Win over pesky Wisconsin gives Iowa football some joyous moments

IOWA CITY — Iowa’s defensive players did not waste any time making their way to the northeast corner of Kinnick Stadium.

When 20 seconds still stood on the clock, Kaevon Merriweather estimated he was “probably halfway on the field.”

“I was at the end of the field before it even hit zero,” Merriweather said.

Defensive lineman Deontae Craig was already tired, but that did not stop him from running one more time.

“That run, that was all exhilaration,” Craig said.

Iowa’s offensive players had no chance to outrun Merriweather and other defensive players’ sprint to finally claim the Heartland Trophy.

“They beat us down there first,” tight end Sam LaPorta said after the defense thrived in the 24-10 win. “They deserved it today. They played their butts off.”

It was part of a joyous afternoon-turned-evening as the Hawkeyes finally took down a Wisconsin team that has dominated the border-state rivalry lately.

Eight of the previous 10 games and five of the previous six ended with Wisconsin taking home the bronze bull.

Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz told his team Monday to not “expect any freebies” against Wisconsin because they were going to have to “earn it.”

"Or you’re going to go home sad,“ Ferentz said. ”We’ve had a few of those, and it’s not much fun.”

Linebacker Jack Campbell said Saturday’s game was the type of game you “fall asleep and dream about.”

“When you sign your National Letter of Intent to play at a Big Ten university, these are the kinds of games you fantasize about,” Campbell said.

After Logan Lee’s game-clinching fumble recovery in the fourth quarter, Campbell took the ball and threw it to the section with families of Iowa players.

“I was trying to aim for his family,” Campbell said.

Someone had saved a football for Campbell before, so he was “trying to do the same thing for Logan.”

“Trying to aim” was different from successfully aiming.

“It’s a good thing I don’t play quarterback,” Campbell said. “I think I hit someone in the head. … We’ve got to figure out if they got it.”

After his throw, he noticed the ball guys “going up in the stands” to try to retrieve it — a clear sign “they cared about that football.”

“I hope Wisconsin can afford a new football,” Campbell said.

As for carrying the oh-so-elusive bronze bull across the Kinnick Stadium turf, LaPorta did not care who arrived in the corner first to carry it.

“I’m just glad that it’s back with us,” LaPorta said.

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com