Hlas: The takeaway: Hawkeyes still perfect

A Tuesday night television production will reveal the first set of College Football Playoff rankings, and Iowa's name will be mentioned in some regard.

It's heady stuff, this business of being 8-0 and having a scenario to a 12-0 regular-season record that any honest person would say is totally viable. The jabber will get louder. A lot of carts will be placed in front of a lot of horses, many chickens will be counted before they're hatched.

But while the destination for this Iowa team is unknown right now, the journey is pretty darn fun. For the Hawkeyes to mow down Maryland 31-15 on a Saturday in Kinnick Stadium when it played half an offensive game deserves celebration, not trepidation.

There have been Iowa teams that would have — sorry, Terrapins — turtled after their offenses went from a first-half whirlwind to a second-half fizzle. But this Hawkeyes club never let victory come close to eluding it Saturday. Thus, big dreams can keep getting dreamed for at least another week. Maybe even all of November.

'It just feels like we're on the right path,' said Iowa cornerback Desmond King. 'Just follow our preparation and listen to our coaches. They're going to take us where we want to be.'

King had another All-America campaign moment when he picked off a Perry Hills pass and returned it 88 yards for a touchdown midway through the fourth quarter.

Maryland was close to making it a 24-14 game, but King may have had more of an idea what Hills was going to do on that play than Hills himself.

'It's all about doing the work, dissecting the formations,' King said. 'Once you see the play, you know what's going to happen.'

This is Iowa 2015, which has a Big Ten-high 12 interceptions, seven by King. This is Iowa 2015, plus-10 in turnover margin, a stat that shouts 8-0 about as loudly as any.

This is Iowa 2015, which has turned its 19 takeaways into 71 points. Iowa 2014 scored just 35 points after takeaways.

About all those picks and forced fumbles, Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said 'I'd love to tell you we have a drill for it. We coach it, but everybody coaches it.

'Desmond is a great illustration of this: To me, a lot of times takeaways are just the result of people playing a little bit better, being a little smarter in terms of being in good position, playing with good fundamentals. ... To me, that's why he's playing (at a) higher level. I don't think he's any different as an athlete necessarily.'

Maryland outscored Iowa in the second half and had 120 more yards than the Hawkeyes after halftime, and it just doesn't matter. The Hawkeyes made enough plays on defense to ride the game out after the entire team did what good teams do. They jumped on a lesser opponent in the first half.

The Terrapins were tied at 21 with Ohio State in the third quarter three weeks ago in Columbus. They were ahead of Penn State 27-24 after three quarters last week in Baltimore. They never threatened to win in Iowa City.

That's one of about 4,444 things people who care about rankings can point to before and after the initial playoff poll is released Tuesday, when everyone but fans of the top four teams get agitated.

Ferentz's response to a query about the playoffs was one of those things that might bug button-pushing media mopes because it's too sensible.

'It just seems like if you win enough, good things happen,' he said. 'And that was true 30 years ago, and that's all we're looking at right now.'

There won't be any playoff for Iowa if it doesn't reach the Big Ten title game, and it's hard to fathom there would be one if the Hawkeyes don't win that.

So get prepared to be outraged or pleasantly surprised Tuesday night, as if any of it matters as much as beating Indiana in the next game.

But living in the moment, the Hawkeyes are 8-0 and just whipped a team it lost to a year ago. Iowa's destination is an unknown, but its journey to date has been one sweet ride.