Iowa Hawkeyes Win Defensive Classic Against Michigan State

If you like smash mouth football, tough goal line stands, and great defensive effort, you could not have asked for a better show than Iowa and Michigan State. 

Yes, Ricky Stanzi’s seven yard touchdown pass to Marvin McNutt as time expired will long be remembered as the play of the game. Every aspect of their play from Stanzi’s pass and McNutt’s route, to the catch and run after catch was perfectly executed. However, the game should be remembered for how well the teams played on defense.  

Every football coach wants to be able to run the football to establish their physical dominance at the line of scrimmage. Neither defense was having any of that nonsense.

The Hawkeyes ran 14 running plays on Michigan State’s side of the field. The Spartans' was a very ungracious host limiting Iowa to only 47 yards, and a measly 3.3 yards per carry.

Iowa’s run defense flat was simply spectacular, allowing only one significant run, Edwin Baker’s 37 yard gallop in the third quarter. If you eliminate Baker’s run, Iowa held the Spartans to 48 yards on 29 carries for a ridiculous average of only 1.6 yards per carry.  

Tough goal lines stand at the one yard line? Oh yeah, both defenses were up to the task.

In the third quarter, it appeared that the Spartans were going to take control of the 3-3 defensive struggle with the ball on Iowa’s one yard line. On first down, the Spartans threw an incomplete pass. Michigan State then went into their power running formation. Iowa’s front line hunkered down and ensured that their pads were lower than the offensive line of the Spartans. On the next two plays, Iowa exacted some revenge on Mr. Baker for his earlier run by stuffing him at the line of scrimmage with multiple black and gold jerseys.  

The Spartans then hurt themselves on fourth down with an illegal procedure penalty and had to settle for a field goal.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Iowa looked like they would be the first team to score a touchdown. Iowa had first down and goal at the Michigan State one yard line.  Similarly to the Spartans, Iowa threw an incomplete pass on first down. The Spartans defense then stepped up their game and did the Hawkeyes defense one better by causing Iowa to lose a yard after trying two consecutive running plays. Iowa settled for a 20 yard field goal to tie the game.

Sacking the quarterback and never allowing the quarterback to get comfortable? Again, both defenses were more than willing to accept the challenge.

Iowa made life miserable for Michigan State quarterback Kirk Cousins. Cousins to his credit, was not dissuaded by the pressure put on by the Hawkeyes. 

The Hawkeyes sacked Cousins four times for a loss of 27 yards and “helped” him to the ground on several of his passing attempts.  When the defense couldn’t put a hand on Cousins, they were content to put a hand on the ball batting down several passes. While Cousins had success on his last two throws, which resulted in touchdown, the Hawkeyes were within a half a step of either sacking or blocking Cousins on both of his passes.

Cousins, however, was having a walk in the park compared to how difficult Michigan State was making life for Ricky Stanzi.   

The Spartans were constantly harassing Iowa’s quarterback, and put him on his back twice for a loss of 14 yards. When Stanzi was fortunate enough to find one of his teammates down field, the Spartans secondary often made sure the pass was rendered an incomplete by separating the ball from the player. 

How good were the Spartans at bottling up the Iowa passing attack?  

Prior to the game-winning drive in the final 1:32 of the game, Stanzi was 7-18 and had only 78 yards. A Hawkeye fan calling the Iowa passing game anemic up to that point at time would have been accused of calling of sugar-coating the truth.

The last drive of the game by the Hawkeyes started at the Iowa 30 yard line. Spartan fans were celebrating Michigan State’s touchdown, and were jubilant over their apparent upset of No. 6 ranked Iowa.  However, the celebration was premature.

Stanzi, like Cousins, kept his composure and delivered for his team in crunch time playing the best 92 seconds in his career.  

After completing three passes and an eight yard pass interference call, Stanzi and his troops stood on the seven yard line of the Spartans, with 30 seconds to go, and four downs to score.

The Spartans defense stiffened knowing that Iowa needed a touchdown, and that they had twice prevented the Hawkeyes from getting into the end zone. 

The first three plays were incomplete passes that really didn’t give the receiver a real opportunity to score a touchdown. Iowa was down to the last play of the game with only two seconds on the clock.  Two seconds, however, was just enough time for Stanzi to find McNutt for a touchdown on a seven yard slant.

Iowa remains undefeated and alone at the top of the Big Ten standings. The Hawkeyes have a bulls-eye on their back, and will get everyone’s best game.

Fortunately, Iowa’s defense as the best defense in the Big Ten appears to be up to the job.