Wine Online: What's Wrong With This Picture?

Sept. 18, 2005

• Ride the Rails: Hawkeye Express Information
• Game-Day Parking and Road Construction Information
• 2005 Hawkeye Huddles
• Follow the Renovation of Kinnick!
• The Schedule: 2005 and Beyond

Wait a minute. Let’s get this straight.

Iowa beat Northern Iowa in football Saturday. The final score was 45-21.

And after the game the Hawkeyes behaved like losers and the Panthers acted like winners. The frowns were in the Iowa dressing room, the smiles in the UNI locker room.

The losing coach said his team was eager to open its conference season, the winning coach said his team was far from ready. (Maybe that’s because one team plays Western Illinois and the other faces Ohio State.)

It was an odd scene that became even stranger when Sunday’s papers hit the streets with bold headlines that said things like “Worried winners” and “Hawkeyes must get a grip” and “Mystery continues.”

Hadn’t Iowa just won its 20th straight victory at Kinnick Stadium and its 33rd game since the beginning of the 2002 season? I gulped down my Sunday morning Cheerios and re-checked the facts, which confirmed that:

Drew Tate looked like his old self after suffering a concussion at Iowa State. The all-Big Ten quarterback completed 15 of 18 passes for 247 yards and two touchdowns.

Tate compiled those totals in the first three quarters when the Hawkeyes gained 435 yards and built a 38-7 lead. Then the No. 1 offense gave way to reserves.

Iowa played the entire game without committing a turnover or offensive penalty, mistakes that cost them dearly a week earlier at Iowa State.

The running game, led by Albert Young, was effective for the third straight week. Young rushed for 97 yards and two touchdowns. For the season he is averaging 8.3 yards on 36 carries.

Iowa’s defense scored when Jovon Johnson returned an interception 18 yards for a touchdown. Linebacker Abdul Hodge recovered a UNI fumble to set up another Iowa TD.

Iowa’s defense was stingy for three quarters, limiting a good UNI offense to 254 yards and one touchdown.

Yes, things turned sour in the final period when UNI scored two touchdowns following marches of 85 yards each. And yes, both drives ended on passes to wide open receivers in the end zone.

Hawkeye optimists can smile by looking at the first three quarters while the pessimists dwell on the final period. Hey, the game had something for everyone.

Northern Iowa is defined as a 1-AA football team by the NCAA. It competes with 65 scholarship players, 20 less than teams like Iowa from major conferences. UNI was not expected to come close to winning this game and it didn’t.

But the Panthers kept the game entertaining because they have a good offense built around an excellent passing game. They averaged more than 50 points and 500 yards in winning their first two games. They will celebrate many more victories.

UNI did Iowa a favor by filling an open date on the Hawkeye schedule. The date was open because Missouri reneged on a signed contract.

With all due respect to UNI, the Hawkeyes needed to play a Big 12 opponent like Missouri Saturday. It did them little good to beat up on a team from the Gateway Conference. They needed a stern test before embarking on a rugged Big Ten schedule.

Iowa has two decisive wins against overmatched teams, sandwiched around a painful loss at Ames. The results leave Coach Kirk Ferentz with some questions and concerns as his team prepares for Ohio State this Saturday.

But I see no reason for alarm. As stated here previously, this team has a lot of good, well-coached players.

Iowa may not win its Big Ten opener at Columbus. Visiting teams don’t have much success in the Big Horseshoe.

But barring injuries or other adversity, the Hawkeyes are a team to be reckoned with in the Big Ten. They might not win the championship but they’ll be a factor in the race.

Editor’s Note: George Wine, the University of Iowa’s long-time sports information director who is now retired and living in Coralville, Iowa, is the author of George Wine Online. George has remained very close to the intercollegiate athletics program at the UI since his retirement and, in fact, has authored two books during that time. The first was a collaboration with the UI’s long-time head football coach, Hayden Fry, and named “A High Porch Picnic.” The second, “Black & Gold Memories, The Hawkeyes of the 20th Century,” included many of the essays George originally wrote for “The Voice of the Hawkeyes.” As he wrote in the book, “Collectively, they serve as a historical reference, and hopefully provide entertaining reading.” “Black & Gold Memories” is currently available at Barnes & Noble book stores across Iowa and on the world wide web.