Home / Sports

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Marvin McNutt’s teammates teased him last week in good nature about defensive end Adrian Clayborn having more career touchdowns.

The Iowa football team’s sophomore wide receiver did something about it Saturday afternoon.

McNutt hauled in two long touchdown passes and recovered a pivotal onside kick as the Hawkeyes slipped past Arkansas State, 24-21, at Kinnick Stadium.

Clayborn blocked a punt and returned it for a touchdown Sept. 26 against Penn State.

Meanwhile, McNutt hadn’t scored as a Hawkeye until snatching a 41-yard pass from Ricky Stanzi eight minutes into the first quarter.

“Everybody was laughing about it all week, but it was just great to finally get one,” McNutt said.

McNutt, who started his career as a quarterback before switching to receiver last fall, had four receptions for a season-high 121 yards to help Iowa improve to 5-0 for the first time since 1995.

“This was a nice game, but I don’t want to look at it as a breakout performance,” McNutt said, “but rather us getting a win.”

In five games, the Hawkeyes have had a different player lead them in receiving. Tony Moeaki, Trey Stross, Derrell Johnson-Koulianos and Colin Sandeman did so the first four weeks respectively.

Saturday was McNutt’s turn.

On Iowa’s first possession of the second half, Stanzi hooked up with the 6-foot-4 and 215-pounder for a 43-yard touchdown to give the Hawkeyes a 21-7 advantage.

“Marvin’s got the best hands on the team,” Stross said.

“He made some very difficult, tough catches, and that’s something you hope a big receiver can do,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. “We’re the kind of offense where we’re going to have to rely on everybody hopefully.”

Stanzi completed 18 of 26 passes for a career-high 296 yards and three touchdowns.

Still, the junior threw two interceptions, including one Demario Davis returned 75 yards to trim the margin to 21-14 early in the fourth quarter.

However, Davis somersaulted over the goal line and the Red Wolves were whistled for a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

“That’s not who we are,” Arkansas State coach Steve Roberts said.

It proved to be costly as Iowa returned the kickoff to its 42-yard line. Eight plays and 56-yards later, Daniel Murray’s 20-yard field goal gave Iowa a 24-14 advantage.

Arkansas State (1-3) responded with a 17-play drive that chewed up nearly eight minutes of the clock, capped by quarterback Corey Leonard’s 4-yard TD pass to Trevor Gillott with 2:01 remaining.

Then, the Red Wolves attempted an onside kick, but a wall of blockers formed around McNutt and he was able to catch the ball cleanly to ice Iowa’s ninth consecutive win dating back to last year.

“You watch (Arkansas State) on film, and you see that they’re not bad,” McNutt said. “They play a lot of good teams really tough. They’ll compete until the end.”

Despite the effort and the $900,000 payday for Arkansas State, Roberts said his team was looking for more than to play Iowa close.

“We didn’t come here for moral victories or anything like that,” he said. “We felt we could win the game, and we didn’t do it.”

Now, Iowa turns the page to a Saturday night showdown against Michigan (4-1) at Kinnick Stadium.

“It’s good to be 5-0,” linebacker A.J. Edds said. “It’s better than anything you could think of, but at the same time, our goal wasn’t to be 5-0.

“Our goal is to play well for 12 games and see where we’re at at the end of that. We can’t get complacent and we can’t get comfortable. Otherwise, things are going to start to go.”

Iowa 24, Arkansas State 21

Arkansas State 0 7 0 14 – 21

Iowa 14 0 7  3 – 24

First Quarter

Iowa - Trey Stross 33 pass from Ricky Stanzi (Daniel Murray kick), 12:16

Iowa - Marvin McNutt 41 pass from Stanzi (Murray kick), 6:55

Second Quarter

ASU - Brandon Thompkins 12 pass from Corey Leonard (Josh Arauco kick), 0:44

Third Quarter

Iowa - McNutt 43 pass from Stanzi (Murray kick), 13:16

Fourth Quarter

ASU - Demario Davis 75 interception return (Arauco kick), 14:41

Iowa - Murray 20 field goal, 10:00

ASU - Trevor Gillott 4 pass from Leonard (Arauco kick), 2:01

Att - 67,989

Team statistics

ASU Iowa

First downs 17 18

Rushes-yards 25-80 33-124

Passing yards 216 296

Comp-Att-Int. 22-40-1 18-27-2

Return yards 72 17

Punts-avg. 4-42.8 4-38.0

Fumbles-lost 4-1 0-0

Penalties-yards 3-37 4-35

Time of possession 28:21 31:39

Individual statistics

Rushing

ARKANSAS STATE - Reggie Arnold 10-42, Don Jones 4-19, Corey Leonard 5-7, Ryan Wilbourn 1-5, Derek Lawson 3-4, Andre Smith 2-3.

IOWA - Brandon Wegher 11-49, Adam Robinson 14-38, Paul Chaney 1-20, Ricky Stanzi 6-19, Team 1-(-2).

Passing

ARKANSAS STATE - Leonard 22-40-1, 216 yards, 2 TDs.

IOWA - Stanzi 18-26-2, 296 yards, 3 TDs; Marvin McNutt 0-1-0, 0 yards.

Receiving

ARKANSAS STATE - Brandon Thompkins 8-76, Taylor Clements 4-69, Trevor Gillott 3-36, Allen Muse 2-21, Adam Gaston 1-6, Jonathan White 1-5, Arnold 2-2, Jones 1-1. 

IOWA - McNutt 4-121, Trey Stross 4-64, Keenan Davis 2-34, Allen Reisner 3-27, Derrell Johnson-Koulianos 1-27, Wegher 2-12, Robinson 2-11.