Hlas: Hawkeyes' haste lays waste to Pitt

IOWA CITY - Desperate times call for desperate measures, necessity is the mother of invention, tough times don't last but tough people do.

Pick your trite slogan, and it probably fit for Iowa's football team Saturday in its 31-27 win over Pittsburgh at Kinnick Stadium. Here's another, courtesy of Albert Einstein:

Insanity is the doing the same thing, over and over again, and expecting different results.

Late in the third quarter when they trailed 24-3 and looked deader than the Pittsburgh Pirates' pennant hopes, the Hawkeyes switched to a no-huddle offense. What they had been doing, over and over again, wasn't working. Still, the change was jarring to see, as if Andy Rooney started break-dancing.

Five plays, 60 yards, a touchdown in 1:55. OK, that went all right.

Then came the fourth-quarter. Down 27-10, Iowa's offense just lined up and played like Pitt's had done, like Iowa State's did against the Hawkeyes the Saturday before. The only thing conservative about the Iowa attack now was how well it conserved time.

Seven plays, 73 yards, touchdown in 2:14. Seven plays, 64 yards, touchdown in 1:37. Seven plays, 64 yards, touchdown in 1:31.

Iowa intended on using a little no-huddle Saturday, but had hoped for a less-desperate entry point. The first-team offense and defense square off when it's worked on in practice. It is (gasp!) part of the offense's repertoire.

“I don't know that we work on it any more than we have in the past,” Ferentz said. “Maybe a little bit more.”

“We do a lot of it during camp and spring ball,” Vandenberg said, “and do it once a week (in practice during the season). It's an extremely competitive drill.

“Sometimes we need a field goal, sometimes we need a touchdown. Sometimes it's 50 yards, sometimes it's 98 yards.”

He didn't say if there was ever a “down three touchdowns, go no-huddle until you take the lead” drill.

The four drives produced 261 yards and four TDs in a total of 7:17. That was a no-huddled mass, an offense that breathed free.

“Crazy,” said receiver Kevonte Martin-Manley, who had catches of 25 and 22 yards for Iowa's last two scores.

It was just plain nuts. You look like you have no answers for most of three quarters, then you decide to change the questions.

Hawkeye heroes abounded, on defense, special teams, across the whole offensive unit. But the light bulb that went on for quarterback James Vandenberg in the final 18 minutes led his team out of the darkness.

Once he was exclusively in the shotgun formation he used at Keokuk in becoming Iowa's all-time high school leader in career touchdown passes and passing yardage, Vandenberg fired strike after strike. And the Pitt defense kept whiffing.

“(The offensive linemen) did a really good job of protecting down the stretch,” Vandenberg said. “And those (receivers) were just making insane plays on the outside.”

They were feeding off their QB. He was 17-of-20 for 217 yards over those four drives.

“Did we see the best of James Vandenberg?” he was asked after the game.

“Absolutely not,” came his reply. “For three quarters you saw a pretty ugly James Vandenberg. He was a little confused. But those guys just started making plays and it made me more comfortable. I trusted those guys with every one of those throws down the stretch.”

Iowa receiver Keenan Davis, who had a star-turn game for himself, shared a different slant about his quarterback.

“He doesn't panic,” Davis said. “I don't get it. That dude, he comes out and he's ready to play every down. We're ready to make plays because we know he's ready to go.”

You have your won-lost totals and your bowl trips, and those are how you're judged from year to year. But the indelible moments, like the comeback win over Penn State here in 2008 and the last-second Ricky Stanzi-to-Marvin McNutt TD pass at Michigan State in 2009, have staying power.

This game, this biggest comeback margin in school football history, goes into that category.

Matt Rodgers, the last player to quarterback Iowa in a Rose Bowl, was the honorary captain for the Hawkeyes Saturday.

“Mr. Rodgers told us yesterday after practice to just live in the moment,” said Vandenberg. “This moment was pretty exciting.”

Will it be a season-changer? Who's to know? It could be just a happy hiccup if Iowa's four-quarter game doesn't shape up by the time the Big Ten bell rings at Penn State on Oct. 8.

Or, it could be something that teaches this club how to win, something it didn't seem to know during the last month of the 2010 regular-season.

At least we learned Iowa can run a two-minute offense. And again. And again. And again.