Hlas column: Hawkeyes' mission Tuesday is to limit the pain from Blaine

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - In Iowa's last bowl game, the opposing quarterback completed just two passes.

If that happens Tuesday night to Missouri in the Insight Bowl, it can only mean one thing. A blizzard of Philadelphia proportions has descended on Tempe's Sun Devil Stadium.

This isn't Georgia Tech's run-run-run triple-option, which Norm Parker's Hawkeyes defense basically bottled and tossed into the Atlantic Ocean last Jan. 5 in Miami's Orange Bowl. This is the spread attack of Gary Pinkel's Mizzou. The Tigers will be a-throwin'. They have a large (6-foot-5, 235 pounds) and highly capable quarterback with which to do it in junior Blaine Gabbert.

Twenty-five career starts, 18 wins, 39 touchdown passes in that time, just 16 interceptions. Gabbert also rushed for over 400 yards this season if you take away the yardage lost to 20 sacks.

What's new, eh, Hawkeyes? Another game, another ace quarterback.

“If you asked me to explain this year,” Iowa defensive coordinator Norm Parker said earlier this month, “the Big Ten, I'd say it was the year of the quarterback. I mean, I think we got beat and we had trouble controlling some really, really good quarterbacks.”

So who was the best, midseason Heisman Trophy-favorite Denard Robinson of Michigan or household name Terrelle Pryor of Ohio State?

Ha. I asked four Hawkeye defensive starters that question Sunday morning at the Insight's Media Day press conferences, and they gave the same answer.

“Dan Persa,” said cornerback Micah Hyde.

“I'd have to say Persa, definitely,” said defensive end Adrian Clayborn. “We couldn't stop him.”

“Dan Persa,” cornerback Shaun Prater said. “He was a very aggressive quarterback, breaking arm-tackles all day.

“Definitely Northwestern's guy,” added linebacker Jeremiha Hunter. “Oh man. He did everything. He ran, he passed. He was hard to tackle. He was a freak, man. I'm not taking anything away from Pryor. But Persa, man, he knows what he can do and just does it.”

Persa was the willpower behind two long Northwestern fourth-quarter scoring drives that carried the Wildcats to a 21-20 comeback win over Iowa. That was the game that knocked the Hawkeyes out of Big Ten title talk and started their current 3-game losing streak. It was Iowa's defining game of the season.

Persa, Pryor, Robinson, Scott Tolzien of Wisconsin, Nick Foles of Arizona, Ben Chappell of Indiana, Kirk Cousins of Michigan State - Parker was right. That's a lot of good quarterbacks. Enter Gabbert, as highly rated a high school QB as anyone, anywhere when he was a high school senior. Iowa was one of many programs pursuing him. Others included Alabama, Oregon and Nebraska. But he stayed close to his Ballwin, Mo., home.

“He's probably a little of each of the quarterbacks we've played,” Hyde said. “He can drop back and throw the ball. But he can also get out and run. He's a field general, the focal point. And he's big.”

Gabbert, in my limited time around him, didn't seem to be the cocky type. “I like to say I'm an aggressive quarterback,” he said, “but at the same time, I've got to be the manager of the offense. I can't be making stupid decisions.”

But he had no problem talking up his team, saying “We're competitors. We have a high-powered offense that's extremely multidimensional.”

Though it was a complicated dimension, Georgia Tech was one-dimensional offensively. Josh Nesbitt was never likely to beat Iowa in the Orange Bowl with his throwing arm unless he used it to stiff-arm a defender. His 2-of-9 passing was worse than even that statistic indicates.

But mobile, savvy quarterbacks who are fine passers are big reasons Iowa is in this Insight Bowl instead of a January game. Maybe having extra time to prepare for this attack with a healthier linebacker corps than the Hawkeyes have had in a while will make the difference.

If Gabbert has a Gabbert-like game, however, Iowa's offense has to be some kind of wonderful to prevent one final wound to be inflicted by an opposing quarterback.