Instant Analysis - Oct. 17
Iowa 20 ... Wisconsin 10
Pete
Fiutak
You’re going to Los Angeles, Iowa fans, but it might be for later than you think.
This is an Iowa team full of average talent, sprinkled in with a few NFL studs like OT Bryan Bulaga, but it’s not a team that should be dominating the Penn State offense or should stuff a team with as many weapons as Wisconsin. The formula is working; get great defensive line play, don’t turn the ball over, and take advantage of every mistake created. And now it’s Iowa’s Big Ten world, and everyone else is taking up space.
Is it time to start talking about Pasadena, and for more than just the Rose Bowl? This team that needed a miracle to beat Northern Iowa and was sluggish against Arkansas State might really be in the national title discussion. The chances will be there to impress the judges, with a road trip to Michigan State next week and a showdown at Ohio State on November 14th, and if Iowa runs the table, it will have a résumé worthy of playing for the national championship. Arizona provides a worthy non-conference win, and while the Big Ten might not be the SEC, there would be no arguing against road wins against Penn State, Wisconsin, Michigan State, and Ohio State, the four of the five best teams in the conference (Iowa, obviously, being the other).
No, I don’t think Iowa will be playing for the national title, and no, I don’t think it’ll win at Ohio State, but with the way the team is playing, this is becoming a special season. Go ahead and dream big, Hawkeye fans. That’s part of the fun … even if there’s an ugly beatdown from USC or, if everything breaks right, Florida, at the end of the rainbow.
Richard
Cirminiello
All schools preach finishing strong. Iowa actually does it.
No, the Hawkeyes aren’t going to earn style points anytime soon, but who needs style points when you’re 7-0 and the last Big Ten team without a conference loss? From the opener with Northern Iowa to the pivotal upset of Penn State, Iowa has saved its best football for the second half. While the other team is gassed, the Hawks are just digging in, a show of resiliency that comes with a veteran team and an outstanding coaching staff. Today in Madison, for instance. Down 10-0 on the road in the second quarter? Iowa had Wisconsin just where it wanted it. A couple of key defensive stops and 20 unanswered points later, it was still unbeaten, adding another chapter in one of the best stories of the 2009 season.
Do yourself a favor when discussing Iowa, and don’t fixate on the close calls with lightweights, like Northern Iowa and Arkansas State. That’s not the headline in Iowa City these days. The only topic of importance is an old-school program that perseveres, is gaining in confidence, and has learned how to deliver when the game hangs in the balance.
Matt Zemek
1) The Big Ten has that 1970s vibe flowing this year. Defenses are dominating, so quarterbacks have to protect the ball more than anything else. Wisconsin thoroughly whacked Iowa in the first half, but then Scott Tolzien threw a huge pick, fueling a surge by the Hawkeyes. Wisconsin later gained a turnover deep in Iowa territory, but when UW kicker Philip Welch biffed a 38-yard field goal in the final two minutes of the third stanza, the Badgers’ claim to any kind of momentum evaporated. Iowa needed a game-changer early in the second half, and Scott Tolzien all too readily obliged.
2) Yes, one quarterback threw a key interception in this game, and it wasn’t Ricky Stanzi. The Iowa signal caller turned in his best performance of 2009… not just because he played a clean game on the road, not just because he won, but because the steadily growing gunslinger threw some genuinely gorgeous passes to favorite target Tony Moeaki in very tight windows against solid Wisconsin coverage. If Stanzi and Moeaki make sweet music in Columbus the same way they did today in Madison, the Rose Bowl will become a reality for the Hawkeyes for the first time since 1991… unless the national title game also comes into view, which—believe it or not—is a possibility for this club at the moment.