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Ann Arbor, MI, United States (AHN) – Ricky Stanzi continues to make the case for being considered one of the finest college quarterbacks in the country not to mention being among the best signal-callers in Iowa Hawkeye history.

Stanzi, a senior, was on the top of his game Saturday before 112,784 fans at Michigan Stadium in leading No. 15-ranked Iowa past Michigan 38-28.

The Hawkeyes improved their record to 5-1 overall and 2-0 in the Big Ten with Stanzi passing 24 times and completing 17 attempts for 248 yards and three touchdowns, all to Derrell Johnson-Koulianos.

Stanzi had no interceptions and was sacked only once.

“Rick’s really been leading our football team in a great fashion and today I thought he played an excellent game,” said Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz.

“Coming on the road makes it a little bit tougher for us. This was only our second road game. We didn’t handle things so well the first time around. I thought he did a great job of getting us in and out of plays, making sure we were secured.”

“He did a great job of spreading that ball around, getting it where it had to be,” Ferentz said. “I’m certainly happy for him. All of our seniors have done a really good job.”

“We had a pretty good idea of what they were going to give up,” Stanzi said after the Michigan game. “So we shrunk the playbook down a little bit. We made things easier. We knew communication would be tough. We got the looks we thought we would get. From there we tried to execute as much as we could.”

Stanzi gave Johnson-Koulianos credit for the three touchdown passes they combined for against Michigan. Johnson-Koulianos became Iowa’s all-time leading receiver in terms of yardage.

“He did a tremendous job of getting open. They had tight coverage and great athletes covering the corners. It was huge for him to get open,” Stanzi said. “He did a good job of running his routes. He makes things happen with it. That’s what he’s always done. His first touchdown catch was a tremendous catch.”

Stanzi ranked ninth in single season touchdown passes with 17 and was tied for fourth in career scoring passes with 41. One of his best Big Ten performances was when he was 16-of-22 for 227 yards and a touchdown against Penn State. In a nonleague win over Ball State, he was 19-of-25 for 288 yards.

Stanzi entered the game having completed 82-of-121 passes for 1,226 yards and 10 touchdowns so far this season, with two interceptions. He had tossed at least one touchdown pass in the last 13 games he had played.

Stanzi also entered Saturday’s action ranked first in the Big Ten and third in the nation in passing efficiency at 176.85. He completed 171-of-304 pass attempts for 2,417 yards in 2009 and his season yardage put him 11th best in school history. But his career total of 5,599 passing yards has him sixth and he’s also sixth in career completions with 403, attempts with 83 and total offense with 5,591.

He’s especially been an effective leader in helping Iowa convert on third-down situations.

“That’s huge for any drive, no matter what stage of the game it is, executing on third down,” Stanzi said. “Either you’re going off the field or you’re staying on. Everyone realizes that. We did a good job on executing on lot of those especially late in the game when we needed those.”

As a starter, Stanzi has led the Hawkeyes to a 23-5 record including a 13-2 mark in Kinnick Stadium and an 11-4 record in Big Ten contests.

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