March 19, 2024

No. 4 Iowa holds off Nebraska to complete first 12-0 regular season

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LINCOLN, Neb. — After Iowa’s Black Friday football game against Nebraska, redshirt freshman Parker Hesse was asked if he remembered what play was called the last time he scored a touchdown.

“I do. It was a quarterback sneak in the (2013) state title game,” said Hesse, who is walk-on from Waukon.

Hesse was an all-state quarterback back then. He is now a defensive end who is filling in for injured senior Drew Ott.

The biggest touchdown of Hesse’s collegiate career came Friday when he picked off a Tommy Armstrong screen pass and rumbled four yards for a touchdown.

The pick-six gave then third-ranked Iowa a 14-7 lead. The Hawkeyes never trailed again in a 28-20 victory over the Cornhuskers that completed the school’s first-ever 12-0 regular season.

“It was just kind of the right place at the right time,” said Hesse of the pick. “The tackle tried to cut me so I defended myself. The ball went right over the top of me. I just reacted. I was lucky enough to tip it back to myself.”

It was the fifth time Iowa has finished a regular season undefeated, but the most wins recorded by those past teams was when the Hawkeyes finished 8-0-1 in consecutive seasons in 1899 and 1900.

Not even Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz knows how to celebrate a 12-0 season.

“I told the guys after the game that I am not sure what to say because I have never been a part of a 12-0 team,” said Ferentz, who guided Iowa to 11-2 seasons in 2002 and 2009. “It’s an unbelievable accomplishment. We wanted to be a Big Ten championship caliber team. We took one step closer to that today.”

Iowa took an early lead when quarterback C.J. Beathard rolled to his right on a play-action pass and found a wide-open George Kittle in the end zone for a 10-yard touchdown.

The touchdown came with 13:50 to go in the second quarter. Nebraska came right back to tie the game a few minutes later when Imani Cross scored on a 4-yard touchdown run.

Hesse’s interception return for a touchdown made it 14-7. The Huskers (5-7) made it 14-10 with three seconds to go until halftime when Drew Brown hit a 39-yard field goal.

The conditions were not ideal for either team’s passing attack. Temperatures felt like 10 degrees at kick off and strong gusts of wind reached 25 miles per hour.

Beathard threw for just 97 yards, but the Hawkeyes took care of the ball and relied on a strong effort from senior tailback Jordan Canzeri.

Canzeri gave Iowa more momentum early in the second half when he completed a short two-play, 33-yard drive with a 29-yard touchdown run.

After Cross scored on another 4-yard touchdown run to bring Nebraska back to within four, Canzeri put the game away with a 68-yard touchdown sprint that put him over 100 yards on the day.

Canzeri finished with 140 yards on 17 carries. He averaged 8.2 yards per attempt.

“The rest of the team made things really easy for me on those big plays. All I had to do was run,” Canzeri said. “It’s amazing to be a part of this. It’s something that I am so grateful for. To be able to have this success just shows what hard work can do.”

Nebraska out-gained Iowa in total offense, 433-250. Husker quarterback Tommy Armstrong threw for 296 yards, but his four interceptions were the difference in the game.

Aside from Hesse, linebackers Cole Fisher and Josey Jewell and cornerback Greg Mabin also had interceptions for the Hawkeyes’ opportunistic defense.

Hesse has had his ups and downs this year as Ott’s replacement. He had the best game of his career against Nebraska though. No one was happier than Ott, too.

“I was going over all week how to score touchdowns against Nebraska,” said Ott, who is a Nebraska native. “I think he took good notes. I told him to get two, but you can only do so much.”

The game still came down to an onside kick as Nebraska got within eight on a 42-yard field goal by Brown.

Like he did against Minnesota earlier this season, tight end Henry Krieger-Coble snatched the kick with 1:17 to play.

Beathard and the offense only needed a few kneel downs from there.

“We reminded each other at halftime that we have been talking about finishing for 11 months now. It feels really good to go out and do it,” senior center Austin Blythe said. “The goal is to get three more wins. Right now, we’ll enjoy this one and start working on our next opponent on Sunday.”

Iowa’s next opponent is fifth-ranked Michigan State in the Big Ten championship game on Saturday. The Spartans’ lone loss this year came in Lincoln to the same Husker team Iowa beat on Friday.

The winner of that game is likely one of the four teams in this year’s College Football Playoff that will take place on New Year’s Eve.

No matter what happens, Blythe’s final year in Iowa City was much better than his first when the Hawkeyes went 4-8.

“Iowa football is not 4-8. It was a goal of some of us on that team to have a season like this,” said Blythe, who was an all-state lineman at Williamsburg. “I wanted to be a part of team that Coach Ferentz references like he does with the 2002 and 2009 teams. We are well on our way to that for sure.”