John Bohnenkamp, The Hawk Eye, Burlington, Iowa –
IOWA CITY – James Morris was everywhere on Saturday.
He recovered a fumble, came up with a huge interception, and had 12 tackles.
The Iowa junior linebacker, though, would have rather had a win.
Morris was one of the standouts on Iowa’s defense, but it wasn’t enough to keep Iowa State from taking a 9-6 win over the Hawkeyes at Kinnick Stadium.
Morris’ mood reflected how the Hawkeyes felt after the game.
“It was what you expect,” he said. “We felt like we let this one get away.”
Morris came up with two of the game’s biggest turnovers. He recovered a fumble in the third quarter as the Cyclones were inside the Hawkeyes’ 10-yard line. Then, with Iowa State driving for a game-clinching score in the final minutes, Morris intercepted a Steele Jantz pass in the end zone and returned it to the Iowa 49-yard line.
“You get a guy like James Morris come up (and make plays), and that’s huge,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said.
Morris appeared on the interception, at least for a moment, that he might be able to take it the other way for a touchdown.
“I thought I could,” he said. “But that would have been a pretty slow last 50 yards,” he said.
“Sometimes, in a game like this, a guy like Morris can make a heck of a play,” Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads said.
Morris said he was able to be in the right place on the throw from Iowa State quarterback Steele Jantz.
“We were just in our pass coverage, and I was able to get in front of it,” he said.
“He just made a great play,” Jantz said. “I knew I had to fit it in there. He reacted faster than anticipated.”
Morris had eight solo tackles.
The numbers, though, didn’t impress him.
“We just move on,” Morris said. “We do that every Sunday, win or lose. And that’s what we have to do tomorrow.”
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SAVING THE HAIR: Iowa State linebacker Jake Knott made a bet with defensive coordinator Wally Burnham before the game.
“I said, ‘If we shut them out, can we cut your hair into a Mohawk?'” Knott said.
The Cyclones didn’t get the shutout, though, so Burnham’s hair was saved.
“We didn’t quite get the shutout, so I’m disappointed,” Knott said. “He’s extremely happy. It’s the best of both worlds for him. He doesn’t have to get a Mohawk, and we held them to six points.”
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NO RUNNING MAN: Iowa running back Damon Bullock, who had 150 yards in last week’s win over Northern Illinois, was held to just 53 yards by the Iowa State defense.
The Hawkeyes had just 68 rushing yards, fewest for them in the rivalry since 1999.
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DISH AGREEMENT: Iowa and Iowa State fans who were Dish Network subscribers got to see the game on TV.
Dish Network and the Big Ten Network reached an agreement in principle for carriage rights early Saturday morning.
There was a fear that had no deal been reached, BTN would have been taken off the satellite provider’s system.
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ODDS AND ENDS: The loss snapped Iowa’s four-game home winning streak in the series. Iowa also had a 12-game nonconference home winning streak snapped. … Iowa linebacker Anthony Hitchens had a career-high 19 tackles.