No. 12 Iowa hangs on to beat Michigan 30-28

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Iowa quarterback Ricky Stanzi always seems to make up for his early miscues.

Michigan's Tate Forcier didn't get a chance to do the same.

Stanzi threw for 284 yards and two touchdowns after he was picked off on his first pass, and No. 12 Iowa survived yet another close call, beating Michigan 30-28 Saturday night for its best start since 1985 and the Hawkeyes' first 10-game winning streak in more than 80 years.

Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez pulled an ineffective Forcier in the fourth quarter. Fellow freshman Denard Robinson led a touchdown drive capped by his own 3-yard run, and Michigan got the ball back with 1:30 left. But Robinson was intercepted by Brett Greenwood with 46 seconds left, keeping the Hawkeyes (6-0, 2-0), the only unbeaten team left in the Big Ten.

Iowa has won three home games by a total of just six points, but the Hawkeyes have never been all that interested in style points anyway.

"We're going to have to fight adversity, and we've had to do that a lot in our football games, and that's just going to help build character," Stanzi said. "We're excited about the record, but there's still a lot of football left."

Iowa won its 10th straight, the Hawkeyes' longest streak since they won 20 in a row from 1920-1923.

Michigan (4-2, 1-2) had a season-worst five turnovers. Forcier was 8 of 19 for 94 yards and an interception, and Rodriguez said that Forcier, who has been struggling with a shoulder injury, wasn't at 100 percent.

Rodriguez also did his best to squash any notions of a quarterback controversy and denied that he and Forcier exchanged words on the sideline.

"Tate made some plays that he'd probably like to have back, but we made a change to get a little spark," Rodriguez said. "Denard gave us a little spark at the end, we just didn't finish it off."

Michigan's Donovan Warren ran back a Stanzi interception for a touchdown in the game's first minute and Brandon Minor scored twice for the Wolverines.

Tony Moeaki had two wide-open TD catches for Iowa, but nothing else came easily for the Hawkeyes.

Michigan was trailing 23-21 when it stuffed Iowa on a 4th-and-goal at the 1-yard line early in the fourth quarter, ending a drive kept alive when Michigan muffed a punt at its 16 and would have been flagged for roughing anyway. Stevie Brown broke up Stanzi's pass on 4th-and-goal from the 1.