Iowa football: Hawkeyes continue roller-coaster ride in 2024 with road stumble vs. UCLA

Posted by Admin November 9, 2024 Football

Iowa football’s road woes continued on Friday.

After starting the season 1-0 away from Kinnick Stadium — a 31-14 win at Minnesota — Iowa has dropped three consecutive duds on the road.

Ohio State beat Iowa 35-7 in Columbus. Michigan State beat Iowa 32-20 in East Lansing. And on Friday, UCLA beat Iowa 20-17 in Pasadena, California.

Given the caliber of the opponent, the Ohio State loss was forgivable. The other two are much less.

Iowa is now 1-3 on the road this season.

With Friday’s loss, the Hawkeyes fell to 6-4 overall and 4-3 in the Big Ten. Iowa continues to ride a roller coaster of inconsistency, which has defined the 2024 season.

Friday’s game was filled with theatrics. There were five turnovers combined between the two teams in the first half alone — three of which came by UCLA quarterback Ethan Garbers. An injury to star linebacker Jay Higgins. In the second half, Iowa turned to a quarterback buried on the depth chart at the beginning of the season.

The Hawkeyes’ defense on Friday was eerily reminiscent of the game against Michigan State, when Iowa’s usually reliable defensive unit was exposed. The Hawkeyes put together consecutive strong performances against Northwestern and Wisconsin but reverted back to the Spartans version of themselves on Friday.

UCLA entered Friday with the Big Ten’s worst rushing attack, averaging 73.9 yards per game. In puzzling fashion, the Bruins had major success on the ground against the Hawkeyes, rushing for 211 yards.

Meanwhile, Iowa’s prolific rushing offense was contained by UCLA’s defense. The Hawkeyes have leaned heavily on their rushing attack this season behind Kaleb Johnson, one of college football’s best running backs. But UCLA managed to solve that on Friday. Iowa rushed for just 80 yards. Johnson was held to 49 yards on 18 carries.

Iowa was outgained by UCLA 415-265 in total yards.

After a successful first career start for Iowa against Wisconsin, Brendan Sullivan made the first major mistakes of his Hawkeye career. He started the game well, completing 3-of-3 passes for 96 yards. But it was downhill from there.

Sullivan finished the game 6-of-9 passing for 157 yards and turned the ball over three times — two interceptions and one fumble. Sullivan exited in the third quarter after throwing his second interception due to what Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz categorized as a sprained ankle.

That made Iowa’s already shaky quarterback situation even thinner. With Cade McNamara and Marco Lainez out due to injury, Jackson Stratton relieved Sullivan. Stratton, a transfer from Colorado State, joined the program this past offseason as a preferred walk-on.

In a difficult situation on Friday, Stratton provided a spark leading a touchdown-scoring drive. He finished the game 3-of-6 for 28 yards.

Iowa’s depleted quarterback room brought back memories of last season when Deacon Hill took over for the injured McNamara. The Hawkeyes’ quarterback troubles continue to haunt them in 2024.

UCLA entered Friday with a rather uninspiring 3-5 overall record but the Bruins had built some momentum as of late, winning their previous two games, both on the road.

Iowa’s lack of consistency has plagued the Hawkeyes far too often this season. That was on display Friday.

On UCLA’s opening possession, Zach Lutmer recorded the first interception of his Iowa career. On UCLA’s next offensive drive, the Bruins drove to the Iowa 3-yard line but Nick Jackson delivered pressure, causing an errant pass, which was intercepted by Quinn Schulte.

The Hawkeyes capitalized with points off both of those mistakes. Johnson scored a touchdown off Lutmer’s interception. Kicker Drew Stevens made a 24-yard field goal off Schulte’s pick.

That complementary football allowed Iowa to jump out to a 10-0 lead.

But UCLA outscored Iowa 17-0 in the second quarter. Sullivan turned the ball over twice — one interception and one fumble. UCLA hit a field goal and scored two touchdowns in the quarter. It could’ve been more but UCLA turned the ball over in the end zone again.

Iowa went into halftime down 17-10.

Near the end of the third quarter, Iowa tried a long field goal of its own, which Stevens made. But there was a penalty on UCLA, giving Iowa a first down and extending the drive. Stratton made some crucial throws, setting up a Kamari Moulton touchdown.

The game was tied at 17 early in the fourth quarter.

UCLA regained the lead with less than five minutes remaining when kicker Mateen Bhaghani hit a 27-yard field goal.

That score proved to be the game-winner.

This was the type of game that Iowa won more often than not last season. The Hawkeyes delivered magic in the clutch against Michigan State, Northwestern, Illinois and Nebraska. Despite an abysmal offense, that is part of what helped the Hawkeyes to a 10-win season.

They haven’t been able to duplicate that in 2024. Iowa is now 0-2 this season in games decided by three points or less. The Hawkeyes lost to Iowa State by one point on a game-winning field goal in September. On Friday, it was a three-point difference.

Once filled with hope, Iowa’s season is now continuing to deflate. The Hawkeyes brought back so many key pieces, particularly on defense, from that 10-win team last season, including Higgins, Nick Jackson, Sebastian Castro and more.

But this season has not panned out the way that many believed it would. A Big Ten championship and College Football Playoff berth went off the table after the perplexing loss to Michigan State. It wasn’t until Northwestern and Wisconsin that Iowa won consecutive games against power-conference opponents in 2024.

And now after Friday’s loss to UCLA, Iowa is left to pick up the pieces of a season with fleeting optimism and a fan base whose patience is waning.