As much of a struggle as this season has been the Iowa Hawkeyes are actually in the bowl hunt heading into the stretch run. The Hawkeyes rallied from a 17-3 halftime deficit to edge Michigan State 34-27 in double overtime. Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz says it came down to making a choice of how they want to play. Ferentz says the score and who they were playing was irrelevant, it was how they wanted to play after getting slapped around in the first half.
The Hawks scored on back-to-back possessions in the third quarter to gain the momentum and senior running back Albert Young had a big game with 179 yards and a couple of touchdowns as Iowa won despite throwing for only 53 yards.
The Hawkeyes are 2-4 in the Big Ten and 4-5 overall heading into this weekend’s visit to Northwestern, and with two wins in their final three games would be eligible for a bowl. Ferentz says Northwestern has beaten them two straight and beat Michigan State, and Ferentz says the win hopefully helps their confidence as they head to Evanston
Iowa State spotted 13th ranked Missouri an early lead and rallied ro make a game of it but the Tigers took control in the second half for a 42-28 victory. Iowa State coach Gene Chizik says it’s hard to simulate the offense of Missouri and they got off to a slow start and that made it hard to recover.
The Cyclones trailed by just six at the half but Missouri grabbed momentum early in the third quarter with a defensive touchdown. Chizik says there are not moral victories as they had a chance to get a win against a good team and didn’t get it done. The Cyclones are 1-8 and host Kansas State this weekend.