More Coker for Iowa next week

IOWA CITY -- Kirk Ferentz is fond of using arrows to illustrate the progression of players.

He didn't say it after Iowa's loss to Ohio State on Saturday, but you can reasonably conclude that running back Marcus Coker's arrow is going up.

Coker, a 6-foot, 230-pound freshman, rushed just nine times for 70 yards, including a 26-yard run to the 1 and then the subsequent touchdown, the first of his career.

"We had some good things going on, and that is certainly one of them," Ferentz said. "Marcus has been called upon this year. He's really done a great job. To me, today was his most impressive outing."

Coker averaged 7.8 yards a carry against a defense that went into Saturday allowing just 2.8 a try.

"Did a nice job over in Indiana a few weeks ago, but today the lights were on," Ferentz said. "Pretty good defensive football team here playing. Thought he made a good showing of himself, so you've got to give him a lot of credit."

Coker had 129 yards in his only start against Indiana three weeks ago. Sophomore Adam Robinson returned and rushed for 108 yards against Northwestern last week.

Coker got the start over Robinson on Saturday because of a one-quarter suspension that Ferentz described as "academic indigestion."

"He didn't do anything wrong or illegal or what have you," Ferentz said, "but just not dotting the I's and crossing the T's."

Get used to Coker. He's probably front and center again next week.

On the first play of Iowa's final drive, Robinson was knocked out on a hit from OSU safety Jermale Hines. He laid on the turf for a few minutes before he weaved off the field. Robinson had to sit out Indiana because of a concussion.

"He got dinged. If that's the case, he'll be out next week," Ferentz said. "If there's any good news, it [the bowl game] will be weeks away. So, hopefully, we'll have him back for the last game. My guess is he wouldn't be playing next week, but that's preliminary."