Football

Northwestern depended on its run in Saturday’s 21-20 win over Iowa at Kinnick Stadium, pounding the ball on the ground to make up for a depleted wide receiving corps. They needed to. After completing 23 of 30 passes in Week 1 against Maryland, graduate quarterback Peyton Ramsey found a receiver just 11 times against Iowa.

“The wind was a factor,” coach Pat Fitzgerald said. “Half the game, you’re going into about a twenty-mile-an-hour wind that’s gusting at about forty. I’m assuming there wasn’t a ball thrown much farther than 15 yards going into the wind by either team.”

So Ramsey put the pedal to the medal, rushing 12 times for 26 yards in the effort. So did junior Isaiah Bowser, who led NU (2-0, 2-0 Big Ten) with 85 yards against a punishing Iowa defensive line. Add in senior running back Jesse Brown, who hit paydirt twice as the Cats jumped over an early 17-point deficit to take a lead by the third quarter.

When it was all said and done, NU ran for 150 yards on Saturday, the Hawkeyes (0-2, 0-2) finished with only 77. A lot of those yards came on the back of a strong offensive line, anchored by junior center Sam Gerak and freshman Peter Skoronski.

“They [the offensive line] played really well,” Ramsey said. “They kind of fed off that energy once we started playing well there in the second quarter. Tough physical guys and they just kept fighting. Very prideful and taking care of us running backs and me as a quarterback. I thought they did a really good job.”

By the second quarter, Fitzgerald and the offense were committed to rushing the football. En route to their first touchdown early in the second quarter, the Cats rushed the ball on 14 of 16 plays. Brown’s bruising run helped NU convert a fourth-and-1 at the Iowa 9.

It was Kyric McGowan who ended that drive with a touchdown. After scoring on a three-yard jet-sweep, he broke out the game’s most festive celebration. Hands out like projectiles, McGowan made like a zombie and was then smothered by his teammates.

“More than anything, (it was) a good play call, running to get the ball out in the perimeter and let Kyric make the play,” Ramsey said. “That’s where he’s best, in space. My job is letting the playmakers make plays.”

McGowan is listed as a wide receiver on the team’s depth chart, but the touchdown was one of three times he ran the ball. Trick plays like that, zigged-zagged runs and fast-paced play calls have become key features of new offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian’s offense.

“He’s really good at feeling out what the vibes are on the field and calling the right plays,” Brown said.

The Cats took the lead that would stick midway through the third quarter by playing like they did in the second frame. A 14-play, 79-yard masterclass of patience in which 12 plays were rushes. Brown capped it off with his second touchdown of the afternoon.

“Definitely a great feeling,” Brown said. “Thank god for these guys that we’ve got on our team, my brothers up front. It’s really a team effort on those. As far as the running back room we’ve got tons of guys who could have done that. I was just the guy that was in.”

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