The streak is snapped

Finally! It's about time Iowa defeated Northwestern! The 3 game losing streak against the Wildcats was snapped on an exciting stage that was created in historic Kinnick Stadium on Saturday night. This video about sums it up:

Great environment to be a part of! Kinnick pulls through again, showing why it has some of the best fans in the B1G, and in the nation.

Now, back to the game. Plenty of big moments to go around, but Marcus Coker definitely deserves major credit after rushing for 127 yards on 22 carries. He helped establish the run for an Iowa offense that had their way with the worst defense in the Big Ten. James Vandenberg also had a nice performance (14-22 224 yards, 2TDs, 1 INT), along with his receiving corps. Keenan Davis broke 100 yards receiving (109) and Marvin McNutt tied the school record for all time receiving touchdowns. As expected, Iowa's offense had a nice bounce back game against a bad defense.

Tanner Miller picked off Dan Persa and ran it back 98
yards for a touchdown.

The surprising stat of the game is this- Northwestern racked up 495 yards of total offense! How did they manage to lose? Yes, the Wildcats gave up 41 points, but the Hawkeye D deserves some credit. Though the defense was porous at times, they came up with some big defensive plays that have been absent much of  the year. The 98 yard interception return by Tanner Miller clearly stands out, but Broderick Binns deserves major credit on that play for forcing a bad throw out of Dan Persa in the red zone. Dom Alvis had some big stuffs as shifty QB Kane Coulter tried to turn the corner while rushing. James Morris was out with an injury, but Iowa still held when it mattered. Here are some key stats for Iowa's Defense:

Yards allowed: 495 (153 rush, 342 pass)
Sacks: 3 (Binns, Mike Daniels, and Steve Bigach)
Tackles for Loss: 8
Turnovers: 1 INT, 1 Forced Fumble

Despite giving up tons of yardage to the high octane NU offense, Iowa's defense showed big signs of improvement, especially by making big plays when it counted.

Great game by the Hawks to improve to 1-1 in the Big Ten and 4-2 overall. Here's the Legends standings after this week:

LEGENDS DIVISION
	Conference		Division		Overall
	Record	%	Record	%	Record	%
Michigan State	2-0	1.000	1-0	1.000	5-1	.833
Michigan	2-1	.667	2-1	.667	6-1	.857
Nebraska	1-1	.500	0-0	.000	5-1	.833
Iowa	1-1	.500	1-0	1.000	4-2	.667
Northwestern	0-3	.000	0-2	.000	2-4	.333
Minnesota	0-2	.000	0-1	.000	1-5	.167

Go Hawks!