Hawks win a wild affair: Cyclones push Hawks to limit in 45-35 thriller

(Published 9/23/1990)

IOWA CITY -

Bob Utter promised it would be fun, and boy was it ever.

A record crowd of 70,389 had an Utter-ly marvelous time Saturday as Iowa survived Iowa State's best punches to post a 45-35 knockout victory at Kinnick Stadium.

Utter, the rookie quarterback who was pressed into service for ISU, told folks not to worry about his maiden voyage with the Cyclones, and he was right.

The kid delivered, everything but an Iowa State victory.

"He just played beautiful," said Jim Walden, his appreciative coach.

Utter replaced Chris Pedersen, injured last week, and the volatile ISU offense barely missed a beat.

Even the Hawkeyes marveled at Utter's performance. He hit 20 of 32 passes for 235 yards and two touchdowns, and kept Iowa off-balance all day with his quick slings and arrows.

"The little fella at quarterback has a lot of talent and ability," remarked Iowa Coach Hayden Fry. "I think they got everything out of Utter that they could today."

It might have been enough for the Cyclones, if they hadn't lost four fumbles, botched two field goals, muffed a fake punt, and had another punt blocked.

And it might have been enough if Blaise Bryant, their all-Big 8 tailback, hadn't watched the game in street clothes with a bum shoulder, even though his replacement, Sherman Williams, collected 108 yards of his own.

On the other side, the "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot" combo in Iowa's backfield - Nick Bell and Tony Stewart - rushed for more than 100 yards apiece, and both scored on long runs.

And Merton Hanks blocked the fifth kick of his career, setting up the Jeff Skillett field goal that gave the Hawks a 17-14 lead at intermission.

Iowa then scored a pair of touchdowns just 51 seconds apart in the third period to make it 31-14, with Matt Rodgers and Tony Stewart supplying the points on pretty runs.

Such things helped Iowa secure its eighth straight victory in this family feud.

But the Hawkeyes (2-0) did not seem to enjoy this one as much as others in the series.

"A win is a win," said Melvin Foster, Iowa's top linebacker, "but it would have been a whole lot sweeter without those 35 points on the board."

Amen, said Fry, who ripped his team's defensive performance.

"We hustled and we tried, but we were terrible," said Fry.

He said his team was "withdrawn." "There wasn't any hooping or hollering or backslapping or anything else," he reported.

"We had opportunity after opportunity to put them away, and we didn't do it."

There was a lot of hooping and hollering on the field, however.

Walden and Fry ignored each other during pre-game warm-ups as a postscript to the famous "Film Flap" of the past week, and it didn't take long for hostilities to spill on to the field.

Gene Williams, ISU's 315-pound lineman, and Foster, Iowa's loquacious linebacker, accused each other of dirty tricks early in the game, and players from both benches rushed to join the skirmish.

The game was four plays old.

Lots more happened before the long, long game - 3 hours and 42 minutes worth - came to a close.

The most controversial occurred late in the third quarter and helped the Hawkeyes take command at 38-14.

Faced with 4th-and-goal at the Cyclone 2-yard line, Iowa's Jeff Skillett missed a chip shot field goal following a high snap from center. However, ISU's Marcus Robertson was called for roughing Jim Hartlieb, the holder, and the Hawkeyes got an automatic first down at the 1.

Walden blew his cord, and honored an official with a suggestive gesture not fit to describe in a family newspaper.

"I told him the call stunk," said Walden. "When a guy gets shoved in the back, lands on the ground, bounces and hits the holder - never touches the kicker - it's a nullified play. You don't call roughing the holder.

"It stunk, pure and simple it stunk." An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Walden gave Iowa the ball inches from the goal line, and Lew Montgomery quickly scored.

"That was a 10-point swing," fumed Walden. "They went from missing three to getting seven. You gotta lay awake at night and think those things up."

That sequence became even more important when ISU came charging back.

Utter clicked with John Glotfelty for their second touchdown pass of the day, this one a beautiful 39-yarder that made it 38-21.

And shortly later Sherman Williams scored from a yard out for Iowa State, making it 38-28 with nearly 11 minutes left in the game.

The Cyclones got no closer.

Montgomery's nifty 15-yard run, in which he stopped, changed directions and vaulted a pile of players, sent the Hawkeyes up 45-28 with 7:53 to go.

That left only the strangest play of the day. It happened when Jim Hartlieb, subbing for Matt Rodgers at quarterback, kept the ball on an option play and ran smack-dab into Gary Pedersen, an Iowa State linebacker. Hartlieb kept fighting for yardage, so Pedersen neatly stripped the ball and galloped 66 yards the other way for a touchdown.

It was Iowa State's last hurrah.

All in all, the Cyclones put on a good show, even without Bryant and Chris Pedersen.

"After all the hoopla about Blaise Bryant and Chris Pedersen, we lose two linebackers in the first half. - Jim Doran and Malcom Goodwin - and when it comes right down to it, the guy we missed the most was Dan Watkins," said Walden.

Watkins, a starting linebacker, was sidelined with a bad finger.

Walden and Fry held a brief conversation at midfield when the game ended. Walden said they exchanged pleasantries about their wives, which was more than Fry would reveal.

"That's confidential," he said.

Iowa's next outing is Saturday night at Miami, Fla., the 1989 national champs.

"We have to improve tremendously to even have a chance at Miami," said Fry.