IOWA CITY — The last two Cy-Hawk football games have been decided by a kicker.
The same kicker, at that.
Iowa State‘s Kyle Konrardy delivered heartbreak for Iowa in back-to-back years. He drilled a field goal to stun the Hawkeyes at Kinnick Stadium in 2024 and then nailed another fourth-quarter dagger to lift the Cyclones to victory in 2025.
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Iowa fans hope their team won’t need a clutch field goal to knock off Iowa State this year. With a new head coach and a roster that looks vastly different than last season, 2026 has the makings of a rebuilding season for Iowa State. The Hawkeyes are about a two-touchdown favorite entering the Sept. 12 matchup.
But rivalries don’t always go to script. Weird things can happen. And as the last two seasons have proved, special teams can be the difference.
We got our first sample of Iowa’s new-look special teams unit in game action against Northern Illinois. For the most part, it was encouraging.
The biggest blunder came on the very first extra point of the season. Kicker Caden Buhr, attempting the first PAT of his college career, pushed it right. Buhr said of the miss: “Hips were a little open. Just didn’t finish through my swing.”
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But Buhr bounced back nicely. His only other miss came on a 53-yard field goal attempt. Buhr converted on four extra points and field goals from 45 and 34 yards.
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“Caden’s situation couldn’t have gotten off to a worse start,” said Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz, “but then he got his feet right back on the ground. When you fall back on your fundamentals, that’s probably the best thing you can do any time the wheels come off a little bit. I think he did that, and he’s certainly capable. We’ve seen him do a lot of good things in practice. It’s just a consistency factor for every player that really matters.”
Buhr beat out North Dakota State transfer Eli Ozick for the kicking job. Ozick, however, is still involved in special teams, as he handled kickoffs against Northern Illinois.
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Even though special teams coordinator LeVar Woods left for Michigan State during the offseason, Buhr said “there was no question” that he would be staying at Iowa. The Bettendorf product, who joined the program as a walk-on ahead of the 2025 season, is now the successor to Drew Stevens, the program’s all-time leader in field goals made. Buhr spent last season behind Stevens.
“He’s a very, very mentally strong guy and he’s very, very consistent,” Buhr said of what he learned from Stevens. “I took a lot from his routine on and off the field. I tried to take all the things that he did, especially off the field in his routine and how consistent he was with everything he did, just try to implement that into my game.”
A surprising development on special teams was that Zach Lutmer was not back to return punts for the Hawkeyes against Northern Illinois. Instead, Reece Vander Zee got the start in that role.
Ferentz said that Lutmer would’ve been Iowa’s starting punt returner, but because he missed some time leading up to the season, the Hawkeyes wanted to be careful with his “pitch count,” not knowing how many plays he would get on defense.
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Vander Zee, who returned two punts for 16 yards against the Huskies, did not make much noise. But Furman transfer Evan James, who took over for Vander Zee in the second half, delivered an electric 77-yard punt return touchdown in his Iowa debut.
“That was awesome,” Vander Zee said of James’ touchdown. “He did a great job. He’s also been doing a great job of fielding the punts and making plays for us. I think those dudes on the punt return unit blocked their balls off and they allow for some big creases. You always know what you’re going to get. You’ve got to make a few guys miss, but you know that there’s going to be dudes on bodies and ready to make plays.”
It’s remarkable to think that in the first game without someone as explosive as Kaden Wetjen, Iowa still scored a special teams touchdown. As for how Iowa will operate at punt returner moving forward, Ferentz said, “We’ll see how it all shakes out, but at least I think there’s the potential to have maybe a pool of guys that we can trust back there, and that’s a lot better than the other way.”
It was a relatively quiet but productive day for punter Boston Everitt, who averaged 43.7 yards on three boots. Not only was this Everitt’s Iowa debut, but also his first-ever American football game after coming over from Australia.
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“For the first time out, really impressive,” Ferentz said of Everitt. “He seemed poised. Seemed under control. Part of it works to his advantage in that like he’s totally naive to college football right now, and that’s probably a good thing in some ways. I don’t think he felt overwhelmed by things.”
There has been so much change from last season’s special teams unit with the departure of the coordinator (Woods), kicker (Stevens), returner (Wetjen) and punter (Rhys Dakin). Northern Illinois was a solid first step, but we have yet to see how Iowa’s special teams react in crunch time, or in a high-pressure situation with the game on the line.
That may or may not come this week. But if or when it does, it can be the deciding factor in the game.
“Special teams-wise, some really good things there,” Ferentz said of the game vs. NIU. “The punting game and punt return game, certainly, positive to see that. Field goal execution, I think once we settled down, we were okay in that regard, as well.”
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Follow Tyler Tachman on X @Tyler_T15, contact via email at TTachman@usatodayco.com
This article originally appeared on Hawk Central: Iowa football’s new-look special teams unit takes positive first step
