Another dreaded deadlock: Iowa, Ohio State tie; it's no loss, says Fry

(Published 11/13/1988)

IOWA CITY -

The ties have it.

Jeff Skillett's field goal with 16 seconds left Saturday insured Iowa of its most ambivalent football season in history.

The kick - Skillett's only successful attempt in four chances - evened Iowa into a 24-24 outcome with Ohio State in the last home game of the year.

"It wasn't a damn loss. It was a tie. You have to understand that," Hawkeye Coach Hayden Fry said. "Nobody's happy with it. But it beats losing."

The stalemate was Iowa's third this year - a school record - but the decision was not a popular one with several thousand soggy Kinnick Stadium fans. They booed when Skillett and the field goal team came on the field and even booed again when the kick split the uprights.

"We get paid to make those decisions. The fans don't," Fry said testily.

The Iowa coach explained the field goal by saying he thought his team still had a chance to win by recovering an onside kick and scoring again.

But Ohio State lineman Joe Staysniak covered Skillett's onside attempt to foil those plans.

"We were trying to win the game," Fry said. "Otherwise we wouldn't have tried an onside kick, because if we failed it would give Ohio State excellent field position and that's what happened."

But the Buckeyes, 10-point underdogs, did nothing on two plays as the clock ran out.

"I certainly don't like the tie," OSU Coach John Cooper said.

The Peach Bowl scout at the game, D.J. Mackovets, was a little uneasy about it, too. Sources said early in the week Iowa had cut a deal to play in the Peach Bowl on New Year's Eve regardless of the outcome of this game. Apparently, the deal still stands.

"(The tie) has not affected our thoughts about Iowa coming to our bowl game," Mackovets said.

An official invitation cannot be offered until Saturday, when Iowa plays at Minnesota. Ironically, two of the other teams the Peach Bowl was looking at as possible opponents for the Hawks, North Carolina State and Duke, battled to a 43-43 tie Saturday.

"A bowl game is not on our minds right now," quarterback Chuck Hartlieb said. "There's no talk of that."

The non-decision left Iowa with a 3-1-3 record in the Big Ten, locking up a 10th straight upper division finish. The Hawkeyes also avoided a losing season; they're 5-3-3 overall with two games left.

"It's the most incredible football season I've ever been associated with," Fry said.

"Wake me up. It's really a nightmare," said Hartlieb, who threw for 360 yards and touchdowns to Marv Cook and Deven Harberts. "I could never comprehend this type of year."

Some of the players kept their humor about the situation, however "I just wish I had a good-looking sister," said Cook.

In many ways, it was an afternoon of opportunities lost. Iowa held a 21-7 lead with less than 19 minutes gone in the game, but would not score again until Skillett's field goal.

In between, the Hawkeyes drove to the Ohio State 23, 36, 29, 32, 14 and 8-yard lines without getting any points. Skillett missed field goals of 46, 31, and 32 yards in the 40-degree, rainy conditions.

"We didn't capitalize on the opportunity we had," Hartlieb said. "That's the trademark of a winning team - to put together four quarters. It's something we haven't been able to do all year.

Iowa's inability to score coincided with a knee injury to running back Tony Stewart.

With Stewart in the game, the Hawks scored on two long drives in the first half and took advantage of a Brad Quast interception for a third TD.

But Stewart, who became the first sophomore in Iowa history to go over the 1,000-yard mark, twisted his left knee midway through the second quarter and did not return.

"How many times do you lose a 1,000-yard rusher and not have it be factor?" Fry asked.

"In the second half, we knew they lost their good runner in the first half and we tried to blitz 'em a lot more," Cooper said.

Stewart, who has 1,036 yards, may be seriously hurt. "It looks like he tore up his knee," Fry said.

Tackles Bob Kratch and Jeff Croston also left the game with injuries, as did wide receiver Jon Filloon.

Injuries also threw several new faces into Iowa's starting lineup, including left guard Greg Aegerter (for Jim Poynton), fullback Nick Bell (for David Hudson), wide receiver Sean Smith, defensive tackle Matt Ruhland and cornerback Anthony Wright.

Ohio State, which got its first touchdown on a 13-yard interception return by nose guard Mike Sullivan, fought back behind the passing of Greg Frey to tight end Jeff Ellis.

Ellis, the son of former heavyweight boxing champ Jimmy Ellis, caught a 2-yard TD pass to close the Buckeyes to within 21-14 at halftime. The 6-foot-4, 230-pound sophomore caught 8 passes for 97 yards after dropping his first one.

The Buckeyes tied the game at 21-21 on their first possession of the second half on Scotty Graham's 7-yard run.

Hartlieb kept making connections with Harberts (6 catches, 129 yards) and Cook (7 for 115), but no points were forthcoming.

Pat O'Morrow's 39-yard field goal with 8:21 left in the game gave Ohio State its only lead at 24-21.

The Hawkeyes caught a break on the second-half kickoff, when Smith fumbled the ball and downed it in the end zone for a safety. But an Ohio State player was ruled offsides on the kick, nullifying the play.

The officials also allowed Ohio State to punt with the wind after time clearly expired at the end of the third quarter.

Ohio State, seeking to avoid its first losing season since 1966, is 4-5-1 overall and 2-4-1 in the Big Ten. The Buckeyes meet Michigan next week.