It’s not Floyd of Rosedale or the Little Brown Jug. It’s not even the Sweet Sioux Tomahawk.
The Cy-Hawk trophy isn’t much to look at–a football player and a football on a block of wood–but it wouldn’t matter if Iowa and Iowa State were playing for an old corncob.
A sellout crowd of 70,397 packed Kinnick Stadium on Saturday with thousands more tailgating outside to celebrate the 52nd renewal of the rivalry.
The fans weren’t disappointed as No. 16 Iowa outlasted Iowa State 17-10. It didn’t matter that the Hawkeyes were at least three-touchdown favorites coming in and the Cyclones missed three field-goal attempts. The student section still stormed the field after the Hawkeyes increased their series lead to 35-17.
“This is a fun game, me being from Iowa,” said Hawkeyes defensive tackle Tyler Luebke, who grew up in Iowa City. “It’s all about bragging rights. . . . We knew they were going to come out. We always come out and have a big clash with Iowa and Iowa State.”
It was Iowa’s first victory over Iowa State at home since 1996. The Hawkeyes (2-0) extended their home winning streak to 14, with Iowa State’s 36-31 victory in 2001 their last loss at Kinnick.
But it didn’t come without a lot of sweat. After taking a 17-3 lead early in the third quarter, Iowa had to hold on.
“I told our team on Tuesday, this would be a 60-minute game and we really thought that would be the case,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. “That’s exactly how it panned out. . . . It’s a great series, a great rivalry and we’re just happy to be on the winning end of it.”
Iowa, which scored on its opening drive, appeared to have broken the game open 14-3 in the second quarter. Sophomore quarterback Drew Tate, who completed 16 of 22 passes for 220 yards, threw a perfect pass to Ed Hinkel, who laid out to grab the 29-yard touchdown toss.
But Iowa State (1-1) didn’t back down and had some chances for an upset though it couldn’t overcome the loss of kicker Tony Yelk, who is nursing a hip flexor injury. Freshman walk-on Brian Jansen missed from 30, 46 and 31 yards and made a 41-yarder.
“We missed three of four field goals,” Iowa State coach Dan McCarney said. “When you’re grinding and driving, grinding and fighting, scratching to get yardage and first downs, you have to come away with points.”
It definitely was a grind. Both teams had problems running, with Iowa gaining 85 yards and Iowa State 66 on the ground.
The Cyclones’ defense, led by linebackers Tim Dobbins and Erik Anderson with 11 and nine tackles, respectively, stuffed Iowa in the second half, holding the Hawkeyes to two first downs, 34 yards rushing and 71 yards passing in the final two quarters.
“I’m proud of my team,” said McCarney, whose squad got within 17-10 on a 40-yard Austin Flynn touchdown pass to Todd Blythe.
“We’re not going to accept this. We don’t accept losing our expectations. We were coming in to win this game and that’s what we tried to do.”
The Iowa defense was just as stingy.
The Cyclones gained only 28 yards rushing and 62 yards passing in the second half. They converted only two of 16 third-down situations and missed on key situations in the last minute. A Bret Meyer pass came up 3 yards short on third down at the Iowa 34.
On fourth down Meyer dropped back and then sprinted for the first-down marker, but Luebke and Hodge stopped him 2 yards short to end the threat.
“Anytime there is a situation coming down to the wire, we want to be out there as a defense,” Iowa safety Sean Considine said. “I thought we played sound and showed we did the things we needed to do on the last drive.”
