Northwestern Drops Second Straight Game with Home Loss to Iowa Saturday Night
In this story:
Northwestern football suffered a 24-10 defeat Saturday night, falling to No. 21 Iowa in a Big Ten showdown at home.
Saturday night’s loss snapped Northwestern's five-game home winning streak and marked its first defeat at the new Ryan Field.
The Wildcats were without their star quarterback, Aidan Chiles who has led the Northwestern offense this season. Through eight games, Chiles has thrown for nearly 1,900 yards and 13 touchdowns.
Under new offensive coordinator Chip Kelly, the Wildcats’ offense has consistently impressed, averaging 31 points per game. However, Saturday night told a different story, as Kelly’s unit was held scoreless in the first half and posted just 10 points throughout the contest.
However, Saturday night told a different story, as Kelly’s unit was held scoreless in the first half and posted just 10 points throughout the contest.
Transfer quarterback Nicco Marchiol started Saturday night in place of Chiles, completing 24 of 32 passes for 181 yards and one touchdown.
Despite its slow offensive start, wide receiver Griffin Wilde and tight end Luke Dehnicke provided a spark for the Northwestern offense, each tallying 52 receiving yards.
The Northwestern defensive unit also welcomed back safety Robert Fitzgerald, who missed the last three matchups due to an injury.
Fitzgerald recorded seven tackles and a third-quarter interception, marking his third consecutive start with an interception.
The Hawkeyes entered the matchup as second in the conference in scoring defense and proved just that, holding the Wildcats scoreless for the entire first half of action.
Northwestern’s first points of the night came late in the third quarter off of a 45-yard field goal to cut the deficit to 11 points.
Iowa was in control for most of the game, extending its win streak against Northwestern to five straight games. The Hawkeyes’ defense remained stout from start to finish, stifling Northwestern’s typically dominant rushing attack and holding the Wildcats to just 105 yards on 37 carries.
Although Iowa quarterback Hank Brown threw for a season-low 126 yards, he accounted for two touchdowns as the Hawkeyes’ balanced offensive attack proved difficult for Northwestern’s defense to contain.
The Wildcats currently sit at 6-3 overall as they look to regain momentum down the final stretch of the season, potentially bolstered by the return of their standout quarterback to the starting lineup.
Next up, David Braun’s squad will head back on the road to take on a tough Ohio State team that has dropped its last two matchups to Oregon and USC. Kickoff is set for Saturday at 11 a.m. CT.
Stay up to date on the Wildcats by bookmarking Northwestern On SI and follow us on Twitter.
Add us as a preferred source on Google
Gabriella Egozi is an accomplished journalism student at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, passionate about sports media, writing, and broadcasting. She was born and raised in Miami, Florida, thus her passion for sports reporting originated from watching the Miami HEAT in the NBA Bubble. Gabriella has had experiences working as an intern for the digital team at NBC6 and Telemundo 51, as well as with CBS Sports at live sporting events, including the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. Gabriella most recently was an intern at CNN on NewsNight with Abby Phillip in New York, assisting with production and content creation roles. At Northwestern, Gabriella serves as a sideline reporter, color analyst, writer and play-by-play commentator for Big Ten sporting events. Gabriella is a reporter for WNUR Sports, NNN Sports Night, The Daily Northwestern and BigTen Network StudentU Productions. Gabriella wants to pursue a career within sports media and hopes to continue to further propel her passions for storytelling and connecting communities through her work.