IOWA CITY — Tim Lester’s third-and-10 play call was a screen pass all the way. No sense making a big mistake with the final seconds of the first half ticking away and with a chance to get into field-goal range from Purdue’s 44-yard line.

Left tackle Trevor Lauck and left guard Leighton Jones moved downfield to block immediately after the snap. And a swing pass from Hank Brown to Braeden Jackson was simple and smooth.

Jackson turned that safe call into a mesmerizing 44-yard touchdown, weaving his way from the far left sideline to the right corner of the South end zone at Kinnick Stadium. A wall of wide-receiver blockers were waiting in Reece Vander Zee, Evan James and Tony Diaz … but they didn’t even need to do anything. Jackson’s sensational run had done most of the work, and suddenly a precarious Big Ten Conference football game was blown wide open.

The score with 5 seconds left in the first half gave the Hawkeyes a 14-point advantage that held up for a needed 28-7 win on Nov. 14 before a 33rd-straight sellout crowd of 69,250 at Kinnick.

Iowa’s touchdown drive of 11 plays and 83 yards in the two-minute drill produced a 21-7 halftime lead. Jackson’s meandering score was the kind of moment that can define a special season — not as awe-striking at Vander Zee’s walk-off touchdown catch at Michigan, but one of those winning plays that winning teams make in November.

And the Jackson score doesn’t happen without a winning play from Brown earlier in the drive. After two ho-hum plays, Iowa faced a third-and-6 from its own 21. But Brown, who has known he can use his deceptively-fast legs in spots to gain key yardage, dodged trouble and scooted forward for 11 hard-charging yards and a first down. He would rush for another first down (on second-and-4) on the drive, helping to set up the memorable Jackson TD.

The Jackson score allowed Iowa to "double dip" to start the second half, as the Hawkeyes struck again on a 48-yard touchdown run from Xavier Williams just 3:53 into the third quarter for a 28-7 lead. That drive, too, was led by a smooth third-and-9 conversion from Brown to Vander Zee for 11 yards.

Iowa converted 10 of its first 13 third-down tries. That was clutch against a Purdue offense that had some firepower behind quarterback Ryan Browne and scored 41 points on Minnesota, 38 on No. 4 UCLA and 36 on No. 13 Wake Forest.

Iowa was in total control of this game as a 17½-point favorite, in part thanks to the Jackson touchdown, moving to 8-2 overall and 5-2 in Big Ten play with two games to go. It had no turnovers and only punted once, from Purdue's 37-yard line in the fourth quarter. The Hawkeyes' four touchdown drives went for 80, 66, 83 and 75 yards.

Brown finished 20-for-29 passing for 188 yards and rushed 10 times for 32 yards, scoring Iowa's first touchdown for the second straight week.

L.J. Phillips, who took over as the lead running back last week, carried 23 times for 123 yards in a workhorse performance.

And the defense once again was stingy, led by Zach Lutmer recording a team-high 10 tackles and his first interception of the 2026 season, to hand Purdue (3-7, 2-5) its fourth straight loss. Since returning from its bye week, Iowa's defense has allowed a total of 30 points in four games.

Tony Diaz was a big part of Iowa's game plan

When we last saw Tony Diaz, he was making a careless error in Iowa’s 24-10 win at Northwestern — after the wide receiver ran around end on third-and-3 for a first down but then fumbled the ball away with 4:08 remaining.

The miscue forced Iowa’s defense to get back onto the field and surrender its only touchdown of the game. A week later, Diaz — the native Texan — showed up on a 30-some degree night with no shirt sleeves and a fresh attitude.

And credit to Iowa coaches that despite some ball-security issues from Diaz of late, they are showing they still believe in him fully to elevate Iowa’s offense.

Diaz scored Iowa’s a touchdown for the third straight game, a 14-yard jet sweep run midway through the second quarter to give Iowa a 14-0 lead. Diaz got a career-high four carries in the game (for 25 yards), including on the Hawkeyes’ first snap, and led the team with five receptions (for 45 yards).

Diaz did take a trip into the medical tent midway through the fourth quarter with what appeared to be a hamstring issue but returned to the team with his helmet, usually a good sign it’s nothing serious.

Little special-teams moments add up; so do missed field goals

When will opposing teams just wise up and fair catch Iowa kickoffs so they can start safely at their own 25-yard line? Few have figured that out, and Purdue learned twice in the first quarter that attempting a runback usually means bad things.

On the opening kickoff, Purdue’s Travis Terrell Jr. was slammed by a wall of defenders at the 16-yard line, with Kahmari Brown getting credit for the stop. Then after Iowa took a 7-0 lead off its opening possession, Eli Ozick’s bouncing kickoff (which can’t be fair caught) resulted in Purdue’s Izaiah Wright being tackled at the 10-yard line – again by Brown.

In the middle of all that, Purdue kicker Jacobo Echeverria Lozano had a rare miscue. The freshman had been 21-of-22 on field goals this season but slightly missed his 38-yard attempt on Purdue’s opening drive, hitting the left upright. That cost Purdue three points, and Iowa turned that into a touchdown.

Iowa’s second touchdown also was set up by a beneficial special-teams play. Purdue was punting from Iowa’s 48, hoping to pin the Hawkeyes back. But not only was the punt short (29 yards), it was so high that it drew a punt-catch interference penalty on John Slaughter, who bumped into Evan James as he called for a fair catch with 10:55 left in the second quarter. Iowa started on its own 34 and turned that solid field position into a 66-yard touchdown drive, capped by Tony Diaz’s 14-yard jet sweep run for a 14-0 Iowa lead.

These four plays are not going to make headlines, but they’re the little things that add up to momentum and field position.

Unfortunately, it went the other way for Iowa's field-goal unit. Caden Buhr, who had converted nine straight field goals including three from 50-plus yards, missed all three of his attempts Saturday. He missed from 52 yards in the second quarter (wide left), from 53 in the third quarter (wide right) and from 37 yards in the fourth (blocked).

In the search for convincing style points when it comes to the College Football Playoff committee (not that Kirk Ferentz cares about those), Buhr's misses might matter.

Up next: A challenging trip to Illinois

This is the time of year that every result and every point matters, and it’s time to quickly turn to what’s next. For the Hawkeyes, it’s their first trip to Champaign, Illinois, since an ugly 9-6 loss in 2022.

The Fighting Illini (6-4, 4-3 Big Ten) had won four consecutive games until falling, 22-14, in a Friday-night game at league-leading and undefeated UCLA. Bret Bielema, the former Hawkeye, has had Illinois playing a competitive brand of football since an Oct. 3 home loss to Purdue. The Illini posted a notable 21-10 home win over No. 18 Oregon along the way.

Interestingly, Illinois is the only Big Ten opponent that offensive coordinator Tim Lester hasn’t faced since being hired by Iowa in early 2024. The Hawkeyes will be trying to finish 4-1 on the road after posting wins at Michigan, Washington and Northwestern.

Some scoreboard-watching updates for Iowa

Iowa’s bid for the College Football Playoff will continue, as well. And part of determining whether or not the Hawkeyes can crack the 12-team field (and needing to be in the final top 11 of the ranking, with the lower-ranked Group of 6 selection taking the 12th and final spot) comes down to scoreboard-watching.

The Hawkeyes are No. 15 but have a good opportunity to move up two spots or more. They got help Friday night with No. 14 Houston losing at Colorado, 42-32, and then during their game Saturday as Florida upended No. 11 Kentucky, 21-14, in Lexington.

Some other results didn’t go their way. No. 8 Tennessee rolled as a slight favorite at Texas A&M, 22-7. No. 10 BYU dispatched Baylor as a touchdown favorite. No. 13 Wake Forest dominated SMU, 49-7, as a slight underdog. No. 12 Texas Tech was in progress at Oklahoma State as the Iowa game ended.

No. 9 Indiana’s 27-13 win over No. 18 USC basically eliminated the possibility that the Trojans could jump Iowa. No. 16 Oregon’s 31-7 thrashing of Michigan didn’t help as Iowa is vying to be at least the third-highest ranked Big Ten team when the final ranking drops Dec. 6.