AMES, Iowa – There’s a saying that sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.

Iowa needed both here on Saturday.

Trailing 17-10 early in the third quarter, the Hawkeyes defense was good, forcing Iowa State into a three-and-out. Then some good fortune and hustle kicked in.

Quarterback C.J. Beathard connected with tight end Henry Krieger Coble on a short pass over the middle. Krieger Coble delivered a few nifty moves in taking the ball 29 yards down to the three where ISU Defensive Back Brian Peavy forced a fumble.

The football gods were looking down on Iowa, however. The ball bounced up into the hands of a sprinting Matt Vandeberg, who dove into the end zone.

"That’s just a huge play by Matt," Krieger Coble said. "Just him hustling, him having the key block on the play out in the open field is just huge. For him to be able to come up with that, it was a big mistake on my part and I’ll definitely work to clean that up."

Krieger Coble doesn’t believe what happened was an accident.

"It wasn’t luck because he just works hard and he was in the right place at the right time because he was working."

Vandeberg said he was just doing his job.

“The coaches always preach hustle,” VandeBerg said. “Make sure you chase the ball in case anything crazy happens, which something crazy happened.

“I tried to throw a block for (Krieger-Coble), he stretched out for the end zone and the ball came up and I was fortunate enough to be chasing it down and I got the touchdown.”

It sparked a 21-0 run to finish the game for the Hawkeyes. It capped a 6-play, 62-yard drive on the team’s opening possession of the second-half.

"That was huge that we came out and put together a good drive," Krieger Coble said. "Luckily we got it in (the end zone) after that crazy play. We’ll take it."

VandeBerg had career highs in receptions (9) and yards (114). His 47-yard reception in the fourth quarter was a career long.

INJURY REPORT: Defensive end Drew Ott left for the locker room in the first quarter. When he came back, his jersey and shoulder pads were removed and his left arm was in a sling. He did not return to action.

LeShun Daniels left the game with a right ankle injury in the second quarter. The junior running back was held out for the rest of the game.

Ferentz did not update the status of Ott or Daniels after the game. The coach said he’d know more on Sunday.

Sean Draper (undisclosed) was not in uniform for the Hawkeyes. He was listed as the No. 2 right cornerback on the most recent depth chart.

Iowa running back Derrick Mitchell Jr. (undisclosed) missed his second game in a row. Ferentz said before the opener that the sophomore from St. Louis clearly was No. 3 on the depth chart.

George Kittle (knee), who missed much of the second half against Illinois State, dressed and warmed up for the Hawkeyes but did not see any action until the end of the fourth quarter. He wore a brace.

TRAVEL SQUAD

QB – Beathard, Wiegers, Boyle, Cook.

RB – Canzeri, Daniels, Wadley, Plewa, Cox. Kulick.

WR – Vandeberg, Hillyer, McCarron, J. Smith, T. Smith, Falconer, Stone, Parker

TE – Krieger Coble, Kittle, Wisnieski, Pekar, Outsey.

OL – Blythe, Croston, Ferentz, Welsh, Walsh, Myers, Boettger, Simmons, Daniel, Render.

DL – Meier, Nelson, Ott, Terlouw, Hesse, J. Johnson, Ekaktitie, Bazata, Hulett, Brincks.

LB – Jewell, Neimann, Fisher, Perry, Mends, Bower, Hockaday.

DB – J. Jackson, Gair, Fleming, Snyder, Mabin, King, Taylor, Lomax, Ojemudia, Gervase

ST – Kidd, Koehn, Ellis, Kluver.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Kick Return – Kulick, Cox, Mends, Taylor, Fisher, Perry, Hillyer, Plewa, McCarron, King, Snyder.

Punt Coverage – Kidd, Jewell, Plewa, Bazata, Snyder, K. Ward, J. Jackson, Kluver, McCarron, Perry, Fisher.

Punt Return – King, McCarron, K. Ward, Perry, Hillyer, Gair, J. Jackson, Niemann, Mends, Fisher, Hillyer.

Kick Coverage – Koehn, Fleming, Lomax, Snyder, Perry, Taylor, Niemann, Jewell, Fisher, Gair, J. Jackson.

EXTRA POINTS: Beathard improved to 3-0 as a starter…Iowa improved to 41-22 all-time against the Cyclones…Jordan Canzeri rushed a career-high 24 times for 124 yards and a score…VandeBerg has scored a touchdown in three straight games. The South Dakota product caught touchdowns against Tennessee and Illinois State. He played 22 career games before catching his first touchdown…Krieger Coble had a career best 34 yards receiving…Marshall Koehn has connected on five consecutive field goal attempts over the last five games. He is 5-of-6 in his career on field goals 40-plus yards…Desmond King returned a punt 37 yards (career long) to set up Iowa’s go-ahead touchdown drive. On Iowa State’s ensuring possession, King intercepted a pass (first this season, fourth of career) to set up another Hawkeye touchdown. King added five tackles on defense…Dillon Kidd punted five times for 237 yards. Kidd downed two punts inside the 20 and had two punts over 50 yards (55, 50, 49, 46, 37). He averaged 47.4 yards per punt…redshirt freshman Jameer Outsey made his first career start…The Iowa defense allowed 66 yards on 31 plays in the second half after allowing 244 yards on 31 plays in the first half. The Hawkeyes converted 5-of-7 third downs in the second half, and 2-of-7 third downs in the first half…The visiting team has won the last four meetings in the Cy-Hawk Series. Today’s score marked the first time in five years the game wasn’t decided by one possession…The Cyclones were 2 of 9 on third downs in the second half after being 2 of 5 before the intermission. Both of those conversions went for touchdowns…Iowa True Freshmen in Ames were Jerminic Smith, Adrian Falconer, James Daniels, Jack Hockaday, Michael Ojemudia, Drew Cook & Ryan Boyle. Only the first three guys listed have had their redshirts removed so far…Iowa State’s two touchdown drives each covered 75 yards and took less than two minutes.