Inside College Football

Hawkeye Visions  

After marching into the Big House and whupping Michigan, Iowa is in the thick of the Rose Bowl race

By Ivan Maisel

In his four seasons at Iowa, Kirk Ferentz has repeatedly proved that patience can be a coach's best friend. As his Hawkeyes lost 18 of their first 20 games, from September 1999 through October 2000, Ferentz kept putting the same young players out on the field. Last season Iowa went 7-5, including a win in the Alamo Bowl.

Tight end Dallas Clark and the Hawkeyes' offense bulled their way past the Wolverines.  Al Tielemans

This year, after the Hawkeyes blew a 24-7 third-quarter lead against Iowa State on Sept. 14 and lost 36-31, Ferentz didn't panic. Two weeks later, at Penn State, Iowa let the Nittany Lions back into the game after leading by more than three touchdowns but recovered to win 42-35 in overtime. "We regrouped and played the game," Ferentz said. "That's what we couldn't do against Iowa State. It's a process. You have to have faith."

Patience paid off for the Hawkeyes again last Saturday as they raised their record to 8-1 (5-0 in the Big Ten). When his team struggled running the ball in the first half at Michigan, Ferentz never wavered. "It's a four-quarter ball game," he said afterward. "I heard Tom Osborne say once that sometimes you have to stick with [the running game], and it doesn't pay off for you until the second half." After halftime, as starting tailback Fred Russell sat on the sideline with a sprained right hand, Jermelle Lewis rushed for 105 yards and scored twice in a 34-9 Iowa victory, the Wolverines' worst loss in the Big House in 35 seasons. "In the first half their defense was really fast," center Bruce Nelson said. "They had a lot of energy and intensity. In the second half we kept fighting and working."

Given the strength of Iowa's offensive line, it's no wonder that senior Brad Banks has become the best quarterback in the Big Ten (59.2% completion rate, 18 touchdown passes, four interceptions). The four seniors and one junior on the line have 148 starts among them. They are led by the 6'4", 290-pound Nelson, who has started all 44 games of his college career. He, senior left guard Eric Steinbach and their offensive linemates have allowed only eight sacks in nine games. The Hawkeyes average 5.0 yards per rush.

Iowa doesn't play Ohio State (9-0, 4-0) this season, so in order for the Hawkeyes to earn the conference's automatic BCS berth, they need another team to knock off the Buckeyes. (Overall winning percentage is the relevant tiebreaker.) Iowa is ideally suited for this sort of Big Ten race. All the Hawkeyes can do is be patient.

Issue date: November 4, 2002

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