IOWA CITY, Iowa – Some say a team with two quarterbacks has no quarterback. That wasn’t the case for the Wildcats on Saturday.
After starter Mike Kafka left the Penn State game in the second quarter with a tweaked hamstring, there was speculation on the senior gunslinger’s status. Kafka was not listed on this week’s injury report, and coach Pat Fitzgerald sent him out on NU’s first drive.
Kafka played four snaps before sophomore backup Dan Persa took the field. The two rotated the rest of the quarter, but the quarterback dance didn’t work, and NU picked up only 36 yards of offense in the first quarter.
“We were shuffling back and forth early, and that’s the reason we were stalling out a little bit, maybe we weren’t in rhythm,” Kafka said. “But once Dan got in there he really took over and did a great job.”
Persa took over full-time duties at the start of the second quarter. Five minutes into the period, he led the Cats on a five-minute scoring drive capped by a four-yard touchdown pass to sophomore superback Drake Dunsmore.
That touchdown toss, the offense’s only touchdown of the game, was one of four passes Persa threw in the first half. Persa ran 11 times for 57 yards, more than half of NU’s offensive output in the half.
With three minutes left in the third quarter, Persa left the game with a hand injury, and Kafka took the field for the first time since the opening quarter. In a little more than one quarter, Kafka was 7-for-11 for 54 yards.
Kafka said he used his experience as a backup to stay fresh throughout the game.
“One of the things that I’ve learned while I was out and sitting around the past few years is you’ve got to stay in the game and mentally go through those reps,” he said.
Turnover train on track
On Saturday, the Cats broke out of their turnover funk in style. NU recorded four turnovers in a span of nine minutes in the second quarter.
“(The turnovers were) huge plays in the game,” Kafka said. “Things like that give us confidence in an away game with a hostile crowd going against the No. 4 team in the country.”
Sophomore cornerback Jordan Mabin started the turnover train by picking off Iowa quarterback Ricky Stanzi just 46 seconds into the quarter.
Senior defensive end Corey Wootton kept NU on track, nailing Stanzi two-and-a-half minutes later and forcing a fumble in the end zone.
Senior defensive tackle Marshall Thomas recovered the fumble for the Cats’ first score of the day.
“Turnovers are crucial in any game to be successful,” Wootton said. “It was big for us to get points on the board.”
Stanzi’s backup, James Vandenberg, couldn’t do much better. Three plays after Stanzi’s fumble, Vandenberg’s first pass of the game sailed into the hands of junior linebacker Quentin Davie.
“I looked (Vandenberg) right in his eyes, and he threw it right to my chest,” Davie said. “I was just hoping I caught it.”
With three minutes left in the quarter, senior safety Brad Phillips induced his trademark turnover, the forced fumble. Phillips stripped running back Brandon Wegher of the ball, and junior linebacker Nate Williams recovered it at Iowa’s 42-yard line.
“We knew winning the turnover ratio here would be critical,” Fitzgerald said. “Especially last week the way we played we thought we left some opportunities out there to make some plays, and that was done and over with.”
Kickin’ it in Kinnick
In addition to snapping Iowa’s 13-game winning streak, the second longest in the country, NU continued a streak of its own Saturday.
The Cats conquered Kinnick for the third straight time. Of Iowa’s seven home losses since 2006, three have come to NU. It is the only school to win multiple games at Kinnick in the Hawkeyes’ last 52 home games.
“I don’t know it it’s the fans or the stadium, but we somehow get riled up to play here,” Davie said. “It’s like everybody’s against us. We said (they had) 70,000 and we only had 70, so we went against all 70,000 today.”
