Oregon downs Iowa to remain unbeaten on road in Big Ten play

IOWA CITY, Iowa — A sold out Kinnick Stadium, and the downpouring rain couldn’t stop the Ducks from winning their eighth-straight road game in Big Ten play, and now they’re flying high.

After all, No. 9 Oregon performed great in the trenches, was phenomenal on special teams, and delivered in the clutch to defeat No. 20 Iowa 18-16. Coach Dan Lanning knew it was going to be a hard-fought battle, but once the smoke cleared, his Ducks extended their win streak on the road as a Big Ten member. Winning eight-straight road games in conference play is phenomenal, but it didn’t happen without some blood sweat and tears Saturday night.

The inclement weather made field conditions a challenge for both teams, and wet balls were hard to hold onto. The Ducks took advantage of the Hawkeyes’ special teams blunders because of it too. Iowa’s first drive of the game resulted in a safety after its’ long snapper hiked the ball over punter Rhys Dakin’s head. It went into the endzone, and Dakin had to kick it out of bounds to prevent an Oregon touchdown.

Lanning wanted a momentum swing early on to silence the crowd of 70,000-plus fans, and that’s exactly what he got with that play.

“I guess that’s what they call Big Ten football, what an unbelievable game, looking at the score early and was like okay it’s 2-0,” Lanning said. “Man Iowa does such a good job of being in the fight, and I felt like we were winning in a lot of categories, and they were just hanging around.”

The Ducks held the Hawkeyes scoreless in the first quarter, and extended their lead in the second. Quarterback Dante Moore led Oregon on an eight-play, drive that took four minutes off the clock and ended as running back Dierre Hill Jr., rushed for a 19-yard touchdown. However, the Hawkeyes responded with a touchdown drive of their own. Quarterback Mark Gronowski led Iowa on a 10-play, 75-yard drive that took over six minutes off the clock, and ended as he connected with tight end DJ Vonnahme in the endzone.

As the sun went down late in the first half, the game turned into a defensive slugfest. Still, the Ducks came through on special teams again as kicker Atticus Sappington nailed a 46-yard field goal, and gave them a five-point lead as time expired. The 12 points at halftime were Oregon’s lowest of the season, and Lanning knew he had to make adjustments. That was easier said than done because Lanning already had to deal with injured players.

There wasn’t much offensive fireworks in the third quarter, and the only score of that period came from Sappington’s second field goal. The fourth quarter was when all of the action started though. Lanning made sure his offense kept pounding the ball on the ground with Noah Whittington and Jordon Davis, especially after Moore’s interception, and it paid off down the stretch.

“We felt like it mattered, and we felt like obviously with the conditions today, we gotta go win by the way that we run the ball,” he said. “Our running backs ran extremely hard tonight, and I got a feeling Noah is going to have a couple of ice packs on him on the flight home.”

Iowa (6-3) inched closer after a 58-yard field goal by kicker Drew Steven early in the fourth quarter, and made the score 15-10. Oregon (8-1) couldn’t get much going offensively most of the fourth quarter, which allowed Iowa to put together a monster drive. Gronowski led the offense on a 12-play, 93-yard touchdown drive, that took nearly seven minutes off the clock. It came down to a fourth down attempt at the Ducks’ three-yard line, and Gronowski was able to punch it in to give the Hawkeyes their first lead of the game.

Iowa failed to convert the two-point conversion, but the momentum had shifted, and the crowd was in a frenzy. Regardless, Lanning knew he could do a lot with nearly two minutes left on the clock, and that’s when the Ducks orchestrated their most important drive of the contest.

Moore completed four consecutive passes to start Oregon’s final drive, including a 24-yarder to Malik Benson, which gave the team great field position to kick a field. Three plays later, Sappington lined up for his final attempt of the night, and he nailed the 39-yarder right down the middle for his third field goal of the game and left three seconds on the clock.

Sappington squibb-kicked the next kickoff, an Iowa player couldn’t handle the ball and time expired as both teams tried to recover it. Lanning thought his team wanted it more, and it showed with the results on that final drive.

“I think there’s going to be a lot of learning moments for us on how we can finish games like this, but to get the ball with a little bit of time, and our guys go execute a two-minute drive, it just tells you the heart and resiliency of our group,” the 39-year old coach said. “We talk about strength in numbers, we had some guys that had to step up, and they were ready for their opportunities this week, which is unbelievable.”

Oregon led Iowa in total offense, rushing, yards per play, first downs and won the turnover battle. In Lanning’s eyes that’s a recipe for success on the road in the Big Ten. Moore completed 13 of his 21 passes for 112 yards and interception. He wasn’t sacked at all, and most of his passing production came on Oregon’s final drive. Whittington rushed for a game-high, 118 yards, and averaged 6.9 per carry.

With a couple of elite targets out, and the rain, the Ducks only finished with 112 yards through the air. Wideout Jamari Johnson led the team in receptions and receiving yards. The player that had a stellar performance was Sappington, with his three clutch field goals. Lanning admired that his kicker never got rattled, and played with ice water in his veins.

Defensively, linebacker Jerry Mixon tallied a game-high, 13 tackles, and recovered a fumble. Teitum Tuioti added nine stops, including one for loss and a sack. Bryce Boettcher also generated a sack, to go along with eight tackles. Defensive back Dillon Thieneman posted eight stops too. Lanning is proud of his team in all three phases, and how they rose to the occasion.

With the win Orgon is still in contention for a Big Ten Title. Oregon has three games left on the schedule, including two at home, so it’ll have to win all of those, and hopes Ohio State or Indiana drops one along the way.