Illinois 9, Iowa 6: “We’ll be alright”

Can you complain about losing games you don’t deserve to win?

The Iowa Hawkeyes (3-3, 1-2) lost a field goal affair 9-6 to the Illinois Fighting Illini (5-1, 2-1) after a third down Artur Sitkowski non-fumble returned by Riley Moss for a non-touchdown was reversed and Fabrizio Pinton nailed his third field goal with 2:49 remaining in the game. Spencer Petras threw an interception on Iowa’s two-minute drill after getting a couple completions to start it.

There was life on Illinois’ next drive as they couldn’t get a first down on three runs after a first down false start.

Nothing Iowa did pointed to deserving to win the game outside of ... maybe Sam LaPorta’s career statline of 104 yards on 8 catches. Fun fact is that 99 of Iowa’s 116 yards at half were attributed LaPorta completions.

Poor Drew Stevens missed his first field goal of the season after a successful two-minute drive was hoisted by its own petard on a failed reverse call.

Spencer Petras toughed it out after a gnarly tackle on a slide after a 16-yard scramble. But Iowa hardly spent any time in Illinois territory through the second half. I have a blog’s worth of notes but none of them seem worth expounding on.

The defense kept Iowa afloat as the defense always keep Iowa afloat. Quinn Schulte had an interception at Iowa’s 1 in the fourth quarter. Jack Campbell recovered a muffed punt. Seth Benson recovered a fumble inside Illinois’ 10. The two fumbles happened within a span of three drives where Iowa gained -21 yards and came away with just a field goal.

Screw the “we’ll be alright” at halftime when your failson has led an offense to 6 touchdowns in 6 games of American football.

You scored 0 points after this.