Hlas: Hawkeyes’ next challenge as obvious as ABC

Iowa's football team has done all it needed to set the stage for this Saturday night in Pennsylvania.

But now is it ready to be on that stage, a great big national stage?

A whole lot Saturday in Kinnick Stadium - but not everything - pointed toward the Hawkeyes being a worthy foil to Penn State in this Saturday night's nationally televised clash of 3-0 teams with interesting history between them.

“It just felt like we wanted it more,” Defensive end Broderick Binns said about the Hawkeye defense's play in the team's impressive 27-17 win over Arizona. “We wanted to show the whole nation we can play with the big dogs.”

But this win over an unranked Pac-10 club wasn't a prime-time, nation-blanketing affair, and the Wildcats aren't the big dogs. As good a step forward as it was for Iowa, it was mere prelude for a very big September soiree in State College.

Penn State is fifth-ranked and more than motivated to avenge the 24-23 loss here last November that cost it an unbeaten regular-season.

Throw out that even-keel nonsense. Some games are more important than others. And some are just plain big. A select few are reserved for ABC Saturday night for all the country to experience. This Penn State deal is a big one.

If there is a way to properly enter the week of this clash that merely starts the Big Ten season, this was it for the Hawkeyes. They enforced their will against a spirited and athletic foe, liberally sprinkling statement plays across four quarters.

If it wasn't defensive end Adrian Clayborn filling his own season highlight reel on one third-quarter Arizona possession, it was freshman running back Adam Robinson turning a third-and-23 into a first-down with a no-surrender carry.

If it wasn't kicker Daniel Murray tripping up Arizona return man Keola Antolin on a potential touchdown, it was cornerback Amari Spievey refusing to let Wildcat running back Nic Grigsby turn a 58-yard gain on a draw into a 59-yard TD.

Arizona never got that final yard, and lost a piece of its heart when it resigned itself to a pooch field goal.

“When guys are hustling, they have a chance to do something good,” said Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz. “When they're not hustling, no chance.”

Spievey and Ferentz agreed that Iowa's defense brought a fire it hadn't quite displayed in wins over Northern Iowa and Iowa State. The six turnovers and just three points allowed in Ames were nice and all, one guesses, but apparently some attitude was still a little missing.

“We were flying around (today),” Spievey said. “This week we focused on running to the ball. Six seconds of just going all out. That showed today.

“Nobody gave up on any play.”

Look, we don't know what Iowa is liable to offer on offense at Penn State. This business of quarterback Ricky Stanzi taking a half of a game or so to warm his motor can get you through certain games like the three Iowa has played. The kind of business that would be at Penn State: Risky.

But if Iowa's defense stays on the path it's traveling, you can't totally rule out an upset against a Joe Paterno offense that has glided as expected against tomato cans Akron, Syracuse and Temple.

“Today it looked like we were back maybe playing the way we hope to play (on defense),” Ferentz said.

Arizona sophomore quarterback Matt Scott simply wasn't ready for this defense in this atmosphere. But Penn State QB Darryl Clark has eight touchdown passes this year.

Clark faced Iowa last year in brutally raw weather, and 70,000 fans that treated him as coldly. Now he gets the Hawkeyes in his house, the White House with those 110,000 people wearing white and seeing red this Saturday.

Spievey says two teams will be on that big stage.

“We're going to go to Happy Valley to show the nation what we can do, try to knock them off again,” he said.

Confident, Amari?

“Determined,” he replied.

Asked if he mentioned Penn State in his postgame address to his squad, Ferentz coyly said “I just mentioned we're playing a Big Ten team next week. I think they knew who I was talking about.”

Penn State knows who it plays next, too.