No. 21 Iowa had to earn every single one of its 284 total yards against in-state rival Iowa State, but it found a way to come out with a 16-13 victory at Kinnick Stadium on Saturday evening. 

The win is the Hawkeyes' first in the series since 2023, or 2021 if you don't count the vacated 2023 triumph. 

Here are three standouts from Iowa's victory: 

This is the most obvious place to start. If you would've told Buhr and even his own coaching staff that he would be the hero of Iowa's first Cy-Hawk win in three years, even he probably wouldn't believe it. 

The story is well-known by this point, but the walk-on didn't make a good first impression as the Hawkeyes' new starting kicker last weekend against Northern Illinois. He missed his first-ever kick - an extra point - and then followed that up with a badly missed 52-yarder later in the first quarter. 

But that's been the lone setback in Buhr's very young career. He finished the NIU game with a pair of field goals, and that momentum carried directly into this game. Buhr went 3-for-3 on field goals against Iowa State, but the one that mattered was his 42-yard attempt in the waning seconds of the contest to win the game for Iowa. 

There was never a doubt about where the ball would end up as soon as it left Buhr's leg. His postgame comments were stoic, but his immediate reaction was anything but. 

"Yeah [I knew it was good]. It felt really good off the foot," Buhr said after the game. 

"It's a real credit to him finishing out the game last week and doing a good job," head coach Kirk Ferentz said after the game. "He had an excellent week of practice, and that certainly I think helped give him confidence there in that closing minute. So just a tip of the hat to him for sure." 

Iowa's rushing attack was dominant against Northern Illinois, but it couldn't muster anything against a hungry Iowa State front in this one. The Hawkeyes tallied just 93 yards on the ground, which forced them to almost exclusively rely on the passing game for offense. 

That would've been a death sentence for previous Iowa teams, but not on Saturday. Hank Brown earned the start at quarterback and held that spot for the remainder of the game. Brown later revealed his coaches told him it was likely that he would split reps with Jeremy Hecklinski, but his stellar play was why he stayed in the game. 

The fourth-year completed 21 of his 30 passing attempts for 191 yards, while also rushing for 22 yards and scoring Iowa's lone touchdown of the game. We'll how Ferentz and Co. handle the quarterback battle next weekend against Northern Iowa, but it's probably not a stretch to say he's the clear favorite to win this job at this point. 

"I don't like necessarily giving myself a letter grade, but I'm proud of the way that we pulled the game out," Brown said. "And at the end of the day, I think the biggest job as a quarterback is to win the game." 

Iowa's defense did a terrific job holding Iowa State's offense at bay all night, and the man who was at the forefront of that was linebacker Cam Buffington. The third-year's potential in this defense was already there, but this was a game where he turned all of that hype into a fantastic outing. 

Keeping ISU quarterback Jaylen Raynor in the pocket was one of the primary concerns for Phil Parker's group, but Iowa did an admirable job of doing so, holding Raynor to just 18 yards on eight carries. If you go back and watch the game you'll see it, but in real time, there were several plays where it looked like Raynor would escape for a big play, but Buffington was the middle man to prevent that from happening. Buffington finished with a career-high 15 tackles, with 10 of those coming in the first half. 

"It just feels so good to be out there with my brothers," an emotional Buffington said after the win. "Just playing hard fought football, Iowa football, it means a lot."

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HawkeyeRoundtable publisher Brad Schultz has covered the Iowa Hawkeyes since 2023. To send him story ideas, scoops, or criticize his writing, reach him at [email protected]