Hawkeyes tune out and turn off noise in walloping of Northwestern

IOWA CITY — You’ve perhaps heard the quote “I once cried because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet.”

Such was Iowa’s football team Saturday, and such was Northwestern’s. The Hawkeyes, scorned for their offensive futility by Mr. and Ms. America from border to border, coast to coast, and all the ships at sea, were shoeless.

Then they met the Wildcats of Northwestern, a team with one victory this season and no feet.

Iowa’s offense played like it was reborn in building a 20-0 halftime lead. The Hawkeyes blocked, they ran the ball with authority, they threw good passes. It was a performance as sunny as the sky under which it was played at Kinnick Stadium, and it was oh, so needed.

They brought it home for a 33-13 win, assuring they wouldn’t go 0-for-October. Thirty-three points. Seven different scoring drives. Nirvana.

Iowa (4-4) can now be ignored by the nation for a while instead of enduring yet another week of insults. Even ESPN’s College GameDay was hard on the Hawkeyes Saturday, though Kirk Herbstreit did remind viewers Iowa had the Big Ten West’s best overall record from 2018 to 2021.

‘Tis better to be anonymous than dreadful, and everyone here would be thrilled to go unnoticed with sufficient offense rather than be called out for the dreadful train wreck of an offense we saw in most of games 1 through 7.

Yes, Northwestern is a mess and has been since it won the Big Ten West two years ago. Yes, the three FBS teams Iowa has defeated were a combined 2-12 in their conferences entering Saturday night. It didn’t matter a bit this day.

The Hawkeyes needed a punching bag, got one, and pounded away. Just like they did on so many other Saturdays over the last several years against the mediocrities of the West.

Iowa wide receiver Arland Bruce IV ran 23 yards on a jet sweep for a touchdown that gave his team a 33-7 lead with five minutes left in the third quarter. For Bruce, who had 25 catches and three rushing TDs last season as a freshman, it had to feel great to be part of an offense again.

It had to feel great for everyone. Moving sophomore Connor Colby back to guard from tackle seemed to instantly make him a more confident, effective offensive lineman.

“I thought I did pretty good and overall as a team we took a step forward,” Colby said.

Senior quarterback Spencer Petras certainly wasn’t the people’s choice to start this game, but he started it all the same. He played as crisply and smartly as he has in a long time. Having time to throw surely didn’t trouble him.

“I think I’m happy with how I threw the ball,” Petras said. “I thought my decisions were clean, mostly all day, taking what the defense gave.”

C.J. Stroud, Hendon Hooker and Max Duggan are getting the national quarterback love. But wouldn’t you like to have a little of what Petras has inside him, the ability to receive as much criticism as maybe any QB in America and keep coming back to compete?

You knew Northwestern would be in for a battle against Iowa’s defense, and it was a battle the Wildcats couldn’t win. When your quarterback gets sacked once for every point you score, you’re in a dire situation. It was a team with no feet.

Iowa? It had new shoes, dancing shoes. That was a “398” in the Hawkeyes’ yardage ledger. That’s not a headline-making number a lot of places on a lot of Saturdays. But it’s headline material here for a week, and gets the team off a lot of lowlights lists.

Petras threw 30 passes without a miscue, completing 21 of them. He took what was given, over and over. The throws were where they were supposed to go, the timing was right, the choices were sound, the job got done.

No one is calling this Iowa’s Big Turnaround, the start of domination from here through the Whatnot Mayo Bowl or whatever. But it was positive. Any kind of win would have been welcomed, but this kind is best. This was all three units taking care of business.

The Hawkeyes had been put through the ringer at Illinois and Ohio State, during and after those games, and didn’t call it a season.

With all the outside noise from so many corners, it would have been easy and understandable for the team to start checking out. But this is why results in college football are so wildly unpredictable. Most teams and most players never quit.

This is the their passion, their lives for four or five years and really much longer than that. They trip, they fall, they come back for more. The alternative isn’t acceptable.

“Hopefully this will give our guys confidence and at least start building it a little bit,” said Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz. “One thing I did tell them is … sometimes you can be really close to something. You have no idea. Unless you keep pushing, you’ll never know.”

Northwestern may well rise up and clip someone before November ends. Iowa can’t be counted out against any of its four remaining foes, nor can those opponents be disregarded.

In the meantime, Iowa is just another 4-4 team and won’t be discussed much by anyone beyond our state borders. Usually, that’s not good. This week, however, the Hawkeyes will find it delightful.

Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com