Hawkeyes and you guys, you still love each other

IOWA CITY — For a second, Josey Jewell wondered if you were coming.

The Hawkeyes had just beaten No. 3 Michigan on freshman Keith Duncan's 33-yard field goal as time expired. Jewell looked around and wondered where you were. This season has been sort of frustrating and this doesn't happen everyday. So hey, how about a good, old field rush?

'I was hoping people were going to come onto the field,' the junior linebacker said. 'I didn't know if they were going to. I looked back as soon as he made it and I didn't see anybody coming. Then, all of the sudden, I looked back again and everyone was out there. It was crazy.'

The Hawkeyes (6-4, 5-4 Big Ten) really did want you to come down and join them. All 70,585 of you at Kinnick Stadium last Saturday night. At least the 70,585 of you who weren't wearing Michigan colors. It was sort of hard to pick the blue out of the 'blackout' crowd.

Until the end, that is. That's when everyone wearing black joined the Hawkeyes on the field and danced to Journey's 'Don't Stop Believing,' took selfies and just kind of let the euphoria take them. Yes, you guys have been frustrated with each other for much of the 2016 season, fans and the Hawkeyes. Just last week at Penn State, you all wondered how the Hawkeyes were going to get through this.

During the celebration on the Kinnick field, you guys didn't want to stop hugging each other.

'You know, that's why you do this,' said Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz, who had his usual Iowa State Patrol escort maneuver him through the joyous chaos. 'And whether it was in Kinnick or a parking lot somewhere, just the feeling that everybody had tonight, in the locker room, of achievement.

'The feeling of doing something really significant during the course of the week and having it show up on the field. That's all I saw about it, because everybody gets knocked down. You get stepped on every now and then, those types of things. But what are you going to do in response?

'But to have 70,000 of our best friends with us, that was fantastic. Absolutely. National television, can't beat that.'

According to ESPN, ABC's Saturday Night Football between the Hawkeyes and Michigan earned a 4.0 overnight on TV. Internet streaming added an additional average minute audience of 94,000 viewers and a total of 477,000 unique viewers watching 21,110,000 minutes.

The Hawkeyes-Wolverines' overnight was the highest across all networks in week 11. The streaming audience was up in every major metric from last season's week 11 Saturday Night Football game (Oklahoma vs. Baylor).

Peak audience tuned in at a 6.2 overnight when Duncan kicked the game-winner between 10:15 and 10:30 p.m.

Ratings are just fine. For the players, it was you guys.

'That's one of those things you'll remember for the rest of your life, this feeling,' said quarterback C.J. Beathard, who tossed his helmet and ran into the pile after Duncan's kick. 'We said if we win this game, you dang well know the crowd is going to storm the field. None of us had ever really been a part of that. Closest thing was Pitt last year (Iowa won on a field goal in the closing seconds), but we didn't get a field storm. It was an electric crowd. This was one of the best feelings I've ever felt.'

It seemed as if all of the players ran into people they knew.

'This girl, I have class with her,' defensive tackle Jaleel Johnson said. 'She gave me like a million high-fives. This other guy, he kept smacking me in the helmet. I'm like, 'Relax.''

Defensive tackle Faith Ekakitie ran into a few people he recognized. Then he wondered if it was OK for them to be on the field.

'I didn't even know people were allowed out on the field,' Ekakitie said. 'I guess when that many people storm the field, there's not much you can do about it.'

The smacking of helmets and patting of butts was contagious. It was a human car wash leading the Hawkeyes off the field and almost all the way up the tunnel and into their locker room.

'I've never had so many pats on the head and the butt in my entire life,' offensive lineman Sean Welsh said. 'It was an incredible experience. I'm kind of speechless. Words ... There's not a lot to explain it. It's just an incredible experience.'

Running back Akrum Wadley was Iowa's offensive star, rushing for 115 yards and catching five passes for 52 yards and Iowa's lone touchdown. You knew he wasn't going to make it to the locker room without some love.

'That was one of the greatest highlights of my life,' Wadley said. 'So many fans just grabbing you. I didn't even know where the team was.'

Somehow, free safety Brandon Snyder found his dad, Tim, in that mania.

'I picked my dad up and gave him the biggest hug he'll ever get,' Snyder said.

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