What do you do when your quarterback, a three year starter, goes out with a season ending injury against Nebraska and the backup QB decides to transfer? Plus your two top receivers also enter the transfer portal. On defense your starting linebacker and safety decide not to play.
Well, you put in a redshirt freshman quarterback that has never taken a snap and rely on your All America tight end on offense.
On defense you rely on Phil Parker and special teams.
Iowa Defense
How perfect for the Hawkeye defense to pitch a shutout for the final game of the season.
The defense has carried Iowa all season and if Phil Parker isn’t mentioned as the defensive coordinator of the year, I want a recount.
You start with All American Jack Campbell, the heart and soul of the Hawkeye D.
Jack had ten tackles including a sack, has been a great leader all year and was named defensive MVP.
“Can’t say enough about Jack,” said Kirk Ferentz. “He’s an unbelievable young guy.”
How about Cooper DeJean, who was the MVP of the game.
Cooper had a pick six for Iowa’s final score, totaled seven tackles with one for a loss, had 42 yards in punt returns and downed a Tory Taylor punt inside the two.
That’s Cooper’s third pick six of the season, a new Iowa record.
Xavier Nwankpa came to Iowa last January as the top rated safety in the nation.
I told Jeff Clark, one of my homeboys who watched the game with me, that I thought Xavier would make a big play.
The 52 yard pick six for Iowa’s second score was right on time.
“He has a great attitude and he works hard,” said Captain Kirk. “That goes back to January when he showed up.”
Iowa had 11 tackles for loss led by Deontae Craig with 3.5.
Kentucky had 68 yards rushing and were 2-18 on third down conversions.
Iowa Special Teams
I could vote for Tory Taylor as co-MVP.
That might have been Tory’s best game averaging 48.2 yards on eight punts.
Six were inside the 20, four of them inside the 10, two inside the five and he announced after the game he’s coming back next year.
Cooper had a couple of big punt returns and Iowa’s return coverage was great.
Iowa Offense
I could also vote for Joey Labas as co-MVP.
For his first game ever he was 14-24 for 139 yards and one TD pass to Luke Lachey for
Iowa’s first score. The key stat was no turnovers. He showed poise and scrambled around to extend plays.
Brian Ferentz said before the game that Sam LaPorta might be the best athlete he’s ever coached.
Sam not only led the Hawks with five catches but ran the Wildcat three times and gained six yards on two carries.
On his 27 yard catch and run in the second quarter, Sam broke six tackles and looked like Walter Payton.
8-5 with a Bowl win looks a lot better than 7-6.
“This reminds me of the year 1982,” said Captain Kirk. “We started out 0-2 and it was an ugly 0-2. We scratched and clawed and then beat Tennessee in the Peach Bowl to go 8-4. That eight wins felt like 50. It was an unbelievable year.”
Men’s Basketball Midterms
This story was written before the Nebraska and Penn State games last week.
The Hawkeyes were sitting at 8-4, 0-1.
Iowa was leading the Big Ten in scoring (83.4) and they gave up 70.8 points per game.
They were third in rebounds (39.9) and second in assists/ turnover ratio (1.67).
Grades so far include:
Kris Murray…A-
Kris is following his brother Keegan Murrays footsteps.
After Keegan’s eighth game the current pro was shooting 59% from the floor and 82% from the free throw line.
At that time Keegan averaged 23.9 points, 8.0 rebounds and had 18 blocked shots.
Kris’s eight games saw the twin averaging 19.4 points, 10.1 rebounds and 10 blocked shots
The junior from Cedar Rapids shot 50% from the floor and 80% from the free-throw line.
Patrick McCaffery…B
Patrick has improved his scoring every year.
The 6-9 junior averaged 5.2 points as a freshman, 10.5 as a sophomore and 14.3 this year.
Patrick runs the court well and can score inside and out.
Filip Rebraca…B
You can see Filip’s confidence growing every game.
The transfer from North Dakota is shooting 62% from field goal range and leads the team in rebounds with 100. Filip was named Big Ten Payer of the week when he scored a career high 30 points with nine rebounds against SE Missouri State
Tony Perkins…B
Tony has really stepped up his game as a leader and great defender.
The 6-3 guard from Indiana leads the team in assists (35) and assists (16).
Payton Stanford…B
Payton has struggled with his 3-point shooting but is shooting 86% from the free-throw line.
Conner McCaffery…B+
Conner is my midseason MVP.
The 6-6 senior from Iowa City West leads the team in free-throw shooting (96%) and is second
in steals (15).
Nebraska 66 Iowa 50
The good news is both Kris Murray and Conner McCaffery are back.
The bad news is the Hawkeyes still can’t hit the broadside of a barn.
In the second half of the Eastern Illinois contest, Iowa shot 31% from the floor and 12% (2-17) from three.
Against Nebraska, the Hawks shot 26% (19-73) from the floor and 25% (7-28) from three.
There were times when Iowa hit the offensive boards and got a couple of tips but couldn’t score.
Both the Hawks and the Huskers had ten second chance points.
It didn’t help that three starters combined for six points and were 2-19 combined from floor.
Kris did lead Iowa with 17 points, eight boards and three blocked shots.
Conner had five points, three steals but was 1-6 from three.
Filip Rebraca scored 16 points with 13 rebounds.
The 6-9 senior from Serbia has scored in double figures in the last seven games.
Penn State 83 Iowa 79
The Hawkeyes dug themselves into a big hole last Sunday at Penn State trailing by as much as 18 points before finding their shooting touch in the second half.
Iowa trailed 44-26 at halftime shooting only 36% from the floor and 12% from three.
The Hawks outscored the Nittany Lions 53-39 in the second half and trailed 81-79 with five seconds left but couldn’t finish and are 0-3 in the Big Ten.
Chris Murray scored 22 off his team high 32 points in the second half and Tony Perkins finished with 17.
Hawkeye Women
The Hawk women had two games last week beating Purdue at home 83-68 and losing at Illinois.
There are only five Hawkeye women that have scored over 2,000 points and two of them are teammates.
Monica Czinano joined Caitlin Clark in the elite group with 12 points hitting 6-8 free throws.
Five Hawks were in double figures led by Caitlin with 24 points, six rebounds, and five assists.
McKenna Warnock added 19 points with nine rebounds, but it was freshman Hannah Stuelke who got my attention.
Hannah had her first career double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.
The 6-2 forward had four offensive rebounds putting two back for a score, usually with two or three Boilermakers around her, and she played only ten minutes.
Illinois 90- Iowa 86
The Hawk women trailed 44-33 at half and 67-58 at the end of the third quarter before Caitlin and Monica went to work. Caitlin scored 16 of her 32 points in the fourth quarter while Monica scored eight of her 24, but it wasn’t enough and Iowa dropped to 11-4, 3-1.

Gallery • 2 Photos

Stephen Mally/hawkeyesports.com • Contributed Photo

Defensive back Cooper DeJean makes a stop against the Kentucky Wildcat in the Transperfect Music City Bowl Saturday, Dec. 31, 2022, at Nissan Stadium in Nashville.