Northwestern Rallies To Take Down No. 13 Iowa, 21-17

Northwestern put on a great show in front of its home crowd on Saturday, coming back from a 10-point halftime deficit to beat rival No. 13 Iowa. The game provided a remarkable performance from quarterback Dan Persa, a stifling Wildcats defense, and notable implications for the Big Ten Championship picture.

Persa threw for a total of 302 yards on the day and rushed for 59 more, and was ultimately responsible for three total touchdowns to make up for his lone interception. After taking a 7-3 lead into halftime, things looked as though they were slipping away from Northwestern, as Iowa opened the second half with two touchdown drives.

In the fourth quarter of Saturday’s action, unranked Northwestern struck back against No. 13 Iowa to keep the game a close contest in the final minutes. It was the second total score of the half, after Iowa quarterback Ricky Stanzi chucked a 70-yard bomb to Derrell Johnson-Koulianos.

The Wildcats, though, showed their home crowd that they weren’t finished yet. In the fourth quarter, quarterback Dan Persa was afforded a chance to make up for his interception on the previous drive when Stanzi was intercepted by the Northwestern defense. Persa then set to work, engineering an 85-yard drive that ended with a touchdown toss to Jeremy Ebert in the corner of the end zone.

After struggling against Northwestern in the first half, the offense of No. 13 Iowa is off to a great start in the third quarter of Saturday’s action. Hawkeyes quarterback Ricky Stanzi found his favorite target, Marvin McNutt, in the end zone to take a 10-7 lead.

After the Iowa defense forced the Wildcats to punt, running back Adam Robinson took the ball for the first four plays of the Hawkeyes’ drive, rushing for a combined 34 yards -- Robinson now already has 86 rushing yards on the day. Stanzi then took over, throwing three straight completions and capping the drive with a 5-yard toss to McNutt.