Iowa's 27-point head start sinks Washington, 24-41

Twenty-seven points went onto the board before Washington scored a single one. Iowa's first-half surge — two Caden Buhr field goals, a Kamari Moulton touchdown and a DJ Vonnahme double — built a 27-3 lead by the break, and the Huskies spent the rest of the afternoon chasing it, 24-41.

Buhr set the tone with a field goal, then another, and Moulton's touchdown made it 13-0 before the first quarter was out. Washington went through the opening 15 minutes without a point. Vonnahme then struck twice in the second quarter to stretch the lead to 27-0 before Tyler Robles' field goal finally got the Huskies on the board, the half closing at 27-3.

Washington won the third quarter, 15-7, and it still wasn't enough. Chris Lawson reached the end zone, Reece Vander Zee answered for Iowa, and Dezmen Roebuck's touchdown plus Lawson's two-point conversion trimmed the deficit to 18-34 after three quarters. It never got closer than 16. Moulton's second touchdown of the game in the fourth pushed the lead back out, and Mason James' late score closed the book at 24-41.

Moulton bookended the Hawkeyes' afternoon: the game's first touchdown and, in the fourth quarter, their last. Vonnahme's pair came in a decisive second-quarter stretch, and Buhr's two early field goals supplied the head start Washington never recovered from. The Huskies scored in three of four quarters; the Hawkeyes scored in all four, which is the difference between a comeback bid and a controlled road win.

Washington won a quarter and lost everything else. The comeback had a pulse for one period; Moulton flatlined it.