Hlas: Hawkeyes bent, but Michigan broke

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Iowa won by shutout Saturday.

That may sound like the equivalent of saying Michigan Stadium is the Little House, or beating the Wolverines here is never a big deal.

Sure, sure, the Hawkeyes' defense got gouged and gashed for 522 yards and 28 points. It surrendered three Michigan touchdowns in the space of 6:15 in the fourth quarter.

Michigan radio play-by-play announcer Frank Beckmann called Iowa's defense the nation's best on at least a few occasions during his broadcast Saturday. Startlingly, considering Michigan's “D” has been horrible this season, Iowa's wasn't even the best in the stadium this day.

But Iowa got its 38-28 win via a goose egg. The Hawkeyes had zero turnovers, zero kicks blocked. Michigan had four turnovers, and a blocked field goal. Since footballs have been oblong, a plus-four in turnovers has meant victory 99.4 percent of the time.

You can gouge and gash all day, but you're gone if you goof that much more than the opponent. Allowing all those yards ended up being as meaningful for Iowa as its No. 1 national ranking in scoring defense at the start of Saturday. The Hawkeyes advanced to 2-0 in the Big Ten.

“There's no excuse for giving up as many yards as we did,” said Hawkeye safety Tyler Sash. “But we can make corrections and get better. All that matters is we won today.”

Sash did his part, for sure. Denard Robinson, Mr. Half-Season Heisman, threw a long second-quarter pass that was a rumor to his receivers. Sash reeled it in deep right-field, and brought it from the Iowa 13 to midfield. Four plays later, Ricky Stanzi threw the second of his three touchdown passes to Derrell Johnson-Koulianos, and Iowa led 21-7.

Michigan's Seth Broekhuizen had a 38-yard field goal blocked on the Wolverines' next possession. Nearly everyone else on the field treated the bouncing ball as if it were deader than Brett Favre's endorsement prospects. Not Sash. He picked up the ball at the Iowa 11 and ran it back to the Hawkeye 48.

It was more great field position. Iowa collected another touchdown nine plays later on a short Adam Robinson run. The 28-7 lead had the feeling of something that expand as wide as the Big House itself.

That didn't happen, obviously. Gashing and gouging notwithstanding, the Hawkeyes had enough cushion to win because of those four takeaways, and because the offense did enough good work to hang a 38 on the scoreboard.

Iowa wasn't ready to switch to the shift in the Michigan paradigm when Denard Robinson and his fleet feet were replaced by Tate Forcier's throwing arm. Forcier, a forgotten soul this season after being Rich Rodriguez's main man last year, put both giddy-up and go in the attack, and made a game of it.

“They uptempo-ed up on us,” Iowa defensive end Adrian Clayborn said. The big man needed a bit of extra oxygen a time or two because of the game's second-half pace.

“We weren't ready for that,” he said. “But you've got to be ready for anything. ... You can't look at those statistics and be too happy.”

Iowa's next two foes, Wisconsin and Michigan State, play more traditional, pounding offenses, and do it well. But the Hawkeyes will be happier with those helpings of meat and potatoes than they were for Michigan, especially when the Wolverines changed their offense in midstream and made it work even better. It wasn't all that shabby with Robinson.

Of course, Iowa has a Robinson of its own. First name: Adam. Rushing yards: 143. Receiving yards: 61. Yowsah!

“He's my sleeper pick for the Heisman,” said Iowa guard Julian Vandervelde. “You look at some of the things he does, and it's Shonn Greene-esque.”

The play of the game was when Iowa led 35-28 and had a 3rd-and-8 on the Michigan 40. Ricky Stanzi threw a low pass to Robinson in the left flat. It looked like the play would go nowhere even if the pass got caught.

It got caught. And Robinson slid around a cornerback. And he powered through a couple more tackles to gain 26 yards. That put the win on virtual ice before Mike Myers' 30-yard field goal sealed matters.

“I don't know many guys like that who can make plays like that happen,” Stanzi said.

Heisman? Iowa's Robinson?

“Not even close,” he replied. “There are so many other running backs better than me. It's a nice gesture by (Vandervelde). I don't think it's very probable.”

It isn't, not a bit. But the Robinson with the most rushing yards and impact in this game was Adam, not Denard.

Iowa's running back depth chart is Robinson and, uh, more Robinson. If he stays healthy, it may be all the depth a team needs.