3 Hawkeye defenders balled out in rivalry win over Minnesota
Iowa’s defense was on the field a ton Saturday against Minnesota.
And as they’ve done often this season, they answered the call. The Hawkeyes downed Minnesota 27-22 to stay in the hunt for the Big Ten West crown and bring home the Floyd of Rosedale trophy.
Three Iowa defenders in particular received a shoutout on Sunday.
Three #Hawkeyes recorded 10+ tackles in yesterday's win.
Jack Campbell – 1️⃣7⃣
Matt Hankins – 1⃣0⃣
Zach VanValkenburg – 1⃣0⃣ pic.twitter.com/Y99O8wYGGD— Hawkeye Football (@HawkeyeFootball) November 14, 2021
Jack Campbell, a junior from Cedar Falls, Iowa, has been the engine of the defense all season. He’s had at least 9 tackles in six of Iowa’s 10 games so far and leads the team with 100 total. The next highest has 72.
Matt Hankins and Zach VanValkenburg each hit double-digit tackles as well. For VanValkenburg, it was a career day. He entered with just 29 tackles on the season. The senior defensive lineman also produced 3 tackles for loss and a sack in the win. The 10 tackles represented a season-best for Hankins, a senior defensive back, as did his 2 pass break-ups.
Minnesota had the ball for 40:19 in the game. It ran 83 plays to Iowa’s 49. The 19:41 time of possession for the Hawkeyes was the shortest of any of Kirk Ferentz’s 176 wins as the Iowa coach, per The Athletic’s Jason Starrett. That’s quite a bit of defensive exposure, and yet Iowa still won the yards-per-play battle 5-7-4.9. Pretty good day at the office for the Hawkeye defense.