Iowa Rallies Past Troy in Second Half

Saturday, September 14

Iowa City, Iowa

3 p.m.

Troy University

0-3 , 0-0

Iowa

2-1 , 0-0

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Troy

Iowa

9/14/2024 7:34:00 PM | Football

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Game Notes (PDF)Gerad Parker Press Conference Players Press Conference Photo Gallery Photo Gallery 2 Photo Gallery 3

By: Troy Athletics Communications

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Devonte Ross stunned the Kinnick Stadium crowd with a 77-yard punt return in the final minute of the first half – one of his three touchdowns on the day – to give Troy the lead at the break, but Iowa broke a pair of long runs in the fourth quarter to rally past the Trojans, 38-21.

Ross finished with 219 all-purpose yards for the Trojans after catching touchdown passes of 63 yards and 62 yards, from two different quarterbacks, in addition to Troy's first punt return for a touchdown since its victory at Nebraska in 2018.

Kaleb Johnson showed why he is one of the nation's premier backs as he rushed for 173 yards and two touchdowns on 25 carries to lead Iowa (2-1). He put the Hawkeyes on the board early in the second quarter and gave Iowa a 31-21 lead early in the fourth quarter with a 33-yard score.

Making his first career start at the FBS level, Matthew Caldwell found a wide open Ross down the near sideline to tie the game a 7-all with just over nine minutes to play in the half. It was the longest reception of Ross' career, and he finished with five catches for 142 yards, Troy's most receiving yards since Kaylon Geiger's 149 yards against Coastal Carolina in 2019.

Caldwell finished 14-of-21 for 156 yards, while Cade McNamara was 19-of-23 for 176 yards for Iowa.

Iowa jumped back in front thanks to a 42-yard field goal with 6:24 to play in the half. After Troy's drive stalled near midfield and the Trojans punted, Iowa picked up one first down on its ensuing drive, but Jordan Stringer sacked McNamara on third-and-2 to force a punt.

Rhys Dakin's punt sailed 43 yards to the Troy 23-yard line where Ross was waiting. He cut up the Troy sideline and gave Troy a 14-10 lead on the Trojans' longest punt return for a touchdown since Leodis McKelvin's 84-yard return at FIU in 2007.

Iowa took the lead for good on a 2-yard touchdown pass from Brendan Sullivan to Addison Ostrenga on the Hawkeyes' second drive of the second half. After both teams went three-and-out, Jermari Harris jumped in front of a Caldwell pass and returned it 27 yards for a touchdown.

Down 24-14, Troy answered right back three plays later on an almost identical play as the Trojans' first touchdown. Tucker Kilcrease, who entered from a cramping Caldwell, threw a 62-yard strike to Ross to close the Iowa advantage to 24-21 with 58 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

Johnson took over for Iowa on the ensuing drive, carrying the ball five times for 58 yards, including the 33-yard touchdown. Jaziun Patterson iced the game for the Hawkeyes with a 39-yard score with 6:01 to play.

Up Next
Troy opens a three-game homestand next weekend, hosting Florida A&M on Saturday, Sept. 21, at 6 p.m.

Quotable – Troy Head Coach Gerad Parker
"The proudest I can be as a Troy coach is when we had a huge error in the pick-six and came out, threw a new quarterback in the game, and hit a huge, explosive play to bring it back to three. And then, you know what happens when you play Big Ten teams like Iowa. They laid on us and pounded their way back to 10 and we couldn't really return from that.
"But I couldn't be prouder of these Troy players. Up and down our locker room, we had guys having to fill in due to injury or play through it. I think our people should also be proud of what we all saw on the field today. We've used three centers, three quarterbacks and the list goes on and on. Our world revolves around winning, but we found our football team for three quarters today. Now, we fly home and prepare for a packed stadium at 'The Vet' against Florida A&M."

Notable
• Troy lost the coin toss for the third straight game to open the season. The Trojans are now 8-23 the last three seasons and 3-14 the last two seasons on the coin toss; Iowa deferred to the second half.

• OL Tyler Cappi, QB Matthew Caldwell, RB Damien Taylor and S Ian Conerly-Goodley all made their first career starts in a Troy uniform and at the FBS level.

• Troy entered the week ranked second nationally (Air Force 19) with 16 players starting their first game at the FBS level this year; that number rose to 20 following Saturday's game against Iowa.

• Troy extended its non-shutout streak to 125 games and 217 games against Non-Power Five teams; the last time Troy was shutout was a 66-0 loss at Georgia in 2014.

• Devonte Ross became the first Troy player since Teddy Ruben against Charleston Southern to catch a touchdown pass and return a punt for a touchdown.

• Despite averaging five penalties per game this year, Iowa was not called for a single penalty by the Big Ten officiating crew.

• Devonte Ross' 63-yard touchdown reception was the longest catch of his career; it was his fifth career touchdown reception and second this season.

• Devonte Ross added a 62-yard touchdown reception in the third quarter. He is the first Troy player since at least 2011 with multiple 60-yard receptions in the same game.

• Devonte Ross finished with five catches for 142 yards; it was the most receiving yards by a Troy player since Kaylon Geiger's 145 yards against Coastal Carolina in 2019.

• Tucker Kilcrease threw his first career touchdown pass with a 62-yard strike to Devonte Ross in the third quarter. Kilcrease finished the game 2-of-5 for 73 yards through the air and rushed for 14 yards on five carries.

• Troy became just the sixth team since the 2022 season to throw for 229 yards or more against the Iowa defense; Troy did it with its second and third-string quarterbacks.

• Troy ran just 47 offensive plays in the game, its fewest since also running 47 plays at Georgia Southern on Nov. 14, 2015. The Trojans ran 46 plays in the 2015 season opener at NC State.

• Troy recorded a season-high six tackles for loss against the Hawkeyes -- Jordan Stringer, Damaje Yancey, Brendan Jackson, Julian Peterson, Raymond Cutts and Phillip Lee were all credited with stops behind the line.

• Devonte Ross returned a punt 77 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter. It was Troy's first special teams touchdown since a 69-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Reggie Todd against Southern Miss in 2019. It was Troy's first punt return for a touchdown since Cedarius Rookard's 58-yard return in Troy's win at Nebraska in 2018.

•Devonte Ross' 77-yard punt return for a touchdown was Troy's longest punt return touchdown since Leodis McKelvin's 84-yard return at FIU in 2007.

• Paddy McAteer recorded his first career tackle; he joined the Troy program in August after playing Gaelic Football in Ireland.