Iowa Football: 3 takeaways from slim win against Purdue in Week 8

1. Iowa relied heavily on kicker Keith Duncan to beat Purdue

Often a team that relies so heavily on their placekicker for points will find themselves struggling to win games. Throughout the season, Iowa has leaned on redshirt junior Keith Duncan to put points on the scoreboard.

After taking on the kicking role for the Hawkeyes as a freshman, Duncan was redshirted in 2017 and then never saw the field last season as Miguel Recinos held on to the starting role. Getting his chance to kick once again in 2019, Duncan has made the most of the opportunity.

But when you rely on your kicker for more than a third of your points, it is bound to have an impact sooner or later. Through the first six games of the year, Duncan averaged nine of Iowa’s 25 points per game. He was even more critical to the effort on Saturday as Iowa held on for victory against Purdue.

Duncan successfully kicked four field goals for the Hawkeyes — scoring from 30, 44, 42, and 38 yards. He added a pair of extra points on Iowa’s two touchdown of the game, as the Hawkeyes pulled away late against the Boilermakers.

In the end, Duncan was responsible for more than half of Iowa’s 26 points on Saturday as the Hawkeyes improved to 5-2. If Iowa is going to rebound from their two earlier losses and actually threaten for the Big Ten West this year, though, they need to become far less reliant on their talented kicker.