IOWA CITY — Drew Stevens' first kickoff of Saturday's game flew through the air, passed the end zone and towered over a fan in the front row behind the south end zone at Kinnick Stadium.

“But you popped right back up,” Iowa radio sideline reporter Rob Brooks said to the fan when he interviewed him in the first half.

“Yes, that's what Hawkeyes do!” the fan replied.

The Hawkeyes figuratively did that on the field as well, bouncing back from last week's blowout loss to Ohio State with a final 40-16 victory over Washington.

“There are two ways to take a loss like last week,” offensive lineman Mason Richman said. “I think we did a great job choosing the right way to respond. … It was a great win.”

The win was Kirk Ferentz's 200th victory as Iowa's head coach. As a member of the Big Ten, he sits alone in second place for career wins, trailing only Ohio State's Woody Hayes (who had 205 wins).

“The honest answer is I was more focused on us getting four,” Ferentz said. “I didn’t want to think about the score being 3:3. … There are a lot of people involved in this. I have only worked with great coaches throughout my career. I was lucky wherever I was. And then, most importantly, the players.”

It was Iowa's highest point total against a power conference opponent since a 51-14 win over Maryland in 2021. The Hawkeyes had at one point scored seven straight points.

As always in the Hawkeyes' victories this year, Iowa running back Kaleb Johnson played a starring role. Johnson rushed for 166 yards and averaged 7.9 yards per carry.

“I thank my O-line, man,” Johnson said. “Without them nothing would be possible.”

His 53-yard carry in the final minute of the first half was key in setting up Stevens for his 46-yard field goal for a 20-10 halftime lead. Johnson scored touchdowns on a 6-yard carry in the first quarter, an 18-yard catch in the second and an 8-yard run on the first play of the fourth.

Johnson has now rushed for more than 100 yards in five of Iowa's six games, with the loss to then-No. 1. 3 Ohio State being the lone exception.

“He’s done some good things the last few years,” Ferentz said of Johnson. “But the consistency at the moment, not just what you see on the field, but the way he prepares, the way he trains – he’s doing a great job.”

Iowa also benefited from two turnovers – a fumble forced by Aaron Graves and an interception by Jermari Harris – that led to two drives that ended in field goals.

Iowa's special teams, meanwhile, contributed greatly in many ways that went beyond Stevens' sparkling kickoff.

Stevens made field goals from 37, 46, 25 and 51 yards. Punter Rhys Dakin returned a 55-yard punt for just 2 yards and a 61-yard punt for no gain.

Yahya Black blocked a 33-yard Washington field goal attempt in the first quarter, snuffing out the Huskies' once-promising 14-play, 73-yard drive. That set up one of Iowa's four touchdown drives.

Big plays from the defense and special teams helped the Hawkeyes to the eventual victory, despite trailing the Huskies by a total of 393-328 yards.

“The number of times we had a short field today was huge,” quarterback Cade McNamara said. “It makes our job a lot easier when we don’t have to travel 30 meters just to get into enemy territory.”

Iowa's average starting field position was its own 45-yard line, while Washington's average starting field position was its own 24-yard line.

The Hawkeyes won despite a relatively modest performance in the passing game. Cade McNamara finished 8 of 14 for 108 yards and two touchdowns.

That included a 33-yard completion to redshirt freshman Dayton Howard in the fourth quarter — Howard's first-ever reception.

Richman said Saturday's 40-16 score was a “great, complete game.”

“And that was, I think, the first time this year that we did that,” Richman said.

The Hawkeyes will look to continue their momentum next week at Michigan State and maybe throw a kickoff or two outside the end zone.

The Spartans, who had a bye this week, are coming off consecutive losses to then-number one Boston College. 3 Ohio State and then-No. 6 Oregon.

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