Hlas column from Iowa-Wisconsin: Another glorious grind for unshakable Hawkeyes

MADISON, Wis. - C'mon, Kirk Ferentz. Your Iowa football team is 7-0 and has picked off Penn State, Michigan, and now Wisconsin.

Those three wins alone constitute not just a good, but a special season for your Hawkeyes.

"Ehh," Ferentz said with his patented shrug. It was an "Ehh" as in no big deal.

Which was also the same basic answer Ferentz and his team gave when it lost starting running back Jewel Hampton before the season had begun, when it needed two blocked field goals in succession to beat Northern Iowa, when it trailed at Penn State after the Nittany Lions' first play from scrimmage.

It was the same syllable and shrug as each of the three times Ricky Stanzi had passes intercepted for touchdowns, or when Arkansas State nearly made things too interesting at Kinnick Stadium, or when Michigan gouged Iowa's defense with its running game before coming up two points short.

Wisconsin led the Hawkeyes 10-3 at halftime Saturday at Camp Randall Stadium, and the score didn't begin to tell the story. The Badgers had dominated the half on both sides of the ball. Iowa looked overmatched, physically inferior. Ehh.

Final score: Iowa 20, Wisconsin 10.

Surely Ferentz can forgive Iowa fans if they insert an occasional "Ooh" and "Ahh" into their Hawk talk these days.

But the Hawkeyes are leaving the superlatives to others. They seem happy to play that proverbial one game at a time, taking opponents' best shots but always winning by decision.

In the first half, Iowa had 79 total yards. In the second half? Two hundred and four.

In the first half, Wisconsin had 89 rushing yards. In the second half? Minus-two.

"We've been here before," Iowa linebacker Pat Angerer said. "We've got a great group of guys, good, mature guys. Nobody gave up."

"What me, worry?" seems to be the unofficial slogan of this team. Part of it is the Hawkeyes' faith in what they're doing, part is their determination to keep doing it.

"They hang in there and keep playing, "said Ferentz.

Falling behind and getting bullied by Wisconsin's bulls? "That's football," said the coach. "We play good teams. That's going to happen.

"We played through it and kept working. If you do that, then you give yourself a chance."

What a nutty season. Iowa got pushed to the end by an Arkansas State team with one win this season. But in the second-halves on the road against Penn State and Wisconsin, two rather established football outfits, the Hawkeyes allowed zero points and stole a lot of joy from a combined 190,000 people.

Minus, that is, those in Iowa colors who hung around after those two games to slap hands with their heroes.

Around noon on Sunday, Iowa enters the Top Ten. It may be the least-noticed Top Ten team in much of the nation. It couldn't care less.

"We let the outside, the critics, the polls, just kind of take care of itself," said Iowa linebacker A.J. Edds. "if we keep winning, eventually that respect might come, or it might not.

"All we can do is keep winning games and see what happens."

Edds had one of Iowa's three second-half interceptions. Amari Spievey nabbed the other two. The Hawkeyes' defense, which appeared to be overrated in the first-half after a rocky performance the week before against Michigan, may have shattered Wisconsin's season.

Meanwhile, the ballyhoo over pick-prone Iowa quarterback Ricky Stanzi fades to gray. He played a terrific game, and for all four quarters. He didn't have much help from his blockers or receivers in the first-half. They came alive after halftime, and Stanzi was a masterful conductor of their efforts.

The Stanzi-to-Tony Moeaki 24-yard touchdown pass to tie the game in the third quarter was a dash of pizazz in a meat-grinder of a game.

Moeaki is Dallas Clark circa 2002, a tight end playing like a wide receiver-deluxe.

Moeaki shook off cornerback Antonio Fenelus before reaching the end zone, then reeled in the throw that Stanzi nestled in perfectly.

"I thought Rick was throwing the ball away," Edds said. "All of a sudden here comes the leaping Tongan out of nowhere catching the ball in the back of the end zone. It was awesome."

Awesome? The Hawkeyes? Every week's a struggle, every game a white-knuckler.

And every result has been the good kind.

"We're not the prettiest car in the lot," Ferentz said, "but that's OK. We're having a lot of fun."

Down goes Wisconsin. Down went Penn State and Michigan. Top of the Big Ten, into the Top Ten.

Ooh. Ahh. . . . Ehh. It's all good.