Iowa 24 Purdue 10

The Hawkeyes had some major issues in the first quarter as they failed to move the ball on offense and gave up some big chunks of yards on the ground. C.J. Beathard, making his first career start at QB struggled in the first quarter throwing a pick six that put the Hawkeyes down 7-0. Neither of the offenses could get anything going and that was the score at the end of the first.

On Purdue's first possession of the second quarter they started around midfield thanks to a nice punt return. On 3rd and 7 from the Iowa 16, Louis Trinca-Pasat was able to sack the QB and held Purdue to a field goal, their final score of the game. A 10 point deficit was nothing new to Beathard, as he faced the same situation the week before at Pittsburgh. A Jonathan Parker 47 yard kick return gave Iowa great field position and they cruised down the field with Mark Weisman capping the drive with a 2 yard score. Beathard had a nice 15 yard run.

Both teams traded three and outs and Iowa's defense held Purdue to another three and out giving Iowa the ball back with 3:48 to go starting at the 12. A nice 34 yard reception from Parker set up the Hawkeyes in Purdue territory. A few plays later, facing a third and 18, Beathard hit Jacob Hillyer for a 17 yard gain. Weisman then ran for five on fourth down setting Iowa up at the 16. A couple of drops killed the momentum and Iowa settled for a Marshall Koehn field goal to knot it up at 10.

Iowa defense started the second half the way they played last week in the second half. Nate Meier and Carl Davis teamed up for a sack and third down forcing another three and out. Unfortunately, Iowa couldn't do anything with the ball as they were plagued with yet another drop on third down. Iowa defense forced another three and out before taking over at the nine. Beathard, facing a third and nine situation at the 10, ran for 17 yards picking up a huge first down, and giving the Hawkeyes some room. A couple of plays later he hit Kevonte Martin-Manley for a nice 17 yard gain converting another third down. Iowa managed to march down to the Purdue eight yard line where they faced a fourth and three, they elected to go for it, but Beathard's throw to KMM was off the mark. Purdue's drive started at the eight and they were able to get their first first down of the half, but couldn't anything more than that. Iowa's defense held again. Iowa started at the 29 after Riley McCarron's 27th fair catch of the game. Tevaun Smith, who had been nursing an injury, gave the Hawkeyes a spark with a 27 yard pick up down to the Purdue 32. Jordan Canzeri followed that up with a 14 yard run. Two plays later Beathard hit KMM for a touchdown and Iowa's first lead 17-10. Purdue ran two plays before the quarter ran out.

Purdue started the fourth with a first down, but once again stalled out so they could watch McCarron fair catch a punt. Iowa couldn't do anything with their next drive with another three and out. Purdue started at their 42, excellent field position and a chance to get back in the game. QB Danny Etling fumbled on the first play before recovering it, but put them in a 2nd and long situation. Two incomplete passes later we watch McCarron fair catch a punt. The next drive saw a nice dose of Canzeri and Weisman and even had a seven yard run by LeShun Daniels, who we hadn't seen in a couple of weeks. Beathard only needed two passes on the drive, but they were 16 and 18 yards respectively. Weisman capped it off with a five yard run into the end zone. Iowa now had a pretty comfortable 24-10 lead. Purdue's next drive started with another Etling incompletion before throwing an interception to John Lowdermilk. The Lowdermilk return set Iowa up around midfield with 4:44 to go. Beathard hit Damond Powell on a nice 46 yard strike down to the five yard line, but the Hawkeyes couldn't punch it in and once again went for it on fourth down and they were stopped. Still 24-10, could have 30-10 or 27-10, but not much time for Purdue, I'm sure Ferentz felt pretty good about the defense shutting them down. Purdue brought in backup QB Austin Appleby who was able to get a couple of first downs and got Purdue to the 28. Lowdermilk once again stepped in front of a pass for his second interception. He could have had a chance to run it in for a score, but kneeled, which I thought was pretty classy. The final score was 24-10, but Iowa dominated Purdue in the second half. The defense was very sharp, they picked up four sacks on the day.

Early on it looked like Purdue was going to be able to run all over the Hawkeyes as Akeem Hunt had some nice gains, but they really stepped up later in the game. Purdue's QB had an awful day, the secondary wasn't leaving anyone open and the DL did a nice job. The "Raider Package" really has been a nice touch to the defense the last couple of weeks confusing the offense and forcing the QB to get rid of the ball quickly. I think Phil Parker has done a fantastic job making adjustments the past two weeks.

QB: C.J. Beathard came out sluggish in his first career start. The offense didn't quite have the swagger they did in the second half against Pittsburgh. Beathard ended up having a nice game, but his 17 for 37 wasn't his fault at all. The receivers dropped at least seven or eight passes, which could have put him at 24 for 37, which looks way better. He did throw a pick six early on, but after the first quarter, Iowa had over 400 yards of offense. Overall, not the best game by Beathard, but he's got a nice arm and some decent wheels, had some nice designed run plays. I think he's going to be a pretty solid QB.

RB: No Damon Bullock, he was out with an injury, but Weisman and Canzeri had no problem carrying the load. I really like the Canzeri-Weisman combo, two different styles. We also got to see Daniels and Parker a bit, which could be the Canzeri-Weisman combo in a couple of years. Parker had a nice catch and run, he could be a good playmaker. Also had a great kick return.

FB: John Kenny has done a solid job playing fullback for the first time. I usually don't watch the fullback, but it didn't appear that he made any mistakes that I saw.

WR: This was one of the worst games for this group, drop after drop just killing drives left and right. Each of the WRs seemed to have a decent gain in the game at least despite the drops. KMM, Powell, Smith and Hillyer all had a nice gain or two, but they really need to catch the ball.

TE: A couple of drops by these guys, too, and when they did catch the ball they didn't gain many yards. Not a great day for the TEs.

OL: It seemed like the OL struggled, Jordan Walsh in particular in the first half. I noticed on the play-by-play chart that Mitch Keppy was called for a false start in the second half, I didn't even notice he was in the game.

DL: These guys came up big again in the second half. I love watching Louis Trinca-Pasat, that guy gets after it. Nate Meier had a nice game, too, the undersized DE was in on a couple of sacks. They really played well after the first quarter.

LB: This group stepped up after the first quarter as well, doing a nice job against the pass and the run. Josey Jewell picked up a sack on a blitz early in the game. I love how Bo Bower plays, he's got a lot of energy. I saw Ben Niemann in there as well for a bit. They keep getting better each week.

DB: I think this was probably the best game the secondary has played thus far. I can't remember the last time I saw a team complete a pass to receiver that was covered by Desmond King. Greg Mabin has really stepped up and John Lowdermilk was all over the place. This young group is getting better every week, too.

ST: Dillon Kidd has had some bad punts, it might be time to bring Kornbrath back in and see what he can do. Koehn is killing it on kick offs, which is great. McCarron needs to try to return a punt of two, I like Parker at kick return.

The Hawkeyes sit at 1-0 in the conference and 4-1 overall. They'll have a bye week this week before their home game with Indiana. Indiana will be a nice test for the Hawkeyes with their high-powered offense.