Tuesdays With Torbee

It turns out, Iowa might be pretty good.

In the hubbub of blame-assigning, finger-pointing, and general frustration after the Hawkeyes lost winnable games against rival Iowa State and everyone’s new favorite Cinderella, Indiana, the common consensus seemed to be that Iowa was destined for a low-level bowl game and another generally “meh” football season.

Now, with the skies of November turned gloomy (hat tip, Gordon Lightfoot), this team left for dead is now a legitimate dark-horse College Football Playoff contender.

In its last three games against bitter rivals Wisconsin and Minnesota, as well as frequent irritant Penn State, the Hawkeyes have amassed 103 points to their opponents’ 27 — and looked potent doing it.

Last Saturday’s blackout game against the Gophers — themselves feeling chipper after dispatching Nebraska in Lincoln by 18 — was Iowa’s most dominant to date. In the first half, the Hawks scored via pass, punt return, and pick-six, dashing any Gopher hopes early and often. In classic Ferentzian fashion, Iowa turned down the offensive heat in the second half, mostly content to chip away on the ground while the clock continued its inexorable march toward yet another pig defense.

Iowa has now won 11* games in a row against the rodents from up north, and any thoughts P.J. Fleck had of closing the gap with his biggest nemesis have been suitably shattered.

More importantly, however, we enter the back stretch of the college football season with the Hawkeyes poised to be a national player in the race for a championship. While winning out remains a huge ask, a 10–2 Hawkeye team with only a narrow loss to what looks like it will certainly be an undefeated Hoosier squad and a road loss by three to a rival is almost certainly in the field.

Indiana’s absolute domination of a UCLA team on a win streak in Bloomington last Saturday makes Iowa’s near miss against the Hoosiers look very impressive. No one on IU’s schedule has given them a game like Iowa has — which analyst Brad Nessler pointed out during the Minnesota broadcast. In fact, he opined that if Iowa quarterback Mark Gronowski hadn’t gone out with an injury, Iowa in all likelihood takes the game against Indiana.

Some will point to the Hawks’ pedestrian passing-game numbers as a reason for skepticism. However, against Minnesota, most of the scoring drives came on relatively short fields, and the running game was humming along so well there was little need to risk passing. The times Gronowski did air it out, he looked his most comfortable and threatening of the entire season, highlighted by the perfectly thrown touchdown strike to Reece Vander Zee early in the second quarter.

Tim Lester’s offensive game plans the past three weeks have been quietly masterful. He seems to embrace the old Hayden Fry mantra of “scratch where it itches” and has a superb feel for what each individual on offense can do best. Getting the ever-dangerous Kaden Wetjen the ball in myriad ways, letting both Kamari Moulton and Gronowski cook behind a dominant offensive line, and sprinkling in just enough play-action passing to keep teams honest means that, for the first time in a very long time, defensive coordinators don’t have an obvious go-to for stopping the Iowa offense.

On the other side of the ball, it’s just another incredibly stout Phil Parker defense. A couple of changes in the linebacking corps and a secondary back to its “Doughboys” dominance should keep the Hawkeyes competitive in every remaining game on the schedule. As evidenced by a couple of personal fouls, this defense also plays with an edge and a mean streak. While cheap shots are not condoned or wanted, playing up to that edge is — and you could see Minnesota receivers making business decisions as the game entered the fourth quarter.

While it’s clear Iowa is on a bit of a heater and feeling good, I still think the bye week arrives at a perfect time. Let any lingering injuries (particularly the quarterback’s leg) get extra rest, and give Lester two weeks to cook up a Duck-beating game plan. The scene is set for a massive matchup between Oregon and Iowa. Stakes will be high, with the winner still alive for a CFP berth and the loser likely out for good.

Fans in Kinnick this season have been fully locked in and engaged, and with meaningful football to be played in November, you can expect a wild crowd regardless of an early or mid-afternoon kickoff.

November can’t get here soon enough!

*I will never, ever, ever, never concede the Cooper DeJean punt-return-for–touchdown game as a loss and will accept no arguments to the contrary, so don’t bother.

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