Sept. 11, 2004

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) - Ed Hinkel made a diving, fingertip catch for a key touchdown and No. 16 Iowa stiffened on defense when it needed to most to beat Iowa State 17-10 Saturday.

Iowa (2-0) forced Iowa State to kick field goals four times after the Cyclones had driven deep into Hawkeye territory. But Brian Jansen, a freshman walk-on, missed three of those kicks and Iowa held on for its second straight victory over the Cyclones after losing five in a row.

Iowa State (1-1) had gained the momentum after Todd Blythe leaped between two defenders to catch a 40-yard touchdown pass from Austin Flynn, cutting the lead to seven with 36 seconds left in the third quarter.

The Cyclones then threw Iowa for 17 yards in losses on three plays and got the ball back at the Hawkeyes' 33. Flynn, the No. 2 quarterback, drove Iowa State to the 16 but gained only 3 yards on a quarterback draw on third-and-7.

That brought in Jansen, whose 31-yard kick hooked wide left with 9:47 remaining. Jansen, playing because regular kicker Tony Yelk has a pulled muscle, missed earlier from 30 and 45 yards and made a 41-yarder.

Iowa State threatened again after Jansen's final miss, getting to the Iowa 35. But on fourth down, Abdul Hodge and Tyler Luebke dropped quarterback Bret Meyer 2 yards short of a first down with 1:09 remaining.

Tate was 16 of 22 for 220 yards, including a 29-yarder to Hinkel for a touchdown. He was intercepted once and sacked four times by an aggressive Iowa State defense that looks much better than the unit that was riddled during a 2-10 season a year ago.

Hinkel made the play of the game with his TD catch. He got behind cornerback LeMarcus Hicks and Tate appeared to overthrow him. But Hinkel leaped at the 2-yard line, stretched out and caught the ball on his fingertips, landing on his stomach 3 yards into the end zone to make it 14-3 with 2:49 left in the first half.

Until then, Iowa State had kept it close by intercepting a pass and blocking a field goal attempt.

Matt Robertson made the interception off a tipped pass late in the first quarter, giving Iowa State the ball at the Iowa 46 and setting up a 41-yard Jansen field goal that cut the lead to 7-3.

Iowa came right back and drove to the Iowa State 27 before stalling. Kyle Schlicher never got any elevation on his 44-yard attempt and defensive lineman Nick Leaders blocked it.

Schlicher, who has replaced All-American Nate Kaeding, got off a much better kick in making a 39-yarder early it the third quarter to stretch the lead to 17-3.

It looked easy for Iowa at the start. Albert Young returned the opening kickoff 36 yards, and with a face mask penalty tacked on, Iowa started at the Iowa State 49. Lewis ran 16 yards on the first play and later was wide open when he turned a short pass from Tate into a 25-yard gain.

Two plays later, Young followed a wall of blockers into the end zone. Less than two minutes into the game, the Hawkeyes had a lead they would never relinquish.