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Two football players carry the Heisman Trophy on a field with a crowd in the background.Two football players carry the Heisman Trophy on a field with a crowd in the background.
Football

Hawkeyes Shut Out Wisconsin, 30-0

The Iowa football team retained the Heartland Trophy with a 30-0 victory over Wisconsin on Saturday.

Opens in a new window Box Score (PDF) Opens in a new window Postgame Transcript (PDF)

IOWA CITY, IOWA -- The University of Iowa football team retained the Heartland Trophy with a 30-0 victory over Wisconsin on Saturday on Duke Slater Field at Kinnick Stadium.

The Hawkeyes totaled 362 yards of offense and 21 first downs while holding the Badgers to 235 yards and nine first downs. Iowa rushed for 140 yards, passed for 222 yards and forced three turnovers in the victory.

Fourth-year quarterback Hank Brown completed 20-of-24 pass attempts for 222 yards and two touchdowns. He connected with seven different receivers and posted a 188.5 passer rating.

Xavier Williams led Iowa's rushing attack with 78 yards on 20 carries, while L.J. Phillips added 27 yards. DJ Vonnahme accounted for two touchdowns, hauling in a four-yard touchdown reception in the first quarter and adding a two-yard rushing score in the third.

Tony Diaz paced the Hawkeyes' receiving corps with four receptions for 75 yards and a touchdown. Vonnahme added five catches for 54 yards, while Reece Vander Zee finished with five receptions for 51 yards.

Defensively, Cam Buffington led the Hawkeyes with eight tackles and a sack. Jayden Montgomery added six tackles and a fumble recovery. Deshaun Lee recorded five tackles, while Jacob Wallace intercepted a pass and the Hawkeyes recovered two fumbles.

Caden Buhr connected on field goals from 24, 28 and 54 yards. The 54-yard field goal was the longest of his career.

QUOTING KIRK FERENTZ

"First and foremost, I am really proud of our team and the way they responded after a tough week last week.

They did a great job. If you watch the game, it was truly a team win. All three phases stepped up. We gave our guys a good plan, but most importantly, the players are the ones doing it and they played really well.

We had a good week of practice, good focus, and most importantly, good execution. We played a lot of players, and as I said last week, we are not going to win doing what we did previously. There is big improvement there, and I am happy about that.

Tomorrow we will go back in, just like every Sunday, win or lose. There are things we must get better at, and we will see them on film. You have to look at the tape; there are always answers there. I encourage our guys to enjoy today, but be smart about what they are doing because the winter is getting tight regarding how many weeks we have left.

Enjoy this one, and we will look at the tape tomorrow and move forward. The biggest thing for us right now is understanding—it has always been this way in the NFL, and it is even more true now. It is the same way in college football—it is week-to-week. You have examples every week, and the better we understand that, the better we will be.

We will keep pushing on that as we head into November. November football has always been important in our program and will continue to be. We will talk about that as we move forward.

I am really happy to get the Heartland Trophy back, and obviously, great to get the toolbox back in our house too. We all joke about it, but I cannot say enough about the job our managers do.

I coached at the University of Maine where we had one person doing the job that all of our guys do, and it is a big difference. They are fantastic young guys who know the value of work and what it means to show up and work late. One of them, Chris Vande Weerd, was a manager a while ago, and now he is actually flying Marine One, the helicopter the president flies in. That is emblematic of these guys. If you have a job vacancy, you want to hire them because they really know what they are doing. I appreciate everybody doing a great job.

Lastly, it is great to be back in Kinnick. It feels like it has been two months since we have been here, and our fans could not have been better. We appreciate them helping us out."

PHOTOS

HOW IT HAPPENED 

  • Caden Buhr opened the scoring with a 24-yard field goal at the 9:08 mark of the first quarter, capping a 10-play, 67-yard drive.
  • Iowa extended its lead to 10-0 with 1:02 remaining in the opening quarter when Hank Brown connected with DJ Vonnahme for a four-yard touchdown pass to finish a 12-play, 75-yard drive.
  • The Hawkeye defense preserved the two-score advantage with a goal-line stand at the 4:22 mark of the second quarter, as Jayden Montgomery and Cam Buffington combined to stop Abu Sama III for a one-yard loss on fourth-and-goal from the Iowa 2-yard line.
  • Brown guided the Hawkeyes on a 98-yard scoring drive late in the second quarter, finding Tony Diaz for a four-yard touchdown with 1:30 remaining before halftime to make the score 17-0.
  • After Montgomery recovered a Wisconsin fumble with 45 seconds left in the half, Buhr drilled a 28-yard field goal as time expired to send Iowa into the locker room with a 20-0 advantage.
  • Vonnahme capped a 10-play, 71-yard drive with a two-yard touchdown run at the 7:54 mark of the third quarter, extending Iowa's lead to 27-0.
  • Buhr connected on a career-long 54-yard field goal with 2:16 remaining in the third quarter

POSTGAME NOTES

  • The victory is Iowa’s fifth consecutive over the Badgers – the longest streak over Wisconsin since winning 10 straight from 1985-96.
  • It is Iowa’s third shutout of the season and the 21st of the Kirk Ferentz era.
    • It is the first time in the Ferentz era that Iowa has had three shutouts in a single season.
    • The Hawkeyes have 12 shutouts since 2018, the most in the nation in that span.
  • It is the first time in series history (that spans 100 games) that either team has posted consecutive shutouts.
  • Iowa is outscoring the Badgers, 67-0, in the last two meetings and 155-26 during the five-game winning streak.
  • Iowa has two wins over ranked opponents this season (at Michigan, Wisconsin) – a first since 2021.
    • The win is Ferentz’s 34th victory all-time against an AP ranked opponent.
  • The Hawkeyes are bowl eligible for the 14th consecutive season and for the 24th time in the last 26 seasons.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

  • QB Hank Brown finished 20-of-24 for 222 yards and two touchdowns – a 4-yarder to DJ Vonnahme in the first and a 4-yarder to Tony Diaz in the second quarter. They are his seventh and eighth TD passes this season.
    • Brown started 7-of-8 for 90 yards and a touchdown in the first quarter and was 16-of-18 for 190 yards and two TDs in the first half – the most by a Hawkeye in the first half of a game since Nate Stanley (212 vs. Illinois) in 2019.
    • He had three explosive completions of 45, 45 and 23 yards – his second game with three 20+ yard completions (at Michigan) this season. Brown has 10 completions of 20+ yards this season.
  • WR Tony Diaz had four receptions (in five targets) for 75 yards and one touchdown – a 4-yarder in the second quarter.
    • He also had a career-best 20-yard rush in the third quarter.
  • TE DJ Vonnahme finished with five catches for 54 yards and one touchdown -- a 4-yarder in the first quarter. He also had a 2-yard rushing touchdown in the third quarter – his first career TD on the ground.
    • The rushing touchdown was the first by a Hawkeye tight end since T.J. Hockenson (at Minnesota) in 2018.
    • Vonnahme has three touchdown catches and four total TDs over his last three games.
  • RB Xavier Williams paced the team with 20 carries for 78 yards. It is the second time this season he has led the team in rushing.
  • LB Jayden Montgomery recovered a Wisconsin fumble in the second quarter. It was his first career fumble recovery.
  • LB Cam Buffington finished with XX tackles, including 1.5 TFL and one sack. He has led the team in tackles in four games this season.
  • DB Jacob Wallace recorded his second interception of the season in the fourth quarter.
  • DB Zach Lutmer forced the first fumble of his career in the fourth quarter. Lutmer has now forced five career turnovers (four interceptions, one forced fumble).
  • K Caden Buhr connected three field goals from 24, 28 and a career-long 54 yarder in the third quarter.
    • He has made 11 straight field goals from under 50 yards (and his last two from 50+) and is 13-of-15 on the year.
    • Buhr has made three field goals in a game twice this season.

MISCELLANEOUS

  • Iowa is 21-3 since 2023 when reaching the 21-point mark first in the game.
  • The Hawkeyes had a 34:37-to-23:39 advantage in time of possession.
  • Iowa’s defense limited the Badgers to 235 yards of total offense and nine first downs.
    • The Hawkeyes have limited the Badgers to 261 or fewer yards in each of the last three meetings.
    • Iowa held UW to 16 yards in the first quarter and 109 yards in the first half.
    • The rush defense held Wisconsin to 52 yards on the ground – its fifth game holding the opponents to 100 or fewer yards this season.
      • Wisconsin’s rushing total is the fewest Iowa has allowed against the Badgers since 2022 (51 yards).
    • Iowa’s defense forced three turnovers – two fumbles and an interception. The Hawkeyes are 79-5 when winning the turnover battle under DC Phil Parker.
    • Iowa’s defense stopped the Badgers on fourth-and-goal from the 1 late in the second quarter, stopping Abu Sama III for a 1-yard loss for a turnover on downs.
  • Iowa had a seven-play, 98-yard touchdown drive in the second quarter, tying a season long drive.
    • Iowa had zero 98+ touchdown drives from 2018-25 and the team has one in consecutive weeks in 2026.
  • Wisconsin won the toss and deferred to the second half. The Hawkeyes have played 349 games under head coach Kirk Ferentz. Iowa has opened the game on offense 258 times (167-91). The Hawkeyes have opened the game on defense 91 times (52-39).

UP NEXT

The Hawkeyes return to action Saturday, traveling to Evanston to face Northwestern at the New Ryan Field.  The game time will be announced later today.