IOWA CITY, Iowa – For the second straight year and the fourth time since 2018 the University of Iowa football team defeated Nebraska on a walk-off field goal. Drew Stevens connected on a 53-yard field goal as the Hawkeyes defeated the Huskers, 13-10, on Friday night on Duke Slater Field at Kinnick Stadium.

Stevens was 2-for-2 connecting from 20 and 53 in the contest.

Jackson Stratton made his second career start at quarterback and connected on 8-of-15 for 115 yards and a touchdown. His 73-yard touchdown pass to Kaleb Johnson tied the game at 10 with 14:44 left in the fourth quarter.

Johnson added 45 yards on the ground on 17 attempts.

Defensively, the Hawkeyes were led by Jay Higgins with 12 tackles (four solo) and Sebastian Castro with 11 tackles (eight solo). Ethan Hurkett added nine tackles with two sacks and three tackles for loss. The Iowa defense forced four fumbles (Castro, Hurkett, Aaron Graves and Max Llewellyn) recovering two.

QUOTING KIRK FERENTZ

“Just obviously extremely happy for our team and for our fans. The fans were absolutely fantastic again tonight. We appreciate that.

It really was just a classic November Big Ten football game from my vantage point. Nebraska is a talented football team, and they played really hard and played well. They clearly had momentum at halftime. So we knew it was going to be tough.

Just walking off the field, Albert Einstein quote kind of hit me about, “Not everything that can be counted counts” and then “Not everything that counts can be counted.” I think that sometimes explains the way things going in sports. That’s what’s so interesting as much as you want to analyze it, slice it, dice it, cut it up, all that stuff. I know statistics are important, but sometimes you just have to find a way to win, and our team did that.

Down 10-0… I think our guys really dug in and made plays when it mattered. That’s really what you have to do if you are going to be successful. Kept working, it starts there, and they believe in each other too. So big, big things.

And then just a couple of axioms that we always talk about with our guys. Penalties, I think we had one tonight. They had four. It really wasn’t that big of a factor, but the fact that we played clean was certainly important.

Turnover-take away margin, for my whole time in coaching that’s the most important stat there is, and we came out two-up on the count on that one, and that was obviously a huge thing.

The other building block for us for 20-plus years is just special teams. There were a lot of things happened tonight on special teams that were significant, but it’s easy to cherry-pick Drew’s field goal at the end, but I would also suggest that punt that Rhys hit prior to that to put them on the 20 tied right in with that.

If you think about that, changing field position, getting the turnover take-away, and then certainly Drew coming up big. Even better there, just think about a year ago with Drew. Basically he got benched at the end of the Nebraska game last year. What a contrast to tonight, and we all had tremendous faith.

Just is really proud of the guys. Proud of how they finished November, 3-1. We won 4 out of our last 5, and to win the last two are really big. We’ve had our things to overcome, so just proud of the effort everybody put in there.

Then, in closing, really when I got in the locker room, the first thing I said to our guys, younger guys, I just said, I hope you guys are paying attention because things like that hopefully they’re learning. They’re not out on the field actually doing it, but they’re with their teammates watching it.

It all goes back to the older guys, our best guys, our experienced guys doing a great job, and no better illustration there than the play Kaleb made to put us back in the ball game. You can’t explain that play. It was just a phenomenal effort.

A lot of good things to get him started. The guys outside did a good job blocking, but what an unbelievable — just a fantastic individual effort. But, again, if you are going to win a game like that, somebody has to step up and do something. We’ve had those through history too.

Then the other thing right now is we look forward and have a chance to rest here a little bit, and everybody needs one. It’s been a long, tough season. It always is in the Big Ten. That’s nothing new there.

It will be really nice for our guys to have some time here to get regrouped a little bit. One thing I do know for sure, wherever we end up, it will be warmer than it was tonight. We’ll figure that out whenever they tell us where to go, but right now we’re going to enjoy this one and let it kind of simmer for a while. It’s a good deal.”

PHOTOS

HOW IT HAPPENED 

• On its first possession of the game Nebraska drove down the field covering 64-yards on 10 plays to set up a 31-yard field goal.
• The next score for the Huskers came with 38 seconds remaining in the first half when a one-yard rush ended a 12-play 74-yard drive.
• After a muffed punt that gave Iowa the ball at the four-yard line the Hawkeyes turned the turnover into points as Drew Stevens connected on a 20-yard attempt with 4:30 left in the third quarter.
• On the first play of the fourth quarter Kaleb Johnson scored on a 72-yard touchdown pass from Jackson Stratton. The score capped a three play 86-yard drive that lasted 1:02.
• After Max Llewellyn and the Iowa defense forced a turnover with 20 seconds remaining, Drew Stevens connected on the game winning 53-yard field goal as time expired to send the Hawkeyes racing to the Heroes trophy.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

• K Drew Stevens connected on a game-winning 53-yard field goal as time expired to give Iowa the 13-10 victory.
  • Stevens now has three career game-winning field goals. He made a 21-yarder with 28 seconds left in a road win at Minnesota.
  • It was his 53rd career FG, passing Keith Duncan for the fourth-most in program history.
  • The make was Stevens’ 19th this season (19-of-22), his single-season career high.
  • It was his eighth career 50+ yarder which is a school record.
  • Stevens connected on a 20-yard field goal in the third quarter for Iowa’s first points of the game.
• DL Ethan Hurkett tied a career-high with three TFL and two sacks for a second straight week.
  • He finished with nine tackles, tying a career-high that he set last season at Nebraska.
• LB Jay Higgins finished with 12 tackles – his sixth game with 10+ tackles this season and 17th of his career.
  • He has led the team in 11 of the team’s 12 games this season.
• DB Sebastian Castro had a career-high 11 tackles – his first career double-digit tackle game.
• DB John Nester recovered a muffed punt in the third quarter, giving Iowa first-and-goal at the 4.
• RB Kaleb Johnson finished with 45 yards on 17 attempts, and he had 2 receptions for 73 yards, including a 71-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter.
  • His 72-yard reception was a career-long and Iowa’s longest pass play of the season.
  • He had a 25-yard run in the third quarter – his 21st rush of 20+ yards this season.
  • Johnson has scored at least one touchdown in all 12 games this season – the longest stretch in program history.
  • He now has 23 touchdowns (21 rushing, 2 receiving) for 136 points – a school record.
  • He has 32 career touchdowns – tied for the sixth-most in program history with Tim Dwight and Ronnie Harmon.
• QB Jackson Stratton completed 8-of-15 passes for 115 yards, including a career-long 71-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter. It was Stratton’s second career start.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

• Iowa made a game-winning 53-yard field goal.
  • It is the fourth time since 2018 that Iowa has had a game-winning field goal against the Huskers.
    • Miguel Recinos (2018), Keith Duncan (2019), Marshall Meeder (2023)
  • Kickoff for Friday’s game was 20 degrees, which is the second-coldest game in Kinnick Stadium history.
  • The Hawkeyes have won 21 of their last 24 games in the month of November, dating back to 2019 — the third-best winning percentage in the nation.
  • Iowa has won nine of the last 10 Heroes Game matchups against Nebraska and is 10-4 in the series with the Heroes Trophy on the line.
  • Iowa’s three-play, 86-yard scoring drive ties the longest of the season (vs. Wisconsin).
  • Iowa did not record an interception for the first time this season.
    • The Hawkeyes forced a turnover on a muffed Husker punt in the third quarter.
    • Iowa has forced 23 turnovers this season.
  • Nebraska won the toss and elected to defer to the second half. The Hawkeyes have played 327 games under head coach Kirk Ferentz. Iowa has opened the game on offense 238 times (153-85). The Hawkeyes have opened the game on defense 89 times (51-38).

UP NEXT

The Hawkeyes await their bowl destination. Bowl pairings will be announced on Dec. 8 following the final College Football Playoff rankings.