Hawkeyes fly over Hoosiers: Iowa gets 42-28 win

(Published 10/11/1981)

IOWA CITY -

Same old stuff in the Big Ten. Still the Big Two and the Little Eight.

Michigan and Ohio State?

Don't be silly. Wisconsin and Iowa lead the Big Ten with respective records of 3-0 and 2-0, only unbeaten marks in the conference.

While amazing Wisconsin added Ohio State to its humiliation list 24-21 Saturday, Iowa was entertaining 60,000 homecomers with a 42-28 victory over impudent Indiana in Kinnick Stadium.

The Big Two hit the road next week, and Iowa should find out if it really belongs in that category. The Hawks invade Michigan, while Wisconsin has an easier task at Michigan State.

Saturday's game was entertaining?

"It must have been entertaining for the fans," sighed Coach Hayden Fry, "but that kind of game is a nightmare for the coaches."

Especially for the defensive coaches. The two teams rolled up 813 yards in total offense, with the humble Hoosiers (1-4 record) actually outgaining their hosts, who had led the Big Ten in all four defensive categories last week and ranked second nationally in total defense and pass defense.

Pass defense?

You'd never have guessed that, as a well-traveled quarterback named Babe Laufenberg and a Saturday-afternoon special named Duane Gunn drilled the Hawks with two long aerial touchdown strikes and helped roll up 327 yards in the air.

Iowa had earned its No. 15 ranking nationally mostly with an immovable defense, but this time the offense bailed out the defense by answering Indiana's lightning with some electricity of its own.

Although Fry insisted he never felt secure until the final minute or two, the Hawks may have clinched it with a three-touchdown blitz in a four minute and 20-second stretch of the second quarter after Indiana had rallied to a 14-14 tie.

That started off with "Stormin' Norman" Granger's 99-yard kickoff return in which he broke a tackle, cut expertly behind a screen block near midfield and outran the last two Hoosiers. The stadium clock said it took him 16 seconds.

"How many fullbacks have you seen who can outrun everybody like that?" chuckled Fry.

Then, after Tracy Crocker recovered an Indiana fumble on the 24, Gordie Bohannon hurled a 21-yard strike right down the middle to Mike Hufford, the Mount Vernon junior tight end for the first of his two touchdowns.

The Hawks were on a roll, and this time the defense helped again. Safety Jim Frazier came flying through the air just as Hoosier tight end Bob Stephenson was about to pocket a high pass from Laufenberg. Frazier picked his pocket perfectly and legged it back 47 yards to the Indiana 13.

Again Bohannon flicked a picture-book pass to Hufford, who made a rolling catch in the end zone that popped open a cut near his left elbow. Touchdown? Nope. The officials said Iowa fullback Jeff Forte had moved too soon.

But four plays later Phil Blatcher high-dived over right guard for the touchdown. When freshman Tom Nichol kicked the point (he was six-for-six), Iowa had a 35-14 halftime lead.

"That flurry - the kickoff return, the fumble and the pass interception - put us out of the game," admitted Lee Corso, Indiana's colorful coach who may get a bill from Iowa for wearing out the SuperTurf with his endless pacing in front of the bench.

"But our guys showed us something. They didn't quit. They hung in there. I was proud of our players today."

Indiana may have had the fastest Gunn in the East, but the Hawkeyes came up with a zip-gun of their own, a secret weapon who scored on the team's longest scrimmage play of the season.

Ever hear of a Hawkeye football player named Charles Jones?

Don't worry. You're not the only one. Charles Jones is - or was - an Iowa trackman. Last spring he finished a four-year career on Coach Ted Wheeler's track team and figured his college athletic career was over.

But Fry talked him into coming out for football this fall.

"We have a surprise every game," smiled the Iowa coach. "This week it was Charlie Jones. That was his first football play. We had worked all week with him, and we hoped he was ready."

The Hawks had the ball on the Iowa 49, the score tied 7-7 with a minute left in the first quarter. Jones, who has run a 10.4 hundred, came in at tight end, and the pass pattern developed perfectly as he delayed momentarily, then was all alone on the right side.

Bohannon fed him the ball expertly; Jones clutched it tightly and sped 51 yards untouched.

"Corso will die when he sees the game films," chortled Fry. "That's the same play he beat us with two years ago (in the final minute, 30-26). He said he got the play from Notre Dame. I didn't. I got it from a junior high school."

The game was billed as the Irresistible Force vs. the Immovable Object, and the Force won the first round. Indiana zipped 84 yards in four plays after receiving the kickoff. Laufenberg hurled an amazing pass to Gunn, who got behind Lou King and took it in perfect stride for a 58-yard scoring play.

The Iowa homecomers were shocked, but the Hawks remained calm. They marched 82 yards in 11 rushing plays to tie the game on Granger's second-effort surge on fourth down for the final two yards.

After the Hawks moved ahead 14-7 on the Bohannon-Jones exotic, the Hoosiers knotted the score again with an 80-yard drive with tailback John Roggerman driving the final yard.

In the previous drive, Indiana pulled an exotic of its own, with Chuck Razmic faking a fourth-down punt and passing to Chris Sigler for a first down.

The second half couldn't match the first for offensive pyrotechnics. However, Indiana had another long strike left. Laufenberg, just before being flattened by an Iowa defender, hurled a long pass that Gunn caught after Crocker missed his interception try. Nobody could keep up with Gunn as he completed the 71-yard scoring play. Mike Greenstein kicked all four Hoosier points.

That sent Iowa's offense into counterattack action. Bohannon passed 33 yards to Jeff Brown, scrambled for a gain of three, hit Brown again for a 30-yard pickup and then completed an 11-yard scoring pass to Hufford.

The Hawks had other changes to score. Indeed, they scored another touchdown that was negated by a penalty: Bohannon's 11-yard scramble to the end zone, and that made four TDs erased by infractions in the last two games. Nichol also was short and to the right with a 42-yard field goal effort.

Then Indiana made the game's final touchdown with 3:08 to go. Laufenberg, who survived more tackles than some quarterbacks take in a season, led the Hoosiers on that drive, which ended on Tim Hines' two-yard run.

Reggie Roby lost four-tenths of a yard on his national-leading punt average. He booted four times for an average of 52.8, but that dropped his season average from 54.5 to 54.1. His longest was a 64-yard boomer Saturday.

Eddie Phillips didn't ever reach the end zone, but he did give the Hawks a 101-yard rushing game on 19 carries. Hines was Indiana's best with 57 yards in 13 tries.

Bohannon hit 8 of 14 passes with one interception for 185 yards. The strong-armed Laufenberg, tops in the Big Ten, completed 17 of 35 with four stolen for 297 yards. Gunn caught six of 'em for 197 yards.

Iowa's defensive unit may have been unusually generous, but the Hawks had their heroes. Lou King intercepted two times, Frazier and James Erb once each. Both times King tried to lateral to Frazier. The first time he made the mistake of flipping it forward. That's a no-no. But the second time Frazier sprinted 28 yards before being downed.

Iowa's Todd Simonsen was ejected for fighting, but the other starting linebacker, Mel Cole, led the Hawks in tackles with 7 solos and 5 assists. Indiana's top defender was linebacker Craig Walls. He made the lone interception and had 16 tackles (including 6 assists).