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IOWA CITY – When Ricky Stanzi rolled to his right on a naked bootleg in the second quarter Saturday, the Iowa quarterback was greeted by Northwestern’s Corey Wootton, a 6-foot-7 and 280-pound defensive end.

Wootton pounced. Stanzi fumbled. And Wildcat defensive tackle Marshall Thomas fell on the ball in the end zone for a touchdown.

“Wootton didn’t bite on the play fake,” left tackle Bryan Bulaga said. “When that stuff happens, it’s a big momentum swing.”

That wasn’t even the worst part of it for the Hawkeye football team.

Stanzi was glued to the Kinnick Stadium turf in a semi-fetal position.

“He’s one of the toughest guys I know,” redshirt freshman quarterback James Vandenberg said. “When he laid there and didn’t get up, I knew he was hurting.”

The junior quarterback suffered a “severe” ankle sprain and never returned as Northwestern overcame an early 10-point deficit to stun the then-No. 8 Hawkeyes, 17-10.

Just like that, the nation’s second-longest winning streak came to a halt at 13 games. The talk of playing for a national championship ceased, too.

The Big Ten title and a trip to the Rose Bowl are still within reach. Iowa is tied with Ohio State for the top spot in the standings going into Saturday’s showdown at Columbus.

“This one hurts and is going to hurt for a while, but we know we still have everything in front of us right now,” receiver Marvin McNutt said. “We’re going to play every game as if we were still undefeated.”

In addition to losing its quarterback, Iowa (9-1, 5-1 Big Ten) turned it over on four consecutive possessions in the second quarter. Northwestern (6-4, 3-3) capitalized with 14 points and used a stingy defense in the second half to earn its first victory over a top 10 team since 2004.

The Wildcats have won four of the last five meetings versus the Hawkeyes, including three straight at Kinnick.

“The bottom line is we weren’t good enough to overcome the problems that we caused ourselves in the first half, the problems that they forced,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said.

“It’s hard to win football games against good, competitive teams, and that’s basically everybody in our conference, if you’re going to turn the ball over.”

Stanzi returned to the sideline in the third quarter wearing a plastic boot on his right ankle and balancing crutches. The junior had X-rays, and Ferentz said they were negative, but he wasn’t optimistic on him playing anytime soon.

“The bad news is it’s a severe sprain,” he said, comparing it to injuries Adam Robinson and Tony Moeaki have had this season. “My guess is he’ll be out of action here the next couple weeks.”

The Hawkeyes dashed out of the gates with 10 quick points – a 74-yard touchdown pass from Stanzi to McNutt and a 39-yard field goal by Daniel Murray.

From there, it was a struggle.

Iowa mustered just 281 total yards of offense, including a season-low 65 yards rushing. It was the first time this year the Hawkeyes didn’t score in the second half.

“We made some plays, but we never really got clicking or in a rhythm,” said Vandenberg, who completed 9 of 27 passes for 82 yards and an interception.

After Northwestern seized a 14-10 lead with 5 minutes, 20 seconds left in the first half, Iowa appeared to take the advantage back on its ensuing possession, when running back Brandon Wegher darted 64 yards for a touchdown.

However, center Rafael Eubanks was whistled for a holding penalty.

“It was frustrating, especially to be at the hands of that,” Eubanks said. “Unfortunately, it’s something I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”

Northwestern tacked on a 47-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter to extend its lead to seven.

The Wildcats’ defense made it hold up as Iowa never got past midfield in the final 15 minutes.

“It was great to see our defense perform like that,” said Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald. “We’re starting to play our best football of the year.

“I really believe we’re starting to hit our stride.”

Iowa, meanwhile, will try to pick up the pieces at Ohio State with a redshirt freshman signal caller.

“Anytime you lose your quarterback, that’s not good,” Ferentz said. “But that’s part of football.

“James is a quality football player. We’ve felt good about him all along. It’s just unfortunate he hasn’t had a chance to play more this year.

“But he’ll be a better player next week and he’ll be better the week after.”

Northwestern 17, Iowa 10

Northwestern             0 14 0 3 – 17

Iowa                        10  0 0 0 – 10

First Quarter

Iowa — Marvin McNutt 74 pass from Ricky Stanzi (Daniel Murray kick), 14:00

Iowa — Murray 39 field goal, 9:50

Second Quarter

NU — Marshall Thomas fumble recovery in end zone (Stefan Demos kick), 11:46

NU — Drake Dunsmore 4 pass from Dan Persa (Demos kick), 5:20

Fourth Quarter

NU — Demos 47 field goal, 13:29

Team statistics

  NW      Iowa

First downs  18  14

Rushes-yards  49-130  27-65

Passing yards  109  216

Comp-Att-Int.  15-27-1  13-36-2

Return yards  27  16

Punts-avg.  8-36.6  5-47.0

Fumbles-lost  0-0  2-2

Penalties-yards  5-55  4-40

Time of possession  34:20  25:40

Individual statistics

Rushing

NORTHWESTERN — Dan Persa 17-67, Scott Concannon 15-59, Stephen Simmons 6-11, Arby Fields 1-6, Jacob Schmidt 3-5, Team 3-(-6), Mike Kafka 4-(-12).

IOWA — Brandon Wegher 19-63, Paki O’Meara 3-6, James Vandenberg 3-2, Keenan Davis 1-0, Ricky Stanzi 1-(-6).

Passing

NORTHWESTERN — Kafka 10-18-0, 72 yards; Persa 5-9-1, 37 yards, TD.

IOWA — Stanzi 4-9-1, 134 yards, TD; Vandenberg 9-27-1, 82 yards.

Receiving

NORTHWESTERN — Andrew Brewer 3-33, Sidney Stewart 4-24, Zeke Markshausen 3-20, Drake Dunsmore 3-19, Jacob Schmidt 1-7, Jeremy Ebert 1-6.

IOWA — Marvin McNutt 2-91, Derrell Johnson-Koulianos 6-63, Trey Stross 3-45, Wegher 1-14, Brett Morse 1-3.