. Brendan Sullivan relieved him in the second quarter and was 9-for-14 for 79 yards.

Kaleb Johnson scored three touchdowns on the ground for the Hawkeyes. He rushed for 109 yards on 14 attempts. Sullivan added 41 yards with his legs. Seth Anderson had 44 yards on two receptions and Luke Lachey pulled in three catches for 17 yards. Johnny Pascuzzi had a forty-yard reception.

On the defensive end the Hawkeyes were led by Jay Higgins who had eight tackles (five solo) and Nick Jackson with six tackles (one solo). Max Llewellyn had a sack for a safety and Kenneth Merrieweather and Jackson combined for a sack. Higgins and Quinn Schulte each pulled in an interception.

On special teams, Kaden Wetjen returned a punt 85 yards for a touchdown.

QUOTING KIRK FERENTZ

“Obviously, really good to get the win. It was hard-fought. Really proud of our guys. Nothing was easy today. Anticipated that coming in.

As much as anything, impressed with the way the team stuck together. That first half was tough. Second quarter, right on through. At halftime I thought everybody was in a good place, everybody was thinking the right way. Pleased with the way they did things and the way it turned out.

Really everybody made big contributions. The defense played an outstanding game. One of the stranger shutouts that you’ll see that way. They got involved in the scoring, Jay with the interception in plus-territory, great field position. Obviously, Wetjen with the punt return. Rhys did a really nice job with his punting.

Maybe I’ve been around where somebody has put four inside the 6-yard line. Pretty impressive, especially for a young guy. That was good.

12-7 at halftime, it was a rough time. That’s what you expect in conference play. But to come out and play the way we did in the third quarter, really great. That’s a credit to everybody. You get 28 points, it makes life a little bit better. Really happy about that.

Really happy with the way the guys responded. All week long, put a good week in. No moping around, pouting, that kind of stuff.

I think the other good thing is we still have a lot of things we can get better at, get more detailed on. We’ll start that work again tomorrow.

First and foremost, just encouraged the guys to really enjoy this. They earned it. Wins in the conference are hard-earned. Enjoy it tonight, not too much, not too late. We got a big week ahead of us.

Last thing I’ll say, too, what a great crowd. Homecoming is always kind of neat. You have a lot of things going on on campus. Tremendous crowd. Couldn’t have had better weather either. Turned out to be a really nice day.”

PHOTOS

HOW IT HAPPENED 

• Northwestern attempted a field goal on its first drive of the game but couldn’t connect from 48 yards out.
• Iowa got on the board on its first possession after a 42-yard pass from Cade McNamara to Seth Anderson eventually led to a 24-yard field goal. The score ended a 10 play 62-yard drive that lasted 4:47.
• A Northwestern interception was returned 85 yards for the score with 9:31 remaining in the second quarter for the first Wildcat score of the game.
• A Max Llewellyn sack in the endzone gave the Hawkeye defense a safety with 7:16 remaining in the first half.
• With 46 seconds remaining in the first half Kaleb Johnson found the endzone on a 26-yard touchdown scamper. The drive capped a five play 52-yard drive and eclipsed 43 seconds.
• On the opening drive of the second half Iowa drove down the field using seven plays to cover 78-yard scoring on a six-yard touchdown rush by Brendan Sullivan.
• An 85-yard punt return for a touchdown by Kaden Wetjen extended the Hawkeye lead with 8:54 left in the second half.
• Kaleb Johnson broke open another long touchdown run this time scoring from 41-yards out. The eight play 64-yard scoring drive lasted 3:59 and came with 4:32 remaining in the third quarter.
• Kaleb Johnson’s third touchdown of the day came with 27 seconds left in the third quarter on a 25-yard rush. The score came the play after Jay Higgins pulled in an interception for Iowa.
• Northwestern had a punt return of their own as Drew Wagner took it 72-yards to the house to make the score 40-14 with under seven minutes to play.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

• QB Brendan Sullivan completed 9-of-14 attempts for 79 yards in his first extended playing time as a Hawkeye.
  • Sullivan also rushed for 41 yards on eight attempts and scored a 6-yard touchdown. It was his third rushing touchdown of the season and the sixth of his career.
  • He has led Iowa in the red zone eight times this season with eight scores (7 TDs, 1 FG).
• RB Kaleb Johnson recorded his sixth 100-yard game of the season, finishing with 109 yards on 14 attempts with three touchdowns – a 26-yard score in the second quarter and 41 and 25-yard scores in the third.
  • Johnson has scored at least one touchdown in eight straight games — the longest streak by a Hawkeye in the Ferentz era.
  • He has six games this season with two or more rushing touchdowns – the most by a Hawkeye since 2011 (Marcus Coker).
  • Johnson has two games with three rushing touchdowns and three total games with three TDs (2 rushing, 1 receiving).
  • It was his 14th, 15th and 16th rushing touchdowns of the season – the most by a Hawkeye since 2013 (Mark Weisman, 16).
  • Johnson has 1,144 yards on 146 carries which ranks 12th-most yards in single season history. He is now eight yards from cracking the top-10 in single season history.
  • He has 20 rushes of 20+ yards this season, including nine TDs of 25+ yards.
  • Johnson has scored 102 points this season – the ninth-most in a single season.
• PR Kaden Wejen had an 85-yard punt return for a touchdown in the third quarter.
  • The return is a career long and the seventh longest punt return for a touchdown in program history.
  • Wetjen finished with 176 return yards – his third straight game with 100+ return yards.
    • He is the first Iowa player since at least 2000 with 100+ kickoff/punt return yards in three consecutive games. The last Big Ten player to accomplish the feat was Maryland’s Javon Leake in 2019.
• DB Quinn Schulte had a second-quarter interception – his second of the season and fifth of his career.
• LB Jay Higgins had an interception (and 10-yard return) in the third quarter. It was his third interception of the season (tied for the team lead) and the fourth of his career.
  • Higgins also finished with a team-high eight tackles. He has led or tied for the team lead in tackles in all eight games.
• DL Will Hubert had a fourth quarter fumble recovery – the first of his career.
• P Rhys Dakin had six punts for 263 yards, averaging 43.8 yards.
  • He had three punts fair caught at the 6 and one downed at the 4 in the second quarter. One of the punts that was fair caught ultimately resulted in an Iowa safety.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

• The Hawkeyes scored on offense, defense and special teams. It is the first time Iowa has scored in all three phases since the 2021 season – a 28-21 road win at Nebraska.
• Iowa has scored 40 points against two Big Ten opponents for the first time since 2020 and the team has three 40-point games this season – the most since 2017 (4).
• Iowa’s offense produced 28 points in the third quarter of today’s game. It marks the most points scored in a quarter since the Hawkeyes registered 28 at Illinois in 2018.
• Iowa’s defense allowed 163 yards of total offense and didn’t allow a touchdown.
  • It is the second time this season the unit has held its opponent under 200 yards.
  • It is also the least amount of yards the defense has surrendered to a Big Ten foe since Nov. 11, 2023 at Rutgers.
  • It was the second time this season, Iowa’s defense has given up less than 200 yards. (Illinois State)
• Iowa recorded a safety in the second quarter on Max Llewellyn’s sack.
  • It is the fourth straight season the defense has registered a safety (2021 – Lukas Van Ness at Nebraska; 2022 – Joe Evans/Jack Campbell vs. South Dakota State; 2023 – Joe Evans vs. Illinois).
• The Hawkeyes have returned a punt for a touchdown in consecutive seasons (2023 – Cooper DeJean).
  • It was Iowa’s 19th non-offensive touchdown since 2020 – tied for the third-most in the FBS over that span.
• Iowa drove 62 yards on 10 plays on their opening drive of the game, resulting in a Drew Stevens’ 24-yard field goal. It was the first time this season the team has notched points on its opening drive.
• Iowa put together a seven play, 78-yard touchdown drive to open the third quarter.
  • The Hawkeyes have scored a touchdown in their first drive of the second half in three straight games and five times this season.
• Iowa recorded its ninth and 10th interceptions in the game – matching its season total from the 2023 season.
  • The Hawkeyes have had at least one interception in every game on the year and the unit has forced two or more turnovers in five games.
  • Iowa forced a total of three turnovers in the game, tying a season best.
• Iowa won the toss and elected to defer to the second half. The Hawkeyes have played 323 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 88 times (51-37).

UP NEXT

The Hawkeyes will return to action Nov. 2, hosting Wisconsin in a battle for the Heartland Trophy inside Kinnick Stadium.  The kickoff time has yet to be announced.