There was not much to cheer about for Hawkeye and Panther fans over the weekend. The Hawkeyes enter the bye week with a 4-2 record after being smothered by the Michigan State defense in a 26-14 homecoming loss to the Spartans.
The Hawkeyes had on 23 yards of rushing in the game. That was two yards less than Michigan State punter Mike Sadler had on one play as another opponent caught the Hawkeyes napping with a successful fake punt. Iowa’s only scoring drives came in the second quarter led by quarterback Jake Rudock, who finished with 241 yards of passing, but the Spartans outscored the Hawkeyes 16-0 in the second half as they improved to 4-1 on the season. Iowa is off until an October 19th visit to Ohio State.
UNI appeared headed toward a big victory at top ranked North Dakota State until the Bison rallied. Leading 23-10 in the fourth quarter the Panthers let the game slip away in a 24-23 loss as they suffered their first setback of the season.
The Panthers return to action this weekend by hosting Southern Illinois in their annual homecoming contest.