No. 11 Iowa 31, Maryland 15

IOWA CITY - Time for some championship math. Forget that blah second half. Maybe wince and worry about a few of the injuries that came out of No. 11 Iowa's 31-15 victory over Maryland, but it's going to be that way from here on out, so there's that.

It's time for some championship math. The Hawkeyes (8-0, 4-0 Big Ten) are unblemished halfway through the Big Ten season. They have a one-game lead on Wisconsin (7-2, 4-1) in the Big Ten West Division and hold the tiebreaker over the Badgers with their 10-6 victory at Madison on Oct. 3.

The Hawkeyes have four games left with a tricky road trip to Indiana (4-4, 0-4) next weekend, home games against Minnesota and Purdue (2-6, 1-3) and a season-ender on Black Friday at Nebraska (3-6, 1-4). They need three wins in the next four if Wisconsin holds serve for the West Division title.

There's the championship math. Now, no one Iowa, which is now 8-0 for this first time since 2009 and for the second time under head coach Kirk Ferentz, took out their championship calculators in the Maryland (2-6, 0-4) postgame, but it's OK for you to go there.

It's reality. The Hawkeyes are 4-0 in the Big Ten. It's just not their reality, or one they're willing to entertain right now.

'We're not claiming anything,” Ferentz said. 'We're getting ready for our next football game. Our goal the first week was to win a game, and then ever since then it's just been to win another game, win the next game.

'We're trying to keep it as simple as that. Good thing about football is no style points. When you win, it's beautiful, and when you lose, it's not so good. That's kind of how we look at the world and it's about as simple as that.”

The Hawkeyes roared out to a 21-0 halftime lead before 62,667 fans Saturday at Kinnick Stadium. Three different running backs scored Iowa's first three touchdowns. From there, it was . . .

'Second half was pretty bumpy,” running back Akrum Wadley said. 'We just wanted to have the time expire, get the win and play another week.”

It was mission accomplished, just not with banners and trumpets.

The Terrapins moved the ball in the second half with quarterback Perry Hills finding some rhythm. Maryland scored its first TD with 14:37 left in the fourth quarter to pull within 21-7. Iowa answered with Marshall Koehn's 49-yard field goal, but then Hills, who is the first player to rush for 100 yards against Iowa this season (104 on 19 carries), moved the Terps to Iowa's 12-yard line.

This is where junior cornerback Desmond King did his thing. He read a wide receiver screen, inserted himself into the scrum and Hills threw the ball right to him.

King found a lane immediately and raced 88 yards for a TD and a 31-7 lead with 7:38 left.

'You dissect the formations and once you see the play, you put yourself in place,” King said. 'I was locked on my player. I went into the reception area and the ball was there.”

Maryland came into this game with 67 points allowed off giveaways, most in the Big Ten this year. Along with King's pick six, the Hawkeyes turned a first-quarter fumble into running back LeShun Daniels' 1-yard TD and a 7-0 lead. Iowa ended with four takeaways and gave back just one fumble, which happened while strong safety Miles Taylor returned an interception.

Iowa now has scored 71 points off 19 turnovers this season. Last year, it scored just 35 points off turnover, which was fewest in the Big Ten.

'It was something we talked about all week,” said free safety Jordan Lomax, who was a game-time decision due to an undisclosed injury. 'We knew that their turnover margin was pretty bad in the Big Ten (last in the league coming in at minus-13). We knew there would be opportunities, we just had to go make them happen.”

The second half wasn't finished being bumpy for the Hawkeyes. After King's pick six (with seven interceptions now he's one from tying Iowa's season record), Maryland return specialist extraordinaire William Likely cruised 100 yards down the middle of Iowa's kick return team to pull within 31-15 after a two-point conversion.

But that was that for this one. After rolling up 240 yards in the first half, Iowa was satisfied to tread water and run clock, rolling up just 53 yards on 26 plays.

Now it's time to talk about those injuries.

Quarterback C.J. Beathard, who passed for less than 200 yards (12 of 23 for 183 yards) for the second week in a row, was sacked four times and took several hits. He declared himself OK in the postgame, but he does that every week.

'I feel better than I have in the last few weeks,” Beathard said. 'I didn't take any crazy hits that caused much pain.”

Defensive end Nate Meier left the game in the fourth quarter with what appeared to be a left shoulder injury. He conducted postgame interviews with his left arm in a sling. If he's really hurt, he wasn't letting on.

'I'll be all right,” said Meier, who collected a sack.

You won't allow yourself to be hurt at this point?

'No, no,” he said. 'I'll be all right.”

For Iowa's championship math to add up, Meier kind of has to be all right.

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