Riding a pass defense that kept the field clogged all afternoon long, the Iowa Hawkeyes broke a six-year road jinx with a 35-3 victory over Iowa State at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames.Six Cyclone turnovers combined with a plethora of other mental errors to doom Paul Rhoads' team. Quarterback Austen Arnaud simply couldn't find his receivers all afternoon long, going 10 for 22 and only racking up 79 yards. The junior from Ames threw four interceptions, with backup Jerome Tiller adding one more and tailback Alexander Robinson fumbling once.
Iowa's offense was far from wonderful in the first half, with quarterback Ricky Stanzi overthrowing receivers or simply heaving the ball towards no one at all. For the Hawkeyes, though, the real story was the emergence of two stars.
Safety Tyler Sash hauled in three of of Iowa's five interceptions, helped linebacker A.J. Edds force a fumble, and made a crucial first half tackle of Alexander Robinson, who had nothing but grass in front of him. If Sash isn't the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week, it'll be because somebody in one of the late games runs a couple picks back for scores.
Meanwhile, the Hawkeyes appear to have found their running back. True freshman Brandon Wegher made the most of his opportunities, leading the Hawkeyes with 15 rushes for 100 yards and a touchdown. The 5-11, 205 pound Wegher proved difficult to tackle as well.
Ricky Stanzi eventually settled down and wound up passing for 197 yards and four touchdowns. Twelve different Hawkeyes caught passes; Trey Stross led all Iowa receivers with four catches for 69 yards.
The 32-point victory was the most lopsided in the series since a 63-20 Iowa victory in 1997 and was the first time a road team won in the series since 2003. Iowa now leads the all-time series 38-19.
