Posted by ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg
It's a good thing TV cameras were present at Kinnick Stadium last Saturday to capture the final seven seconds of Iowa's matchup against Northern Iowa.
Without video evidence, it might be hard to convince the outside world of what actually happened.
"I've never seen stuff like that," Iowa linebacker A.J. Edds told me. "If you tried to make a movie with that script, I don't think anybody would believe it."
Edds was on Iowa's field-goal block team as Northern Iowa's Billy Hallgren set up for a potential game-winning 40-yard attempt with his team trailing 17-16. Hawkeyes defensive lineman Broderick Binns blocked Hallgren's kick, and the ball fluttered behind the line of scrimmage.
Edds estimates that any of the 11 Iowa defenders could have scooped up the ball, but they chose to stay away, normally the wise move after a blocked kick. But since the ball never crossed the line, Northern Iowa recovered and got another chance because it was only first down.
Hallgren lined up from 41 yards out, but linebacker Jeremiha Hunter came up with another block, which sealed the victory for Iowa.
"I haven't been a part or around, or even heard of anything similar to that," Edds said. "To have it happen once is pretty long odds. And then to emotionally flush the first [block] and try to find a way to do it again, it leaves you speechless. Big play. We would have loved to not be in that situation, but we were and we found a way to get it done."
Edds had always been instructed to stay away from a blocked kick unless he could easily scoop up the ball and run. He imagines the wild finish will be used by numerous coaches to teach their players the little-known rule about blocked kicks behind the line of scrimmage when it isn't fourth down.
"That's a situation where you live and learn," Edds said. "It's a situation where you don't want to live through it again, but now we know what has to happen.
"After we got the second block, Pat [Angerer] jumped on it. We tried to leave nothing to chance on that one. We had a couple guys jump on. I jumped on Pat to make sure we took care of it."