Deep thoughts by Marcus Coker

IOWA CITY -- When a team can say its running back was stronger in the fourth quarter than the first, that's usually the team won.

Going into the fourth quarter Saturday night, Iowa running back Marcus Coker had spent most of the night on the sidelines with the rest of his mates on offense. Northwestern hogged the ball, running 92 plays, rolling up 495 yards and sucking up more than half the game.

Coker sat on 81 yards and no touchdowns going into the fourth. By the time it was over and the scoreboard showed Iowa a winner, 41-31, Coker had 124 yards and two TDs. That's a 43-yard, two-TD fourth quarter.

Coker, who praised Iowa's O-line, particularly with the execution of the inside zone play, was stronger in the fourth than he was in the first.

"When we're up, they know we have to run the ball and we know we have to run the ball to tire them down," said Coker, who surpassed 100 yards for the third time this season and fifth in his career. "It's always fun."

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz used the word "decisive" when describing Coker's play. Again, when the running back is stronger in the fourth than the first, it's a good thing. When the coach uses the word "decisive," it might be even better for Iowa's offense, which averaged 7.6 yards a play, it's highest in 15 games (Ball State last season).

"It looked like Marcus out there and that's what we're hopefully working toward," Ferentz said. "He was a lot more decisive today. He didn't overanalyze things, which he'll tend to do.

"He's a deep thinker and maybe that carries over to his running game a little bit."

Coker is a physics and astronomy major. He's taking physics and calculus this semester. So yeah, he's a thinker. He's also a running back. In the last two weeks, he's left safeties tumbling like cast member of "Jackass" doing a bit of bullfighting. This week, it was in a winning effort.

"Definitely," Coker said when asked if that's fun for him, "especially after I've learned to get my pads down this year. Get my pads down, maybe I'll try to run over a safety. It's definitely fun."