lowa’s propensity to winning close game makes some fans, media members and many others quite uncomfortable. You know who else it makes uncomfortable? Their opponents. And the Hawkeyes’ 13-10 win over Nebraska had perhaps the unlikeliest of finishes — but they got the job done somehow, some way.
With 23 seconds left to play in a tie ballgame, the Hawkeyes turned in three of the team’s most spectacular plays of the season. An Ethan Hurkett interception, a chunk run by Leshon Williams to set the team up in field goal range — and a 38-yard game-winning field goal by a backup kicker making his first kick of the season.
It just doesn’t get any bigger than that.
“I’m just really happy of how we fought,” Jay Higgins said. “I feel like we displayed that all year. The last regular season game I think this one’s really just a definition of what Iowa football is all about. You can’t flinch when you face adversity. I felt like our team — we were looking for solutions the whole game. It helps us today.”
“Every week these coaches tell us the offensive, the defensive, the special teams, we’ve all got to work together and each just do our job,” Hurkett said. “If we do that, we know we have a good chance of being successful. So that’s pretty much what it’s been this entire season.”
“I would say sometimes I’d be stressed,” Leshon Williams admitted. “But I know we’re going to figure it out. That’s how we’re built — we’re built like that. I mean, of course we don’t like it to be close, but if it’s going to be close, I’m taking us 10 times out of 10.”
“I think it’s just a test of how close this team is in all aspects,” Deacon Hill said. “We sit in position groups for dinner on the night before games and we have snack after team meetings. We all sit with the specialists and chop it up. I think it’s just a testament to how close this team is.”
“Big Ten football, November football — it’s kind of the way it works,” head coach Kirk Ferentz said. “The bottom line is: Football is not a beauty contest. It’s not like gymnastics where you get style points. It’s about: Find a way to be successful, find a way to win the football game and our guys have really done a good job of that. So just, you know, extremely proud of them, happy for them.”
Iowa wraps up it’s fifth 10-win regular season in the Ferentz era. Next up is the Big Ten Football Championship Game in Indianapolis.
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