L.J. Phillips Jr., Braeden Jackson Lift No. 21 Iowa Past Northwestern 24-10 at Ryan Field

Iowa built a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter, Braeden Jackson returned a kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown, and the Hawkeyes' defense sacked Nicco Marchiol six times as No. 21 Iowa beat Northwestern 24-10 on Saturday night at Ryan Field in Evanston, Illinois. L.J. Phillips Jr. ran for 128 yards, and Iowa beat Northwestern for the fifth straight time.

Iowa (7-2, 4-2 Big Ten) handed Northwestern (6-3, 3-3 Big Ten) its first loss at the new Ryan Field. The Wildcats had won twice at their temporary lakefront stadium and then their first three games in the new building, and they were trying to go 6-0 at home for the first time in 122 years, according to the Associated Press.

Northwestern played without starting quarterback Aidan Chiles, who was injured. Marchiol, a redshirt junior and West Virginia transfer, made the first start of a college career and completed 24 of 32 passes for 181 yards and a touchdown. The Wildcats did not commit a turnover, but they converted only 1 of 11 third downs and 1 of 4 fourth downs.

Two quick touchdowns

Iowa needed 3:50 to take the lead. On the game's first possession, Hank Brown completed passes of 13 yards to Reece Vander Zee, 19 yards to Tony Diaz and 13 more to Vander Zee, and after a 7-yard Phillips run, Brown kept the ball on a quarterback draw and went 21 yards for a touchdown at 11:10 of the first quarter.

Northwestern's punter then put Iowa in a hole. Nikola Dugandzic pinned the Hawkeyes at their own 10 and later at their own 3, and the second of those punts set up the drive of the game. Phillips ran for 4 yards, then broke loose up the middle for 45 more to the Northwestern 48. Brown hit Xavier Williams for 7 yards and Thomas Meyer for 11 as the first quarter ended.

Early in the second quarter, Phillips added an 11-yard run, and Brown threw 24 yards down the middle to Diaz for a touchdown at 13:25. The 97-yard drive took seven plays and gave Iowa a 14-0 lead.

Northwestern comes up a yard short

Northwestern answered with its longest drive of the half. The Wildcats ran 12 plays and used 6:51, and Marchiol converted a fourth and 1 at the Iowa 37 with a 2-yard run. Three plays later, Northwestern faced another fourth and 1 at the Iowa 26. Caleb Komolafe took the handoff up the middle, and Cam Buffington dropped the running back for a 1-yard loss to turn the ball over on downs at 6:34.

Each team punted twice more, and Brown was sacked once by Dominic Kirks. Iowa took a 14-0 lead into halftime.

A pick, a field goal and a 96-yard answer

Northwestern finally got a break midway through the third quarter. Iowa moved to its own 44, took a delay of game penalty and then Brown threw an interception to Robert Fitzgerald at the Northwestern 40 at 8:17. It was Fitzgerald's first game back from an injury, according to Northwestern Athletics.

Marchiol ran for 11 yards, threw 13 yards to Luke Dehnicke and ran for 10 more to the Iowa 26. A false start and an 8-yard sack by Luke Gaffney pushed the Wildcats back, and Jackson Kleather kicked a 45-yard field goal at 4:14 to cut the deficit to 14-3.

The momentum lasted 11 seconds. Dugandzic kicked off to the Iowa 4, where Jackson fielded the ball and returned it 96 yards for a touchdown at 4:03. It was the second kickoff return touchdown of the season for Jackson, who had returned one 99 yards at Michigan in Week 4, according to Iowa's game notes. Caden Buhr's extra point made it 21-3.

Fourth down fails again

Northwestern went for it on fourth and 1 at its own 34 on the next possession. Jayden Montgomery sacked Marchiol for a 1-yard loss, and Iowa took over at the Northwestern 33 at 2:21.

The Hawkeyes lost a yard on the short drive that followed, but Buhr made a 52-yard field goal at 1:08 of the third quarter for a 24-3 lead. Buhr had entered the game 13 of 15 on field goals this season with a career long of 54 yards against Wisconsin.

Northwestern's best chance to get back in the game came on its next drive, which carried into the fourth quarter. The Wildcats went 63 yards in 13 plays to the Iowa 12, helped by an Iowa personal foul on a play in which Iose Epenesa sacked Marchiol. Then Kenneth Merrieweather sacked Marchiol, Rashad Godfrey Jr. broke up a third down throw into the end zone, and Marchiol's fourth and 8 pass for Griffin Wilde fell incomplete at 11:11.

Iowa runs the clock

Iowa took over at its own 12 and kept the ball for 7:03. Phillips carried six times on the 12-play drive, Brown picked up a first down with a 5-yard run, and the Hawkeyes reached the Northwestern 40 before Kirks forced a fumble by Diaz and Braydon Brus recovered at 4:08.

Northwestern scored on the ensuing drive. A roughing the passer penalty on Iowa and a 16-yard catch by Drew Wagner moved the Wildcats to the Iowa 14, Marchiol ran 6 yards to the 2, and Marchiol threw a 2-yard touchdown pass to Joseph Himon II with 1:51 left. Iowa recovered the onside kick, and Phillips ran for a first down before the Hawkeyes knelt out the clock.

Phillips, Buffington lead the way

Phillips carried 21 times for 128 yards and caught two passes for 14 yards. The 45-yard run in the first quarter was the longest play of the game from scrimmage. Iowa ran for 170 yards on 33 carries, 5.2 yards per attempt.

Brown completed 16 of 21 passes for 126 yards with a touchdown and an interception and ran three times for 18 yards and a score. Brown entered the game as the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week after a 20 of 24 performance against Wisconsin. Diaz caught two passes for 43 yards and the touchdown, and Vander Zee had three catches for 36 yards.

Buffington, a Butkus Award semifinalist, made 12 tackles, eight of them solo, and made the fourth down stop in the second quarter. Montgomery added nine tackles and a sack, and Bryce Hawthorne had six tackles and a sack. Iowa's six sacks came from six players: Hawthorne, Gaffney, Montgomery, Epenesa, Merrieweather and Drew Campbell.

By the numbers

Iowa outgained Northwestern 296 to 286, and Northwestern had 19 first downs to Iowa's 14 and held the ball for 31:47. The difference was in the situational plays. Iowa converted 7 of 13 third downs, while Northwestern went 1 for 11 on third down and 1 for 4 on fourth down. With Chiles at quarterback this season, the Wildcats had been converting 46% of their third downs and were 5 for 7 on fourth down, according to the AP.

Northwestern won the turnover battle 2-0 and turned the two Iowa giveaways into 10 points, but the Wildcats never got within one score after falling behind 14-0. Iowa was penalized five times for 45 yards and Northwestern three times for 20.

Marchiol led the Wildcats with 52 rushing yards on 23 carries, a total that includes the six sacks. Komolafe, who entered with 618 rushing yards, ran seven times for 25 yards, and Himon added 27 yards on six carries. Wilde and Dehnicke each caught five passes for 52 yards, and Hayden Eligon II had a season high five catches for 33 yards.

Kobie McKinzie led Northwestern with nine tackles. Brus had seven tackles, a tackle for loss and the fumble recovery, Fitzgerald had seven tackles and the interception, and Kirks recorded the first sack of a college career and forced the fumble.

What it means

Iowa has won two straight since a 13-10 loss at Minnesota on Oct. 24, following last week's 30-0 shutout of Wisconsin. Iowa hosts Purdue on Nov. 14, then plays at Illinois on Nov. 21 and closes the regular season at home against Nebraska on Nov. 27.

Northwestern has lost two in a row, following a 34-26 loss at Oregon last week. Before that, Chiles accounted for five touchdowns in a 42-14 win over Rutgers. The Wildcats play at No. 11 Ohio State on Nov. 14 at 11 a.m. Central on FOX.

Sources: ESPN box score (opens in a new tab) and play-by-play. More college football coverage on Undrafted.

Photos: Northwestern Athletics.