IOWA CITY, Iowa | Perhaps inspired by Halloween, NIU coach Joe Novak reached into his bag of tricks on the third NIU possession of the third quarter.

And in doing so, breathed life into the NIU offense.

NIU senior quarterback Phil Horvath handed off to senior running back Garrett Wolfe for an apparent run between the tackles.

Wolfe did an abrupt about face, and tossed the ball back to Horvath. As he did, a surprised hush fell over Kinnick Stadium.

The flea-flicker was on.

Horvath wound up and launched a pass into the teeth of a 20 mph wind to sophomore wide receiver Marcus Perez.

The speedy Perez had five yards on his nearest pursuer, but had to wait as the ball hung up in the air. The pass fell incomplete, but yellow hankies littered the field as Iowa safety Marcus Paschal was called for a 15-yard penalty for pass interference.

“At the time, I thought we had to make a play. The game was getting away from us a little bit,” Novak said. “We wanted to hit a home run with that play; unfortunately we had to throw it into the wind, but the 15-yard penalty helped us.”

Perhaps the most pivotal of the six Iowa penalties, a reinvigorated NIU offense promptly marched down the field on an 11-play, 79-yard touchdown drive.

“It threw us off our rhythm,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. “It was a good play; well designed, conceived and executed. It got us on our heels a little bit, and got them going.”

The NIU offense had been stuck in neutral — until the flea-flicker.

With the Iowa defensive line barreling down on him, Horvath said he didn’t even get to grab the laces to make the throw.

The gain of momentum however, wasn’t lost on the Naperville native.

“That sparked us a bit,” Horvath said. “They got backed up a little bit and we started to run the ball better. We wanted points out of that play, but the ball just hung up there.”