CHICAGO — The Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field were quite friendly to Iowa football.

It was evident when Hawkeye fans swarmed the Wrigleyville neighborhood hours before kickoff, easily outnumbering the “home” Northwestern fans about 7 miles from their campus.

It was evident when the Hawkeyes’ signature “Let’s Go Hawks” and “I-O-W-A” chants rang through the Wrigley Field grandstands.

Most importantly, it was evident on the football field spanning from where would usually be the Cubs’ dugout to the right field corner as the Hawkeyes walked away with a 10-7 win over Northwestern.

Iowa kicker Drew Stevens, after missing a 53-yard attempt earlier in the game, redeemed himself with the 52-yard, game-winning field goal with 14 seconds remaining.

Deacon Hill connected with Ohio State transfer wide receiver Kaleb Brown for a 23-yard gain to move the Hawkeyes (7-2, 4-2 Big Ten) into field-goal range at the Northwestern 38 with less than a minute remaining.It was Brown’s first reception of the season.

Northwestern (4-5, 2-4) advanced to its own 42-yard line as it tried to strike back in the final seconds before running out of time.

Iowa again benefited from a stellar defensive showing.

Northwestern worked its way to the Iowa 2-yard line and had first-and-goal about midway through the fourth quarter.But with Northwestern inches away from tying the game, Iowa’s defense made four critical stops to preserve the lead.It somewhat became a moot point when Northwestern scored a touchdown on its next drive via a 5-yard touchdown pass from Brendan Sullivan to Cam Johnson, though.

The scoreboard operators in Wrigley’s classic scoreboard in center field did not have much work to do early on, as neither team scored until the third quarter.

Iowa finally struck first with a 2-yard pass from Hill to tight end Addison Ostrenga.

In typical Iowa fashion, a big play on special teams set up the offense to score.

Earlier in the quarter, Anterio Thompson blocked his second punt of the season.It set up Iowa with its best field position of the day, and the Hawkeyes took advantage with a seven-play, 25-yard drive that culminated with Hill’s play-action pass to Ostrenga.

The Hawkeyes won despite — before the game-winning drive — another underwhelming offensive showing.Hill finished the day going 10-for-15 with a touchdown and an interception.

Iowa, like Northwestern, tried to establish the run with 41 rushing attempts out of 56 offensive plays.Iowa’s attempts also were futile, averaging 2.5 yards per carry.

Away from the Friendly Confines, Iowa received some help in the Big Ten West standings.

Wisconsin, Nebraska and Minnesota — the other three teams in the four-way tie for first place in the division to start play — all lost Saturday.

— John Steppe

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