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No. 23 Iowa beats Illinois 29-20, now 6-0
Nathan Ford
Oct. 9, 2015 7:39 pm, Updated: Oct. 9, 2015 10:10 pm
Jordan Canzeri ran for 256 yards and a touchdown on a school-record 43 carries, and No. 23-ranked Iowa beat Illinois 29-20 at Kinnick Stadium on Saturday to move to bowl eligibility at 6-0 overall and 2-0 in the Big Ten.
Canzeri's 75-yard run in the third quarter put the Hawkeyes up 23-13, but Illinois (4-2, 1-1) answered in the fourth on Wes Lunt's 53-yard pass to Geronimo Allison.
Canzeri carried 11 straight times after Allison threw an interception to Greg Mabin, but Iowa settled for a 34-yard Marshall Koehn field goal.
That's when the Iowa defense stepped up for the second straight week, as defensive end Parker Hesse, who replaced an injured Drew Ott, punched the ball out from Ke'Shawn Vaughn.
Koehn, who missed an extra point on Iowa's first touchdown, then iced it with a 40-yard field goal with 2:11 left.
Lunt finished 25 of 42 for 317 yards for Illinois, but Iowa held the Illini to just 46 yards on 23 rushing attempts and sacked Lunt three times.
Beathard was 15 of 31 passing for 200 yards and two TDs for the Hawkeyes.
C.J. Beathard becomes the 1st October 10, 2015
C.J. Beathard becomes the 1st #Iowa QB to win his 1st 7 starts since Matt Sherman across the 1994 and 1995 seasons. #Hawkeyes
— BTNStatsGuys (@BTNStatsGuys)
Third quarter
What looked like would be a negative quarter from Iowa quickly changed when Jordan Canzeri found a hole and sprinted 75 yards to the end zone to put the 23rd-ranked Hawkeyes up 23-13 with 2:45 left in the third.
That raised Canzeri's game total to 179 yards on 26 carries and woke up an otherwise poor Iowa offense in the second half.
J. Canzeri run for 75 yds for a TD - ESPN Video
Prior to that, tackle Ike Boettger left the game and true freshman James Daniels struggled replacing him.
Daniels is getting kind of used at RT. Beaten twice.October 10, 2015
Daniels is getting kind of used at RT. Beaten twice.
— marcmorehouse (@marcmorehouse)
Meanwhile, Illinois' pass offense came alive in the third quarter as Wes Lunt threw for 132 yards, but the Illini settled for two Taylor Zalewski field goals.
Drew Ott hurt his leg on a punt return and has not returned.
The Ott injury, and frustration. October 10, 2015
The Ott injury, and frustration. pic.twitter.com/ZjrQLvBxrI
— Nathan Ford (@NathanTFord)
Second quarter
Jordan Canzeri was slow to get up from a couple shots taken in the second quarter at Kinnick Stadium, but his 17-yard screen pass reception gave the 23rd-ranked Hawkeyes a lead they extended to 16-7 over Illinois at halftime.
Forced to carry the load with LeShun Daniels out, Canzeri carried 17 times for only 41 yards until a 32-yard scamper down the sideline late in the half that set up a field goal.
Iowa quarterback C.J. Beathard is 13 of 25 for 190 yards and two touchdowns, and has also ran three times for 25 yards.
But Beathard threw too hard to a wide-open Jerminic Smith on 3rd-and-goal with under a minute to go in the half, and Iowa settled for a 19-yard Marshall Koehn field goal and 16-7 lead.
Freshman Smith has been huge for Iowa with Tevaun Smith out, making the first four catches of his career for 118 total yards.
His third of the half, an athletic 49-yard grab on third and long, set up Iowa's second touchdown.
C. Beathard pass,to J. Smith for 49 yds for a 1ST down - ESPN Video
Iowa missed another opportunity to score earlier in the second when Beathard's pass fell incomplete on a 4th-and-goal at the 1-yard line.
The Illini have gained just 121 total yards, including 32 on the ground (an average of 2.9 yards per carry).
First quarter
You figured the streak had to end at some point, and it did in the first quarter Saturday.
Illinois became the first team to score a rushing touchdown on Iowa this season when Ke'Shawn Vaughn plunged in from four yards out to put the Fighting Illini up 7-6 with 6:29 left in the first quarter.
The Hawkeyes were the last team in the nation to give up a score on the ground.
The TD was set up by a couple of long pass plays from Illinois, the first a one-handed 34-yard grab by Malik Turner.
Geronimo Allison was then on the receiving end of a 27-yard flea flicker to get the Illini inside the 5.
Iowa took a 6-0 lead on C.J. Beathard's 21-yard touchdown pass to wide-open tight end George Kittle, but Marshall Koehn missed the extra point.
C. Beathard pass,to G. Kittle for 21 yds for a TD - ESPN Video
Beathard completed 8 of 11 passes for 101 yards. The Hawkeyes gained 6.7 yards per play to Illinois' 5.6.