Thorson’s TD lifts Northwestern past Iowa 17-10 in overtime

Northwestern’s 17-10 overtime victory against Iowa on a balmy Saturday in Evanston wasn’t pretty, but it was pretty entertaining in the end.

Facing a third-and-nine from the Hawkeyes’ 24 at the start of overtime, Wildcats quarterback Clayton Thorson found running back Justin Jackson on a short passing route.

Jackson did the rest, slipping three potential tackles before going down at Iowa’s 1-yard line. Thorson then scored on a muscular keeper to give NU (4-3, 2-2 Big Ten) a much-needed victory.

‘‘Wow! What a great play,’’ Wildcats coach Pat Fitzgerald said. ‘‘He’s got the ball in space, and he’s just Justin being Justin. He had to make some great players miss. That was very Justin Jackson.’’

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Jackson, who ran for 93 yards and caught five passes for 38 yards, moved into eighth place on the all-time Big Ten rushing list.

‘‘I didn’t know how far I was from the first down,’’ Jackson said. ‘‘I figured I’d just turn it up and get as close as I can.’’

For the longest time, the game was all about defense, which is the trend in the Big Ten this season.

‘‘We’re fighting for every millimeter out there; it’s probably familiarity with each other,’’ Fitzgerald said. ‘‘I see [Iowa coach] Kirk [Ferentz] before the game, it’s like seeing your cousin. We’ve been competing against each other forever. After the game, we’re like, ‘We have to stop doing this to each other.’ It’ll be the same thing next week with [Michigan State] coach [Mark] Dantonio.’’

Knowing points would be precious, both teams played guarded games. The Hawkeyes (4-3, 1-3) led 7-0 at the half, scoring with 40 seconds left after a 61-yard pass play put them in the red zone.

At the end of the half and at the end of regulation, Fitzgerald opted to run out the clock rather than engage in any risky business. He also played it close to the vest in the kicking game, going 3-for-6 on fourth downs.

‘‘Most of those decisions were in the alumni zone,’’ Fitzgerald said. ‘‘If I get it, everybody says, ‘Great job!’ If I don’t, everybody says I’m an idiot.’’

With the victory, NU took a good step forward in an under-the-radar season. A 41-14 loss at Duke was messy, but the Wildcats’ other two losses came against top-10 teams Wisconsin and Penn State.

In other words, NU will determine its fate on a more level playing field the rest of the way.

‘‘We started off the season not necessarily slow, but we weren’t getting all the breaks we wanted,’’ defensive end Joe Gaziano said. ‘‘We put the whole game together today. We played as a group, and we played to our strengths.’’

An agitated Fitzgerald defended his receivers, who were whistled for offensive pass interference three times.

‘‘I’m tired of people grabbing the crap out of us,’’ he said. ‘‘We’re not going to let people hold us. We’re not going to allow that nonsense to happen.’’

On the whole, though, Fitzgerald was satisfied on a day when NU honored the late Ara Parseghian and his 1962 Wildcats, who rose to No. 1 in the nation.

‘‘I feel very fortunate to have the relationship that I had with him,’’ Fitzgerald said of Parseghian. ‘‘His wisdom, his support, his friendship will be something I’ll cherish. For us to win on a day when we were honoring him, it’s a big deal to me.’’

Follow me on Twitter @HerbGould and at TMGcollegesports.com.