Hank Brown, LJ Phillips lead No. 16 Iowa to 28-7 win over Purdue

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Hank Brown threw for a touchdown and ran for another, LJ Phillips rushed for 123 yards and No. 16 Iowa beat Purdue 28-7 on Saturday night.

The Hawkeyes (8-2, 5-2 Big Ten) won their third consecutive game behind an offense that had 434 yards and a defense that held the Boilermakers (3-7, 2-5) to their lowest points total of the season.

“Just an all-around team win,” Brown said. “When the guys around you are executing, it makes my job easier.”

It continued Iowa's success in November. The Hawkeyes have won 25 of their last 30 games in the month.

“I talked about November, it's an important month in football,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. “It really gets down to having good preparation.”

Brown had a 1-yard touchdown run to open the scoring for Iowa, then threw a short pass that Braeden Jackson turned into a 44-yard touchdown late in the first half that gave the Hawkeyes a 21-7 halftime lead.

Phillips had his second consecutive 100-yard rushing game. He had 128 yards in Iowa’s 24-10 win over Northwestern last Saturday.

“I thought the Northwestern game was great for me,” said Phillips, who missed three games earlier in the season because of injuries. “I felt like me again. I felt like I finally did my job.”

“He's a super-talented back, and you guys are starting to see that,” Brown said.

Iowa had nearly an 11-minute edge in time of possession.

“Really an impressive team, in all phases of the game,” Purdue coach Barry Odom said about the Hawkeyes. “I'm not sure where they are in the rankings, top 15? They're definitely all of that. They took the air out of the game with their running game.”

Tony Diaz had a 14-yard touchdown run for the Hawkeyes in the second quarter, and running back Xavier Williams had a 48-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.

Purdue’s lone scoring play came with 1:49 left in the second quarter, when quarterback Ryan Browne threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to tight end George Burhenn.

Brown was 20 of 29 passing for 188 yards. He also had 32 rushing yards on 10 carries.

“This is definitely the most I've ran in my career,” said Brown, who started his career at Auburn before transferring to Iowa. “I was never really considered a dual threat coming out of high school, and and didn’t run much at Auburn, but I can run when I need to, and so that’s been just an added part of our offense these past few weeks.”

“Put him in the (running backs) with us,” Phillips said, laughing. “Let me be the QB.”

Ferentz's fall

Ferentz took a tumble on the sidelines late in the first half that was caught on the TV broadcast, and immediately went viral on social media.

Brown threw a short pass to Jackson, who started heading toward the Iowa sideline. Ferentz, trying to get out of the way of the play, tripped and fell backwards into the kicker's net.

“I was wondering why the hell they kept those kicking nets that close,” Ferentz said, smiling. “I have learned painfully to try to anticipate where the ball’s coming and get the hell out of the way, and I was trying to get out of the way, and got caught in the net.”

Takeaways

Purdue: The Boilermakers’ defensive struggles continued. Purdue came into the game 99th nationally in rushing defense and 123rd in scoring defense, and gave up 246 rushing yards to the Hawkeyes. It was the fourth consecutive loss for the Boilermakers, who haven’t won since a 41-13 victory over Minnesota on Oct. 10.

Iowa: The Hawkeyes’ quest for a spot in the College Football Playoff continued with another impressive defensive performance. It was the fourth game this season in which Iowa, which ranks third in the nation in scoring defense, allowed single digits in points. Iowa’s rushing defense, which ranks fifth nationally, held Purdue to 99 yard rushing. “At the end of the day, we gave up seven points, and you'll win a lot of games doing that,” Ferentz said.

Up next

Purdue: Hosts Wisconsin next Saturday.

Iowa: At Illinois next Saturday.

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