EVANSTON—Northwestern again rallied past #13 Iowa,this time 21-17 on an 8 yard Dan Persa to Demetrius Fields touchdown pass with 1:22 left in the game.The pass capped a two TD fourth quarter rally,but also was costly as it was also Persa’s last play of the season since he ruptured his Achilles tendon on that play,meaning he will miss the last two contests against Illinois next week at Wrigley Field,at Wisconsin in two weeks and what ever Bowl game the Wildcats play in.Iowa won the toss,picked a first down but then was forced to punt.Northwestern took over at their 38 and marched 62 yards in 5:27. The Wildcats got into final scoring position when Hawkeye LB Drake Morris was called for pass interference in NU’s Sydney Stewert in the end zone which put the ball on the two yard line.Persa ran it in for the game’s first score with 7:37 on the clock. Hurt by an illegal block in the back penalty, Iowa again had to kick it away and NU took over at their 32.Like,Iowa,the Wildcats had to punt,and Brandon Williams rolled it into the end zone.The Hawkeyes moved the ball better this time has Adam Robin had a 16 yard run to the Iowa 49,but on a third and three,Ricky Stanzi tried a long pass to Marvin McNutt which was badly over thrown so Ryan Donahue punted into the end zone. The Wildcats took their 7-0 lead into the second quarter.Each team punted,but Donahue,with the wind at his back shacked one out of bounds 12 yards at the Hawkeye 40 giving the Cats the best field position to start of the game so far.But after an intentional grounding on Persa cost the Cats 9 yards, Stefan Demos tried a 40 yard field goal into the wind,and with a high snap,the kick had the distance,but was wide right and Iowa took over at their own 23.They went three and out,but this time Donahue got a 73 yard punt off that rolled dead at the NU two, a difference of 58 yards from the previous time from where the Cats started.With the rain starting to fall,the cats got out past the twenty before Williams had to punt and did to the Iowa 31 with 3:22 left in the half. That led to a last minuted 55 yard drive that got the Hawkeyes on the board as Mike Meyer kicked a 32 yard field goal with :24 left. and NU took a 7-3 lead into halftime.
Northwestern got a first down on their their first possession of the third quarter,but punted and helped the Hawkeye out with a face mask penalty. Robinson’s running got the ball to the NU 26.Stanzi hit McNutt at the 5 and then in the end zone to give Iowa it’s first TD and lead 10-7 with 9:59 left in the third.NU again failed to move the ball,punted and Stanzi burned them, with the home run this time, finding Derrell Johnson-Koulianos in stride and he ran down the near sideline 70 yards,diving into the pylon to make it 17-7.The pair of TD’s coming just 3:38 apart.The Fourth quarter started with NU in possession but James Morris picked off a Persa pass that was deflected.Stanzi then threw into double coverage and Brian Peters easily intercepted and despite a personal foul on the Cats, they tool over on their own 15.They got their first scoring drive since early in the game by moving those 85 yards in 13 plays,using 4:35 off the clock. Persa hit Jeremy Ebert on a lob pass from six yards out with 6:21 to play,cutting the Iowa lead to 17-14.The Cats then forced a punt,but had no return man and the ball rolled dead at the nine with 4:08 left.Persa engineered a 91 yard 11 play drive which ended with the 8 yard pass to Fields with 1:22 left,regaining the Cats lead.That was when Persa hurt his Achilles and ended his season. The Hawkeyes tried to drive for a final winning score but Stanzi’s last fourth down desperate pass into the end zone fell incomplete. On to Wrigley Field next week.
NOTES—Attendance was a sellout 47,130….A limited amount of restricted view and standing room only tickets are available for next Saturday’s game with Illinois at Illinois.Kickoff is 2:30pm….The last time NU played a football game in the City Limits of Chicago was in 1997, the Pig Skin Classic when they blanked Oklahoma 24-0 at Soldier Field.
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