Hlas: Marshall Koehn new Hawkeye household name

IOWA CITY - You can choreograph great pregame visuals like black-and-gold stripes in the stands. You can create a pregame emotional wallop by featuring an honorary captain with a personal story that both saddens and inspires your fans.

But what Marshall Koehn did sent Iowa's fans soaring home. Levitating, perhaps.

Thanks to Koehn's 57-yard, last-second field goal, Iowa seized the night Saturday. In near-flawless weather with a legitimate opponent, the Hawkeyes ran a 44-second offense that won a ballgame. They defeated Pittsburgh 27-24 under the new permanent Kinnick Stadium lights. They officially made this a September to remember for themselves and their followers.

Iowa has run the Illinois State-Iowa State-Pitt gamut without a scratch. The Hawkeyes should outclass North Texas here this Saturday, and then it's on to Wisconsin.

But this victory should be savored long after the calendar flips over to October because of its unforgettable finish and because it was against the best team Iowa has played and was as physical a game as the Hawkeyes may face all year.

This wasn't the first time a Pat Narduzzi-coached defense has put serious hurt on Hawkeye players. But like the 2009 game in East Lansing when Narduzzi's Michigan State defense gave a punishing effort, his team was the one that left the field hurting because of a last-play loss.

This night got off to a touching start with the appearance of Brett Greenwood as the Hawkeyes' honorary captain.

What Greenwood and his family have endured in the last four years after he suffered a heart arrhythmia and sustained an anoxic brain injury is unimaginable. It's hard to believe Greenwood and the late Tyler Sash were bookend safeties for Iowa just five years ago.

Greenwood's return to Kinnick was a powerful moment for all who were present Saturday night. Never was the Hawkeyes' team swarm slower before a game, following Greenwood onto the field. Never in its 37-year history as a part of Iowa football was it as appreciated by Iowa's fans.

Then the team played a game, and it was another vivid reminder of what football players at this level put their bodies through. Iowa quarterback C.J. Beathard had what appeared to be a hurting hip after his 9-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter, and Pitt made it ache more with shot after shot at him.

It was easy to make an assumption Beathard's first interception of the season was pain-inhibited. The throw from the right flat to the left sideline was picked easily by cornerback Terrish Webb, who returned it to the Iowa 15. One play later, the Panthers had a touchdown and had cut Iowa's edge to 10-7.

When Beathard got plastered by linebacker Matt Galambos for an 11-yard loss on the Hawkeyes' next play from scrimmage, it felt like this was going to turn into a dark and ugly night for the home folks.

But on the next possession, he was the guy who had riddled Illinois State and Iowa State. He threw a beauty of an 18-yarder to Tevaun Smith right as he was getting popped by a Panther defender yet again, and a mixed bag of plays after that suddenly put a hammering defense on its heels.

That was fun for the 63,636 in attendance. The game-ending field goal was something else. Something that kept the fans in the stands long after Koehn's kick split the uprights.

Marshall Koehn, welcome to Iowa Hawkeyes football lore.