Iowa drops heartbreaker to Northern Illinois, 30-27

IOWA CITY – The Iowa Hawkeyes came back from a 10-0 deficit against the Northern Illinois Huskies only to blow a shot at the victory late in the fourth quarter with a key turnover Saturday at Kinnick Stadium.

Iowa quarterback Jake Rudock threw an interception with the game tied at 27 apiece and under two minutes remaining, leading to a winning field goal from Northern Illinois.

“It was a tough football game to lose,” Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said after the game. “Give Northern credit; they did a great job. I thought our guys played really hard. There were a lot of positive things that we saw out there on the field by a lot of different guys, but the bottom line is we just didn’t make enough plays to be successful. To their credit, they capitalized, and we didn’t do that.”

Ferentz credited his defense for fighting hard in the game.

“I just thought overall the effort was good. I thought our guys responded really well at times on offense and defense, and especially the defense,” Ferentz said. “They got thrown into some really tough situations, but made a good situation out of a tough situation.”

Even though Rudock threw the game-losing interception, Ferentz thought he paled a good game.

“I thought Jake Rudock did a lot of really good things. There were a lot of individuals that did a lot of good things, but they also had some bad plays, and those are some of the things we’re going to have to get smoothed out.”

Iowa led 24-17 at the half.

The Hawkeyes (0-1) return to action Sept. 7, hosting Missouri State at 11 a.m.