No more Bubble Wrap for Moeaki

IOWA CITY - So, yeah, that's Tony Moeaki.

Last season, the Iowa tight end needed Bubble Wrap with his nearly injury-a-game pace. Broken foot, muscle strains and a concussion kept Moeaki in immobilizer boots, on crutches or in a sweatsuit on the sideline. He missed four games and caught just 13 passes.

Last year, Bubble Wrap. After one game this year, fit him for a cape.

Moeaki caught 10 passes for 83 yards Saturday in Iowa's great escape over Northern Iowa at Kinnick Stadium. With 13:18 left in the fourth quarter. quarterback Ricky Stanzi found Moeaki for a 6-yard TD that stood up for the winning points.

“Everybody knows what kind of athletic ability he has,” Stanzi said. “Now everyone can see him perform. It's great to see him out there healthy and helping our football team.”

The 6-foot-4, 250-pounder provided Stanzi a steady, open target. He also gave his coach a scare in the first half when he tried to hurdle a UNI defender.

The tackler raised up and Moeaki did a face plant. But no worries, he bounced up.

“I did,” Coach Kirk Ferentz said when asked if he cringed. “To be honest, I did. Yeah, sure I did.”

Moeaki, who caught one pass in the first half, spurred Iowa's first scoring drive - Adam Robinson's 11-yard TD run - with two grabs. After wide receiver Trey Stross' incredible 29-yard catch, Moeaki caught two more on what turned out to be the winning TD drive.

“It was a big play, but at the time we didn't know it was going to be the go-ahead score,” Moeaki said. “It felt good just to score out there. We knew as an offense we had to score right there to give us a chance to win.”

The officials reviewed the play to see if Moeaki had a foot in bounds and didn't bobble the ball.

“I knew I was in,” he said. “He (UNI defender) was ripping my left arm, so I just palmed it with my right. I had complete control of it the whole time.”

Yeah, palmed it. Iowa missed that last year.

You started to see some Stanzi-Moeaki chemistry toward the end of last season. Moeaki caught his only TD pass last year in the finale against Minnesota. Against South Carolina in Iowa's Outback Bowl victory, Moeaki caught three passes for 43 yards, including a 39-yard catch that set up a score.

The two seem to have a connection.

“Since the bowl game we've been working every day on our own throughout the off-season,” Moeaki said. “(Offensive coordinator Ken) Coach O'Keefe has been calling the plays, and we were just doing what we were told to do.”