ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The Michigan Wolverines scored quickly at the outset to lead the Iowa Hawkeyes 10-3 at halftime of their battle of nationally ranked Big Ten Conference rivals Saturday afternoon at Michigan Stadium.
Iowa entered the contest at 4-0 and rated 14th in the nation while the Wolverines came in at 3-1, ranked 18th and as 4.5-point favorites.
The Hawkeyes have won the last two meetings and five of the last six between the two rivals.
The game had scarcely started when Michigan recovered an Iowa fumble and Jake Moody hammered home a 28-yard field goal for a 3-0 advantage with 12:19 showing on the clock. That increased to 10-0 four minutes later on a 2-yard dive up the middle by running back Zach Charbonnet.
The Hawkeyes then mounted their own drive late in the first period and early in the second. But Iowa’s forward progress stalled and the visitors dwindled their deficit to 10-3 on Keith Duncan’s 28-yard field goal at the 12:18 juncture of the second stanza.
That score remained in effect at intermission after Rockford’s Quinn Nordin missed a 58-yard field goal try with time expired.
The Hawkeyes’ All-American quarterback, Nate Stanley, came in with 136 consecutive throws over two years without an interception, but Michigan picked off two aerials during the first half.
Next up, the Wolverines will travel to Illinois for another Big Ten contest, with kickoff scheduled for noon next Saturday at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Ill.
Meanwhile, the Hawkeyes will return to Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City to entertain 11th-rated Penn State in another Big Ten encounter that same day.
