The Iowa Hawkeyes were lucky and the USC Trojans have to do some personnel management with their players. The Hawkeyes had a small lead going into half by a score of 13-7. The two major mistakes made by the Hawkeyes were two punt return fumbles by punt returner Colin Sandeman. Penalties killed the Trojans in the fourth quarter as they were nailed by a unsportsmanlike conduct or commonly known as excessive celebration of a defensive stopped that the Hawks capitalized on and were able to get to the 22 yard line and run the clock down to 2 seconds left to go to go for the last second field goal to take the win. Pelini was extremely happy with the clock management as the Hawks nearly doubled USC's Time of Possession with having the ball for 18 of the 28 minutes of the game. The biggest surprise by the Hawkeyes were no penalties were commited by them.
The Hawks will play Iowa State and have their starting quarterback out for that game but will be returning for the game against Indiana thanks to a bye week.