College Football in 8/7

     The #20 Iowa Hawkeyes opened up conference play this year in a matchup against Rutgers. Iowa opened up the game with a quick score on a 58 yard TD from Nate Stanley to Ihmir Smith-Marsette, to quickly make it 7-0 Iowa. Both teams went back and forth trading punts, until the start of the 2nd quarter, where Iowa went on an 11 play touchdown drive capped off by a TD reception by Tyrone Tracy, a redshirt freshman who came into the program last year as a running back, and is now a receiver. The Hawkeye defense then got a quick 3 and out, followed by a 46 yard field goal by Keith Duncan, and then on the ensuing Rutgers drive, got an interception from Djimon Colbert, which they once again turned into a field goal. The halftime score was 20-0 in favor of the Hawkeyes. Both defenses came out of the locker room ready to go, each team holding each other to a couple of empty possessions, until Stanley once again found Smith-Marsette, this time from 23 yards out. Iowa then got an interception from Michael Ojemudia on the next drive, which they turned into a field goal, making it 30-0 Iowa, which is where the score remained for the rest of the game. Final Score: #20 Iowa 30, Rutgers 0. Iowa moved up to #19 on the AP Poll and will head to Ames this week to play Iowa State in the Cy-Hawk game.
     UNI took on the Southern Utah Thunderbirds in there home opener at the UNI-Dome. Both teams failed to put up any points to begin with, until late in the 1st quarter when Will McElvain hooked up Deion McShane for a 56 yard score. SU then proceeded to put a nice possession together, but missed the field goal, which the Panthers took advantage of, this time McElvain finding Isaiah Weston for the 39 yard TD grab. The Panthers then forced back to back three and outs to end the half which there offense turned into a field goal and a TD to make it 24-0 at the half. That would be a trend for the rest of the game as UNI put up defensive stop after defensive stop to make the score 34-0. The Thunderbirds finally got on the board with an 11 play drive capped off by a 4 yard TD run by Chris Helbig. UNI then had a pair of fumbles on back-to-back drives, but the Thunderbirds were not able to capitalize. SU threw on a late TD to make the final score UNI 34, Southern Utah 14. UNI has looked very impressive to begin the new year, with there triple overtime thriller against Iowa State and now the dismantling of Southern Utah. They will have Idaho State at home next Saturday.



Martin, Liz. The Gazette. The Gazette. <https://www.thegazette.com/subject/sports/hawkeyes/iowa-football/photos-iowa-hawkeyes-vs-rutgers-football-20190907>.