Wine Online: Did You See That Coming?

Sept. 13, 2009

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IOWA CITY, Iowa — Did you see this coming? A 35-3 blowout? If so, buy a plane ticket to Las Vegas and cash in on your clairvoyance.

Hey, this was supposed to be a hotly contested rivalry football game between the two largest universities in our state. Iowa was limping off a narrow one-point escape from UNI. Iowa State had renewed optimism because of a new offense with no huddle. And, as it happened, no touchdowns.

With an energetic new coaching staff, the Cyclones were turning over to a new chapter. Instead they simply turned it over, and over, and over. And so forth and so on.

First of all, credit Iowa’s defense. For the third straight game in this series it kept Iowa State out of the end zone. In fact, the Cyclones did not penetrate the red zone on Saturday, due in a large part to six Iowa takeaways.

Safeties Tyler Sash and Brett Greenwood combined for five pass interceptions and 24 tackles, one of which (by Sash) forced a fumble. This makes me think of something Coach Kirk Ferentz recently told the news media: “Recruiting is an inexact science.”

Sash, a sophomore from Oskaloosa, and Greenwood , a junior from Bettendorf, are native sons who did not have recruiters banging on their doors. The gurus did not give them a lot of stars. Yet they have developed into important parts of Norm Parker’s rock-solid defense. They are the kind of players on which Ferentz has built his program.

Iowa’s offense was efficient, scoring touchdowns each time it reached the red zone. Four followed takeaways by the defense. One came after ISU tried a surprising on-side kick which Bruce Davis alertly fielded.

Two first-year freshmen grabbed our attention. Brandon Wegher ran for 101 yards and a touchdown, which must have seemed routine to a tailback who scored 54 TDs for Sioux City Heelan last season. Wide receiver Keenan Davis, out of Cedar Rapids Washington, caught two passes, making an athletic dive into the end zone to score on one of them.

Wegher and Davis did not come to Iowa under the radar. They were hotly recruited. They are highly skilled, which was obvious to those who saw them perform against the Cyclones.

Another dash of optimism for the offense was the play of Derrell Johnson-Koulianos, Iowa’s leading pass receiver last season. One of his three receptions was an artful catch in the end zone on a third-down play late in the second quarter. It gave the Hawkeyes a 14-3 lead and obvious momentum going into the second half.

The Hawkeyes are back home Saturday to face Arizona. The game will feature a match-up of two of the many head coaches spawned by Hayden Fry in his 20 years at Iowa. This goes back to 1981, the year Iowa won its first Big Ten championship under Fry.

Kirk Ferentz was in his first year as Iowa’s offensive line coach and Mike Stoops was a freshman defensive back for the Hawkeyes. Ferentz is now in his 11th season as Iowa’s head coach, Stoops is in his sixth season as boss of the Wildcats.

Stoops, who was an all-Big Ten safety in his last two seasons as a Hawkeye, has a solid team with 14 starters returning from a club that was 8-5 last season.

When he played at Iowa, Stoops was rugged defender with a fierce competitive streak. “He’d chase you into the cheap seats just to put a knot on your head,” recalls Fry.

If the Wildcats play football like their coach did at Iowa — and they probably do — expect a serious test for the Hawkeyes.