In Soldier Field Showdown III the PA system didn’t work for almost nearly a half. There wasn’t a lot of material noise, but a message was sent with the college football being played at the home of the Chicago Bears.
For the NIU Huskies this was a home game, but the crowd was overwhelmingly in favor of the Iowa Hawkeyes.
In the end it was the UI who was triumphant, making their dressed in yellow fans happy with a 18–17 victory over NIU.
The defending MAC Champions came in here riding the nation’s longest win streak at 9. However, the last time they played here the Huskies suffered a bruising 49-7 destruction to the Wisconsin Badgers. Also, Iowa entered this game 7-0 all time versus NIU.
New Huskies signal caller Jordan Lynch had a productive day; filling in nicely for the departed Chandler Harnish, the most decorated QB in school history. Lynch went only 7 -17 passing for 59 yards, but running it 17 times for 121 yards and a 73 yard touchdown.
On defense, the Huskies really brought the pressure sacking Iowa QB James Vandenberg six times. Vandenberg is one of the better quarterbacks in the Big Ten, but his line didn’t help him out that much today, and he finished 21-34, but for just 129 yards.
The Huskies defense which returned 10 starters from two back to back 11 win teams looked good albeit in defeat. The decisive play, and playmaker was Iowa tailback Damon Bullock, who ran 151 yards on 30 carries, the longest of which was a 22 yard td rush within the final three minutes.
Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, an official Google News site generating millions of unique visitors. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Chicago Tribune.com, Fox Sports, Walter Football and Yardbarker
A Fulbright scholar and MBA, Banks has appeared on live radio all over the world; and he’s a member of the Football Writers Association of America, U.S. Basketball Writers Association, and Society of Professional Journalists. The President of the United States follows him on Twitter (@Paul_M_BanksTSB) You should too