Hlas: Great try, but a cruel tease for Hawkeyes

IOWA CITY - Two points, one play, no conversion.

No trophy with a brass bull, no shot at a West Division championship, nothing on which to hang a hat this season.

Oh, how Kinnick Stadium brimmed with brilliance Saturday afternoon, and not just from the stadium lights under a dark sky beaming off the wet field. A charged crowd saw two teams play as ferocious and dramatic a game as the old stadium had seen in a long time.

It was Wisconsin 26, Iowa 24. The Badgers move on in their quest for yet another Big Ten title, while the Hawkeyes have now gone 10 years without a championship trophy.

In the second of three successive touchdown drives that were absolutely, well, brilliant, Iowa failed on a 2-point conversion try for a tie.

Quarterback Jake Rudock didn't get the result he wanted on his pass after rolling to the right and throwing. There was a deflection, the ball fluttered to the ground, and Wisconsin clung to a 19-17 lead with 11:10 left.

That was the ultimate difference, the scratch in a second-half filled with so many gems from both squads.

Wisconsin bulled back down the field to make it 26-17, but Rudock made all the right moves on a third-straight scoring drive for a 26-24 game with 5:01 left. But then, Iowa's defense couldn't get the Badgers off the field.

The incredible Gordon made incredible second-half plays. Wouldn't it be nice to have a running back like that some year?

But the Hawkeyes did have Rudock. Not the quarterback who had never established himself as the people's choice this season. Rather, the man who was in the proverbial zone on those final three drives, who played with supreme authority and accuracy as Iowa ran an offense that left multitudes crying 'Where was that in the first half?”

'It'd be scary to see what happens if we played like that the whole game,” said Hawkeye offensive tackle Brandon Scherff.

The first quarter was a lot of shoving without anyone landing a real shot. Things changed, though, and at one point the second-quarter yardage was Wisconsin 146, Iowa 6, as the Badgers built a 16-3 lead that felt like 61-3.

But the game turned on a positive note for Iowa on, believe it or not, an 88-yard run by Gordon midway through the third quarter. He was dragged down at the Hawkeye 4 by cornerback Greg Mabin, who didn't give up when surrender seemed inevitable. Three running plays later, Wisconsin had to settle for a field goal. Then Rudock morphed into Big Play Jake.

In the game's last 21 minutes, Iowa had TD drives of 70, 82 and 86 yards against the Wisconsin unit that had led the nation in total defense with 244 yards allowed per game. Rudock had six completions of 20-plus yards over those possessions. On long passes! He had back-to-back rushes of 21 and 11 yards on the final drive.

Outside of that one missed 2-point conversion, he did no wrong. He was big-time.

But Wisconsin oozes with big-time. Gordon, of course, is a phenom. He had 200 yards rushing and 64 receiving, and the 64 were as big as the 200.

Stave spun a 3rd-and-13 into gold with a patient, perfect pass to Gordon for 35 yards on the drive that made it 26-17. On 3rd-and-8 at the UW 38 with a little over two minutes left and the Hawkeyes drooling to get the ball back to try for a win, Stave took off from the pocket. Twelve yards later, victory was secured.

His season rushing total before that play: Minus-28 yards.

The Badgers were one play and two points better than Iowa. Which was plenty.

'There's not a column for ‘almost contained them' or ‘almost won.' It counts as a loss up there,” said Iowa senior linebacker Quinton Alston.

'That old cliché about (it's not if you) win or lose, that's a bunch of crap,” Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said. 'Winning is what you work so hard for. But how you do play is important whether you win or lose.”

It was a great game. For the Hawkeyes, it also was a cruel tease, a fourth loss, and a season rendered irrelevant.

'I don't know if I can say this,” Alston said, 'but I'm pissed off.”

That's no bull.

Comments: (319) 368-8840; mike.hlas@thegazette.com

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