Wine: The Hard Work Awaits

Oct. 30, 2005

• Game-Day Parking and Road Construction Information
• 2005 Hawkeye Huddles
• Follow the Renovation of Kinnick!
• The Schedule: 2005 and Beyond
• Listen to the Hawkeyes on XM Radio
• Watch and Listen to Kirk, the Hawkeyes

Now the hard part begins.

After beating the Big Ten’s three worst teams in October, Iowa’s football team will play three of the league’s best in November.

The Hawkeyes waltzed by Illinois, Purdue and Indiana last month. The three have a combined Big Ten record of 1-14 (Indiana beat Illinois for the lone victory).

Iowa finishes its regular season (we hope there is a post season) this month with games at Northwestern and Wisconsin, before ending at home with Minnesota. That trio has a combined conference record of 10-6.

Yes, the schedule gets noticeably harder for an Iowa team that is still one win short of being bowl-eligible, and maybe two wins short of an actual bowl invitation.

The Hawkeyes’ last three opponents have this in common – their offenses scare the bejeeses out of you, their defenses do not. To win a game or two in November, Iowa must put points on the scoreboard, probably a lot of them.

Consider the Northwestern game at Wisconsin last month. The Wildcats eked out a three-point victory. The final score was 51-48. That’s the Badgers’ only loss this year.

When Minnesota hosted Wisconsin the next week, the Gophers scored 34 points, but that wasn’t enough to win. The Badgers scored 38.

This is not Arena Ball. The field is too big. There are 11 players on a side. But the scores are similar.

Iowa’s November opponents have something else in common – they all have exceptional running backs. Minnesota’s Laurence Maroney, Wisconsin’s Brian Calhoun and Northwestern’s Tyrell Sutton rank 1-2-3 in Big Ten rushing. They are among the top 10 rushers in college football. All have already exceeded 1,000 yards this season.

Northwestern also features a quarterback who is being hailed as the Big Ten’s best. Brett Basanez is passing for more than 300 yards a game, the only QB to do that in a league that includes some outstanding signal callers.

Last week Northwestern was college football’s Destiny’s Darling. The Wildcats were getting national attention for their explosive offense and the 49-14 knot they put on Michigan State’s head.

Then Michigan, probably inspired by its overtime victory at Iowa, went to Evanston and put some sanity back into Big Ten football. The Wolverines looked vulnerable for two quarters, then pitched a second-half shutout in winning, 33-17. Yes, defense still wins games, and it helped that Northwestern was penalized five times for holding.

Does Michigan get the same officials every week?

Iowa and Northwestern go into Saturday’s game at Evanston with identical records of 3-2 in the Big Ten and 5-3 in all games. Both want desperately to win and finish the season with a flourish.

The head coaches – Kirk Ferentz and Randy Walker – have been in charge of their programs since 1999. That year Northwestern scored a last-minute touchdown and won, 23-21.

In 2000 the Wildcats were Big Ten co-champions, but one of their two league losses was to Iowa, 27-17, and it was a stunner. The week before Northwestern had blitzed Indiana 56-21, the week after it scorched Illinois, 61-23.

As those results indicate, Iowa defensive coordinator Norm Parker has been successful in using schemes to slow down an explosive Northwestern offense that stretches defenses across the field. The teams have met four times in the Kirk Ferentz-era, and the Wildcats have never scored more than the 23 points they did in that 1999 game.

If Iowa’s current defense is as successful this Saturday, the Hawkeyes can come home with a much-needed victory. Then they can figure out a way to beat Wisconsin.

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.