By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – The Iowa football team has one of the worst offenses nationally from a statistical standpoint, and has suffered some costly injuries at key positions, including quarterback.

And yet, Iowa still found a way to defeat Purdue 20-14 on Saturday at Kinnick Stadium to improve to 5-1 overall and 2-1 in conference play midway through the regular season.

Sophomore quarterback Deacon Hill made his first career start for Iowa in Saturday’s game, replacing the injured Cade McNamara. And while there were some rough moments, Hill still made enough plays for Iowa to come away victorious.

Perhaps his best play was a 22-yard touchdown pass to senior tight end Erick All, which along with Drew Stevens’s point-after kick, gave Iowa a 20-7 lead with 14 minutes, 24 seconds left in the fourth quarter.

“We came out with a play fake and in practice, it’s always wide open,” Hill said of his touchdown pass to All. “They had two guys kind of sandwiching him. But then he kind of released and broke through and I trusted him to get there.”

All’s touchdown helped to energize the crowd because it felt as if Iowa finally had control of the game for the first time.

“Deacon just put that thing right on the money,” All said. “I just wanted to catch it for him.”

Purdue would go on to score a late touchdown, cutting the deficit to 20-14, but it was too little and too late as Iowa hung on to win a key Big Ten West Division matchup.

Iowa will head back on the road for a game against Wisconsin next Saturday in Madison that could go a long way in determining which team wins the West Division.

“I haven’t really been thinking about it too much,” said Hill, who transferred from Wisconsin to Iowa this past January. “We’ve been focused on Purdue. And so we’ll see Monday. We’ll have an opportunity to watch some film. But I haven’t really been thinking about it too much.”

Hill only completed 6-of-21 passes for 110 yards, but he was helped by an Iowa rushing attack that gained 181 yards, including 134 by sophomore Kaleb Johnson, who had missed the previous three games because of an ankle injury.

“It’s huge,” Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said of having success on the ground. “If you can run the ball, it gives you such a better chance to be effective.”

Johnson scored the first touchdown of the game on Iowa’s second offensive possession when he blasted through a massive hole on the left side and raced 67 yards to the end zone with 10:15 left in the first quarter.

Johnson also had a 33-yard run in Saturday’s game, and the Ohio native has now combined to rush for 334 yards in two games against Purdue as he had a career-high 200 rushing yards in last year’s 24-3 victory in West Lafayette, Indiana.

“I feel like against them it’s just personal to me because I have a lot of people that I know on that team,” Johnson said of Purdue, which fell to 2-4 overall and 1-2 in the Big Ten under first-year head coach Ryan Walters.

The Iowa defense bent at times in Saturday’s game, allowing 247 passing yards, but it also had six sacks and 12 tackles for loss against the Boilermakers.

Iowa entered Saturday’s game with just three sacks, which was the fewest among FBS teams.

“Whatever it takes, we’re a 5-1 football team right now,” said Iowa senior linebacker Nick Jackson. “So, whatever it takes.”

Sixth-year senior defensive end Joe Evans led Iowa with four tackles for loss, and he credits a meeting this past Friday with the defensive linemen that helped to create the right mindset for the Boilermakers.

“I’m just really proud of those guys and how we all competed today,” Evans said.

The Iowa defense could soon receive a boost with the return of senior defensive tackle Noah Shannon, who has missed the first six games after having gambled on sports.

The NCAA announced recently that it would soften some of the gambling suspensions.

“I’ll know more Tuesday, but we’re optimistic,” Kirk Ferentz said of Shannon’s status.

Senior defensive tackle Logan Lee had one of his best games as a Hawkeye on Saturday, finishing with a career-high 10 tackles, including 2.5 tackles for loss.

“Credit to him and it’s great to see the older guys have success when they’ve worked as hard as he has,” Kirk Ferentz said of Lee.

Senior linebacker Jay Higgins also had another solid game as he led Iowa with 12 tackles. The Indianapolis native entered Saturday’s game averaging 12.4 tackles per game, which led the Big Ten and ranked third nationally.

So, while Brian Ferentz’s offense still is very much a work in progress, and is now being led by the No. 2 quarterback, that hasn’t stopped Iowa from winning five of its first six games.

The offense has performed at a historically low level since the start of last season, and yet, Iowa still has a 13-6 record during that time.

That just shows that football is the ultimate team sport as the Iowa defense and special teams have helped to pick up the slack.

The return of Kaleb Johnson has provided a huge boost for the offense, and there is also hope that fellow running back Jaziun Patterson will soon return from his injury.

Kirk Ferentz has been widely criticized for how poorly his offense has performed with his son as the offensive coordinator.

And while the criticism might be justified, the ultimate goal is to win and Iowa has accomplished that goal in five of its first six games this season.

That deserves praise.