NOTES: Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk Series at Iowa State

1ST & 10
• Iowa has won six straight games over Iowa State inside Jack Trice Stadium. The Hawkeyes are 22-8 all-time in Ames. The road team has won the last five games in the series, dating back to 2019 (no game in 2020 due to COVID).
• Eleven of the last 13 meetings in the series have been decided by 10 points or less, including the last seven contests dating back to 2017. Five of the last seven games have been one score contests.
• Saturday’s game date of Sept. 6 is the earliest meeting on the calendar in the all-time series.
• The Hawkeyes have 43 native Iowans on the 2025 roster; Iowa State has 44.
• Iowa is 29-10 in its last 39 rivalry trophy games.
• First-year Iowa starting QB Mark Gronowski won his 50th career game in the Hawkeyes’ season-opening win over UAlbany. Cullen Finnerty of Grand Valley State (Division II) is the national leader with 51 career victories.
• Iowa’s rushing attack churned out 310 yards in the season-opening victory over UAlbany – the most yards in an opener since 2002 (376 vs. Akron). It is the second time in the last six games Iowa has had 300+ rushing yards.
• During OC Tim Lester’s tenure, Iowa has rushed for 200+ yards in eight games.
• The Hawkeyes have won 97 games during the College Football Playoff era -- the 11th-most nationally during that span and fifth-most in the Big Ten.
• Iowa’s offense ranked 72nd in the nation in scoring (27.7) in 2024 under first-year OC Tim Lester -- a 57-spot improvement from 2023.
• Iowa’s defense allowed 17.8 points per game in 2024. The unit has allowed fewer than 20 points per game in nine consecutive seasons -- the longest streak nationally by six seasons. Iowa finished 11th in FBS in scoring defense and 20th in total defense (318.4).
• The Hawkeyes are 33-1 when scoring 21+ points since 2020. Since the start of the 2015 season, Iowa is 79-5 when leading by eight points at any point in a game.

SERIES HISTORY
Saturday’s game will mark the 72nd meeting in the series where Iowa holds a 47-24 advantage. The series began in 1894 -- a 16-8 Cyclone victory. 
• The Hawkeyes have won the last six meetings in Jack Trice Stadium and are 22-8 all-time in games played in Ames. Iowa won 27-17 in 2021 when the Cyclones were ranked No. 9 nationally and 20-13 in the most recent meeting in 2023.
• Iowa has won seven of the last nine meetings overall, but Iowa State has won two of the last three contests -- both in Iowa City.
• Eleven of the last 13 meetings have been decided by 10 points or less, including the last seven contests dating back to 2017. Five of the last seven games have been one score contests.
• Head coach Kirk Ferentz is 14-11 all-time against Iowa State, including winning 11 of the last 16 meetings, dating back to the 2008 season. 
• The teams did not meet between 1935-1976, or 2020. The teams played 43 straight seasons from 1977-2019 before the Big Ten announced in 2020 that it would not play nonconference games due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Iowa held a 29-14 advantage in the series from 1977-2019. 

1. Cullen Finnerty (Grand Valley State) 51 (DII)
2. Kellen Moore (Boise State) 50
Mark Gronowski (Iowa) 50 (FCS & FBS)
4. Colt McCoy (Texas) 45

THE D
Iowa’s defense has ranked in the top 20 nationally in scoring defense in each of the last 10 seasons.  
• The Hawkeyes have allowed fewer than 20 points per game in nine consecutive seasons.   
• Iowa has ranked in the top 20 in scoring defense in six consecutive seasons.  

STARTING STRONG
Iowa’s defense limited the Great Danes to 177 yards of total offense on Aug. 30 – the fewest in a season opener since 2022. UAlbany had just 33 yards in the second half.
• The Hawkeyes limited UAlbany to 43 rushing yards and allowed just nine overall first downs.
• Iowa limited two opponents under 200 yards of total offense in 2024.

AN OLD DEFENSE
Iowa’s defense lost some key pieces from the 2024 unit, but the Hawkeyes return their top three team leaders in sacks (Ethan Hurkett), tackles for loss (Hurkett) and forced fumbles (Hurkett, Aaron Graves) in 2025.  

“NEW” LINEBACKERS
The Hawkeyes will turn to a trio of graduates -- Jaden Harrell, Karson Sharar and Jaxon Rexroth -- at the linebacker position to fill the void left by the loss of All-American Jay Higgins, Nick Jackson and Kyler Fisher.  
• Harrell (27 games/nine tackles), Sharar (35 games/21 tackles) and Rexroth (37 games/11 tackles) have combined to make 41 tackles in 99 combined games, but none of the three have started a collegiate game.

HURK & GRAVES = DL ANCHORS
Iowa returns a pair of starters on the defensive line in graduates Ethan Hurkett and Aaron Graves to go along with key reserve in DL Max Llewellyn.  
• Hurkett led the team’s defensive linemen with 56 tackles, 11.5 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks, Graves had 33 tackles, eight TFL and six sacks, while Llewellyn had 22 tackles, eight TFL and 5.5 sacks.
• The position group added two defensive tackles in the portal in Jonah Pace (Central Michigan) and Bryce Hawthorne (South Dakota State).  Pace played in 37 career games for the Chippewas, where he had 55 career tackles, 12 TFL and five sacks, while Hawthorne had 5.5 TFL as a freshman for the Jackrabbits.

KADEN “THE JET” WETJEN
Graduate Kaden Wetjen was named the recipient of The 2024 Jet Award, which honors the most outstanding return specialist in college football. He was the first Hawkeye to receive the distinction.
• The Williamsburg, Iowa, native led the country by a wide margin, finishing with 1,055 combined kick return yards. He ranked first in the FBS in kickoff return yards (727) and second in punt return yards (328). Wetjen had two return for scores in 2024 -- a 100-yard kickoff return against No. 19 Missouri in the Music City Bowl and an 85-yard punt return in the win over Northwestern. 
• He was the only player in the nation to have both a kickoff and punt return for a touchdown.
• During the regular season, Wetjen returned a punt 85 yards for a score against Northwestern, the seventh-longest in school history. He had 100+ kickoff return yards in three straight games (Washington, Michigan State, Northwestern) -- a first by a Hawkeye since at least 1978.

STEVENS APPROACHES RECORD
Senior Drew Stevens moved into third place in program history in career field goals with his two makes in the season-opening win over UAlbany. The South Carolina native has made 56 field goals in his career.

1.     Nate Kaeding (2000-03)    67
2.    Mike Meyer (2010-13)    61
3.    Drew Stevens (2022-pres.)    56

• Stevens connected from 28 and a career-long 55 yards in the victory over the Great Danes.  The 55-yarder is tied for the fourth longest kick in school history and it was Stevens’ ninth career make from 50+ -- extending his school record.
• Stevens enjoyed a breakout 2024 season, making 20-of-23 field goals, which were a career high and the sixth-most in program history. He was 5-for-5 from 40-49 yards and had four makes from 50+.   
• He tied Kyle Schlicher’s program record that was set in 2004, making five field goals in the road win at Maryland on Nov. 23.  The five makes also tied the SECU Stadium, which led to him being named the Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week. 
• Two of Stevens’ makes came from 54 and 50 yards, making him the first Hawkeye since Tim Douglas (at Illinois, 1998) to make multiple 50+ yard field goals in the same game. 
• Stevens has four career games where he has made at least four field goals and he has three career game-winning field goals (21-yarder with 28 seconds left in road win at Minnesota in 2022, a 53-yarder in road win over Northwestern at Wrigley Field in 2023 and a 53-yarder as time expired in a win over Nebraska in 2024.).
• For his career, Stevens has made 56-of-69 field goal attempts (81.2 percent) and is 87-of-88 on PATs. He is 9-of-13 from 50-59 yards in his Hawkeye career.  

STEVENS ASCENDS IN CAREER SCORING
Senior Drew Stevens opened the season with a nine-point outing in Iowa’s season-opening victory over UAlbany on Aug. 30 inside Kinnick Stadium. He now has 255 career points, moving him into sixth place on the all-time list.   

1.    Nate Kaeding    373 (1 TD, 166 PAG, 67 FG)
2.    Mike Meyer    324 (141 PAT, 61 FG)
3.    Rob Houghtlin    290 (128 PAT, 54 FG)
4.    Tom Nichol    277 (142 PAG, 45 FG)
5.    Kyle Schlicher    260 (107 PAT, 51 FG)
6.    Drew Stevens    255 (87 PAT, 56 FG)

WOODY & KIRK 
Kirk Ferentz is in his 27th season as Iowa’s head football coach. He is the longest tenured active head coach in college football and he won his 200th career game as a member of the Big Ten Conference on Oct. 12, 2024, against Washington. Ferentz is currently tied with Ohio State’s Woody Hayes with 205 wins for the most victories in Big Ten Conference history.
• Ferentz has 128 Big Ten wins, which rank third all-time, trailing Hayes (153) and Michigan’s Bo Schembechler (143). 
• Ferentz won his 200th career game at Iowa State in 2023. He is the 27th coach at an FBS institution to reach the 200-career win milestone and the 99th coach across all divisions. Former Hawkeye head coach Hayden Fry finished his career with 236 victories.
• Ferentz has 10 career bowl game victories, which tie Joe Paterno for the most bowl wins as a member of the Big Ten Conference.

NOTABLE FERENTZ WINS AT IOWA
1 - Northern Illinois (9/18/99) - 24-0
2 - Michigan State (10/7/00) - 21-16 - first career Big Ten victory
11 - vs. Texas Tech (12/29/01) - 19-16 - Alamo Bowl
22 - at Minnesota (11/16/02) - 42-21 - clinched share of Big Ten title
37 - at Penn State (10/23/04) - 6-4
41 - Wisconsin (11/20/04) - 30-7 - clinched share of Big Ten title
50 - Montana (9/2/06) - 41-7
81 - vs. Georgia Tech (1/5/10) - 24-14 - Orange Bowl
100 - at Michigan State (10/13/12) - 19-16 (2 OT)
144 - Northern Illinois (9/1/18) - passed Hayden Fry for most wins in school history
150 - at Illinois (11/17/18) - 63-0
175 - at Northwestern (11/6/21) - 17-12
195 - Illinois (11/18/23) - 15-13 - passed Bo Schembechler for No. 4 in Big Ten history
200 - Washington (10/12/25) - 40-16 - passed Amos Alonzo Stagg to move to No. 2 in Big Ten history

YEAR AFTER YEAR
Four of Iowa’s assistant coaches -- Phil Parker (26), LeVar Woods (17), Seth Wallace (14) and Kelvin Bell (12) -- have combined to coach 69 combined seasons with the Iowa football program under Kirk Ferentz.  Strength coach Raimond Braithwaite is in his 21st year with the program.

AT THE ALMA MATER
Three Hawkeye coaches -- LeVar Woods, Kelvin Bell, Abdul Hodge -- played for the Iowa football program under head coach Kirk Ferentz.