Depth Chart Monday

What is Iowa playing for this week?

If the Hawkeyes lose Friday to Nebraska, it will mark the first time since 2011 that Iowa will have had an empty traveling trophy case. That year Iowa fell to Iowa State, Minnesota and Nebraska. It lost the Heartland Bull in 2010 to Wisconsin and didn't play the Badgers in ‘11.

Iowa followed in 2012 with a loss to Iowa State and then had a breakthrough with Minnesota and snared the bronze pig, prompting my headling 'Every thing is better with bacon” and the really great 'bleep it” quote from former Iowa OL Matt Tobin.

Good with the bad, Iowa began this season with the Cy-Hawk, Floyd and Heroes Trophy (Nebraska). With losses to Iowa State, Minnesota and Wisconsin, the Hawkeyes are clinging to the Heroes against the Huskers on Friday.

Going into the game, Iowa is 8-11 in trophy games since 2009 with last weekend's loss.

Why am I talking trophies, Wisconsin coach Gary Andersen, bless his heart, asked the UW administration to change its policy after a near brawl in the Wisconsin-Minnesota postgame last season.

Instead of being on the opposing sideline, the Paul Bunyan Axe, a longtime symbol of the Wisconsin-Minnesota rivalry, will be on the field for the pregame coin toss but then will be taken inside the stadium. It will be handed over to the winning team after the game and the players can then come back out onto the field afterward to celebrate with their fans.

'In my opinion,” Andersen said, 'running across the sidelines is not a good tactic.”

The change, according to the link from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, is the result of an incident that occurred last season at Minnesota. UW won, 20-7, for the 10th consecutive time in the series. Afterward the Minnesota players circled the goal post near their student section and blocked the UW players from using the axe to hack away at the post.

Chopping down the opponent's goalposts had become tradition. But now, Wisconsin and Minnesota will clear the sidelines. The trophy exchange will happen behind closed doors and then blah.

This is total BS.

I put up an Instagram of Minnesota players rushing the Iowa sideline to take Floyd after the 51-14 pounding the Gophers laid on the Hawkeyes. Iowa players saw this coming and cleared a path to the Floyd long before the final gun. The energy from the Gophers players in that moment could've heated Minneapolis this winter. It was gold.

And now, hurt feelings and sanitization. (OK, I could see where Minnesota would be a little sensitive about the health and well being of goalposts.)

More soul-sucking bromides for the well being of these poor players. It's rubbish. The players know that they had 60 minutes to have their say. If they came up short, clear off and let the memory burn in for next year. Coaches, control your sideline. Your players lost, don't let them go out and make fools of themselves because of a pretend cutting-down on your goalposts that you spent 60 minutes proving you couldn't defend.

I've written about trophy runs with Iowa and ISU. These programs get it.

When the Cyclones clipped Iowa, 15-13, in 2007, they reveled in the pure joy that is the trophy grab.

'Oh, yeah, no matter how tired you are, you find the energy for that,” ISU running back Jason Scales said. 'It shows the passion that goes into this. It's not just the fans' passion, it's ours too and it shows during that moment.”

Iowa defensive back Jordan Bernstine, a Des Moines native, got in a mild jawing match with one of the happy Cyclones. A few Iowa upperclassmen made sure the freshman walked his way up the sidelines and to the locker room.

Best feeling and worst feeling.

'Anytime you get to see the guys run over there and grab that Cy-Hawk Trophy, it's a big deal,” Iowa defensive tackle Matt Kroul said. 'It's the worst when it's on your side and they run over and take it. It's disheartening. It happened last year. The best and worst are getting the trophy or not getting the trophy.”

Iowa guard Seth Olsen, who played five seasons at Iowa, saw his share of sprints to and away from trophies.

'It's a terrible feeling,” he said. 'But it's also a great feeling to do it to the other team.”

The 2001 Floyd sprint for the Hawkeyes was a big breakthrough. It was bowl eligibility.

Let the record show that left tackle Robert Gallery, all 6-foot-7, 300 pounds of Iowa boy, won the race to Floyd. Give him credit, he read the play beautifully, anticipating the countdown and sneaking out of the huddle.

'He had a 30-yard headstart,” wideout Kahlil Hill said. 'Plus, it's bacon. It's a meal. He started smelling some food.”

Losing and getting out the way, it's part of the deal. It's part of maturity, discipline and what make rivalries burn in their hearts.

So you can imagine the moments after losing a trophy game are uneasy even for the most centered football soul. You lose. The scratches on your neck are just starting to sting (anyone who plays on the line of scrimmage has scratches on their neck). You just lost a rivalry game with a trophy at stake.

And they're coming to get it.

'It's like a slap in the face,” Iowa running back Marcus Coker said. 'You start thinking about what you could've done. We just should've gone out there ready to play and none of that would've happened.”

The Hawkeyes (5-2, 2-1 Big Ten) have had to simply get out of the way in their last three trophy games. Last season against Wisconsin in Iowa City, the Badgers snatched the Heartland Trophy bull off the Iowa sideline.

'It's not the greatest feeling in the world,” quarterback James Vandenberg said. 'You just kind of want to get out of the way.”

Then in last season's finale, Minnesota (1-6, 0-3) stole away the Floyd of Rosedale bronze pig trophy for the first time in three seasons. When Iowa visited Minnesota in basketball last winter, there was a sign on the Williams Arena door that offered fans a chance to have their picture taken with Floyd.

'It wasn't a good feeling at all,” defensive tackle Mike Daniels said.

In week 2, Iowa State plundered the Iowa sideline after laying claim to the interim Cy-Hawk Trophy. The Cyclones and fans eventually tore apart interim Cy-Hawk. A 'one for you and one for you” kind of deal.

'It's just a terrible feeling,” offensive tackle Markus Zusevics said. 'We felt that this year against Iowa State. It's a terrible feeling, knowing there are plays out there and you probably didn't play your best. It just hurts.”

Reserve wide receiver Nick Nielsen got caught in the wash and maneuvered a few Cyclones out of the way. Same thing happened to Jordan Bernstine when he was a freshman in 2007. Iowa lost, Cyclones ran to the sideline and Bernstine, then a freshman, got in a minor skirmish trying to get away from it all.

'As an older guy, you have to know to get out of there,” Bernstine said. 'That was my first trophy game. I was kind of caught in the middle of the moment. You've just got to get out of there.”

So when all trophy exchanges are handled with sterility and out of sight, blame Minnesota. Last season's display eventually will have ruined it for everyone, including Minnesota, which seemed to really enjoy its sideline run to Floyd this year.

Actual depth chart

- Redshirt freshman Sean Welsh over junior Jordan Walsh at right guard. That happened last weekend and is on today's depth chart.

Tight end Henry Krieger-Coble was out last week with a shoulder injury. Nameless No. 99 was OL Ike Boettger, who played the blocking tight end role. Boettger, a redshirt freshman, did begin his career at Iowa as a TE.

No other changes worth noting other than Connor Kornbrath might be the punter now. Dillon Kidd handle the plus-50 punts last week.

Whatever happens, Iowa will want to cut K Marshall Koehn and maybe long snapper Tyler Kluver into the scholarship money next year. They've played well enough.

Will Iowa have room with two scholarship punters and three scholarship fullbacks.

TV stuff

- It's ABC at 11 a.m. this week. The voices in your head are Bob Wischusen, Matt Millen and Quint Kessenich.

More football nerdiness

- Iowa's personnel groups last week against Wisconsin. I probably counted the penalty plays, so the numbers won't totally matchup, FYI.

11 (RB, TE)

- 34 (60.7 percent) This is the shocker of the week. Iowa was completely unbalanced, pass-run. The massive use of 11 personnel shows that. The shocker is that it worked so well. I wrote going in that an Iowa offense that can't run the ball is watching a football team get pinned for three hours. I was wrong. Jake Rudock and the WRs and Jake Duzey showed me something. It attacked Wisconsin's zone defense. Pass protection held up well. Dazzling display here that fell just short.

12 (RB, two TE)

- 17 (30.3 percent) A very small percentage, maybe two, of this group hit the field in the second half. Iowa/Ferentz desperately wanted to get the running game off using two TEs. It might've worked, but Mark Weisman's fumble on the first series threw Iowa off schedule and Wisconsin forced the issue with a 19-3 lead in the third quarter.

13 (RB, three TEs)

- 5 (8.9 percent) I thought there would be more of this. I wonder how much Krieger-Coble's absence shaped this, but I thought Boettger did well in what had to have been a weird environment for him.

21 (RB, FB, one TE)

- 3 (5.3 percent) Iowa ran 18 of these last week. Wisconsin's scheme is built more on who's coming and who's not and not power. Took out the fullback, IMO.

22 (RB, FB, two TEs)

- 3 (5.3 percent) Again, surprised there wasn't more of this, but, yes, it wasn't working well enough when the deficit was within reach and then when it bloomed to 19-3, it wasn't worth it. Iowa was in full desperation mode and almost made it work.

23 (RB, FB, three TEs)

- 1 (1.7 percent) Iowa was stuffed here on goal line. Ferentz has said the four OT candidate for next year are Cole Croston, Boone Myers, Boettger and Ryan Ward, who plays the jumbo TE in this formation. Two of the four of those guys played against Wisconsin (Boettger and Ward).

31 (three RBs, one TE)

- 1 (1.7 percent) This was the nutty jet sweep that ended up being a reverse to RB Akrum Wadley. So, it was Wadley, Jonathan Parker and I think Mark Weisman as the three backs. This was for the trick play and two of the three backs were spread out wide. Don't expect to see this again.

Where Iowa's O did stuff

... Here's what they did and where they went (formations included):

Series 1

- rush middle (+8 Weisman, 12), rush middle (+7 Weisman, 12, fumble)

Series 2

- pass short right (+5 KMM, 12), rush right (-2 Weisman, 21), pass short right (+6 Bullock), rush middle (+1 Canzeri, 13), rush middle (-1 Canzeri, 12), pass short right (+10 Powell, tunnel screen, 11), pass short left (+4 KMM, 12), rush right (+3 Weisman, 12), pass short right (+28 VandeBerg, 11, beat blitz), pass short right (+13 Weisman, checkdown, 13), rush middle (+2 Weisman, 13), pass right middle (incomplete, Duzey target, 13), scramble right (+5 Rudock, 11)

Series 3

- rush left (0 Wadley, reverse jet sweep, 31), rush middle (+5 Weisman, 12), scramble (+2 Rudock, middle, 11)

Series 4

- rush middle (+3 Weisman, 21), rush right (+3 Weisman, 22), pass short middle (+5 Bullock, 11), rush left (+2 Canzeri, 12), pass short left (+5 KMM, 12), pass mid right (incomplete, intentional grounding)

Series 5

- pass deep right (incomplete, Powell target, 11), pass mid right (incomplete, Powell target, 11), pass interference (Powell target), pass mid left (incomplete, Duzey drop, 11), rush left (+16 Canzeri, 11), pass short middle (+7 Duzey, 11), pass mid right (+17 Smith, 11), pass mid right (incomplete, Smith target, 11)

Series 6

- rush middle (+8 Weisman, 12), rush middle (+7 Weisman, 12), pass deep right (incomplete, KMM target, 12), pass mid middle (incomplete, Hillyer target, 12), pass deep right (+32 Smith, 11), rush middle (+1 Canzeri, 22), rush middle (0 Canzeri, 12), pass short right (incomplete, Smith target, 11)

Series 7

- pass short right (-2 Smith, screen, 11), pass mid left (incomplete, Powell drop, 11), pass mid left (+11 VandeBerg, 11), rush left (+2 Weisman, 22), pass deep left (+31 Smith, 11), rush left (+8 Canzeri, 11), pass deep right (+20 KMM, TD, 11)

Series 8

- pass deep right (+28 VandeBerg, 11), pass deep left (+33 Duzey, 12), zone read right (+4 Canzeri, 11), pass mid middle (incomplete, tipped, Smith target, 12), pass interference (Smith target), rush middle (-1 Weisman, 23), rush middle (+3 Rudock, TD, QB draw, 11)

Series 9

- pass short left (+27 Canzeri, screen, 21), pass deep left (+23 Duzey, 11), sack (-5, 11), pass mid middle (incomplete, KMM drop), scramble (+20 Rudock middle, 11), pass mid left (+9 Duzey, TD, 11)

Points of interest - From Iowa SID staff:

' Iowa has scored 30 or more points in four Big Ten games for the first time since 2005 (4). The last time Iowa scored 30 or more points in five Big Ten games was 2002 (6). Under head coach Kirk Ferentz, Iowa is 62-6 when scoring 30 or more points.

' Iowa has three road wins this season (3-2) and seven road wins over the last two seasons (4-1 in 2013). It is the first time in the Ferentz era Iowa has back-to-back winning seasons on the road. Iowa has five winning road records since 1999 (2002, 5-0; 2004, 3-2; 2009, 4-1; 2013, 4-1; 2014, 3-2).

' In Big Ten games only, the Hawkeyes lead the conference in pass defense, allowing 127.6 passing yards per game. Iowa's pass offense ranks No. 2 in the league with 251.1 yard per game.

' In seven conference games, the Hawkeyes rank No. 4 in total offense, averaging 423.7 yards per game.

' Iowa has converted 13 fourth-down attempts, the most in the Big Ten. The Hawkeyes have scored two touchdowns on fourth down (one pass, one rush).

' RB Mark Weisman has 30 career rushing touchdowns, the third most in program history (Shaw, 33; Banks, 33), and the most in the Kirk Ferentz era. He is one of eight players in school history to surpass 2,000 career rushing yards and 20 career rushing touchdowns. He has 2,510 career rushing yards, the eighth most in program history.

' QB Jake Rudock has 32 career passing touchdowns, the eighth most in program history. Rudock has 4,557 career passing yards, the eighth highest total in school history. He is one of 10 players in program history to pass for more than 4,000 career yards.

' WR Kevonte Martin-Manley leads Iowa with 43 receptions. He ranks No. 3 in school history with 165 career receptions. He needs nine catches to break Iowa's all-time receptions record (Derrell Johnson-Koulianos, 173). Martin-Manley ranks No. 14 with 1,713 receiving yards.

' Iowa has possession of the Heroes Trophy for the first time since it was introduced in 2011.

' Iowa scored 38 points in last year's victory (38-17), its highest point total in the series.

The 21-point differential was Nebraska's largest home loss since falling to Missouri 52-17

in 2008.

' Iowa is looking for consecutive wins in the series for the first time since winning three

straight from 1941-42.

' In Big Ten games, Nebraska ranks No. 10 in passing offense, Iowa has the top pass defense

in the league.

' Iowa has three players on its roster from the state of Nebraska, including LB Cole Fisher (Omaha), DL Drew Ott (Trumbull), and DL Nathan Bazata (Howells). Nebraska has two Iowans on its roster: WR Lane Hovey (Adel), WR Gabe Rahn (Le Mars).

' James Dobson, Nebraska's head strength coach, was a member of the strength training staff for Iowa football from 1999-07. Nebraska assistant strength coach Tyler Clarke also was previously a member of Iowa's strength training staff.

' Nebraska assistant Rick Kaczenski was an Iowa graduate assistant for two years (2005-06) working with the offensive line, then served as Iowa's full-time defensive line coach from 2007-11.

' Nebraska defensive coordinator John Papuchis was a graduate assistant coach at LSU when Iowa defeated the Tigers in the 2005 Capital One Bowl.

l Comments: (319) 398-8256; marc.morehouse@thegazette.com