Halftime thoughts: Iowa 10, Purdue 10

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Iowa should win this game. I think.

The Hawkeyes stumbled and bumbled and trailed 10-0, and it could have been worse. Then Iowa's defense went into lockdown, and Purdue quarterback Danny Etling didn't exactly look like former Boilermaker Drew Brees. Or Kyle Orton. Or one of countless good/great Purdue QBs of the past.

C.J. Beathard entered the game having completed 81.8 percent of his passes (9-of-11). That ratio had nowhere to go but down, but four drops (and two or three others that could have been reeled in by receivers) made Beathard's 10-of-21 look way worse than it was.

Beathard was far from perfect, but he hit Jacob Hillyer in the end zone for what should have been a go-ahead touchdown in the last 30 seconds, and Hillyer dropped it. So instead of Iowa 14-10, it's 10-10.

But the pass Beathard threw that was picked off for a 39-yard touchdown return by Frankie Williams? That was on the quarterback. So no one points fingers in the dressing room, except maybe the coaches.

Iowa's 2-minute offense has been its best offense this season.

Was that pass interference on Purdue cornerback Anthony Brown in the second quarter?

It doesn't matter. Back judge Jack Lynian called it when Iowa had a 3rd-and-6 at the Purdue 49, preventing another Iowa 3-and-out, and extending a drive that would result in a touchdown to cut the Boilermakers' lead to 10-7.

I thought it was a marginal call from the press box. But like I said, it doesn't matter. They called it, and Iowa seized the opportunity the call provided.

Iowa senior defensive tackle Louis Trinca-Pasat did a martial arts bow after sacking Purdue quarterback Danny Etling in the second quarter.

He didn't get called for unsportsmanlike conduct, but he could have. The bow was very gentle. I'm betting we won't see it again this season, at least not until Iowa's bowl game. If there's a bowl game.

Oh, there will be a bowl game.

Jonathan Parker has a 47-yard kickoff return and a 34-yard reception in which he did most of the work. The red-shirt freshman from St. Louis is my first-half MVP for Iowa.

This is Iowa's third trip here in the last four years. If you're the Hawkeyes, you have to play four Big Ten road games so you probably prefer they come against the softer touches.

But for a rousing college football atmosphere, Purdue isn't it. It's homecoming, and judging by the attendance, you'd think a lot of students took it literally and went home for the weekend.

Iowa's team had to bus it from Iowa City to Lafayette because its team plane couldn't get from Chicago to Cedar Rapids because of the fire at the FAA's traffic control facility in Aurora, Ill.

That required far less fossil fuel, so the Hawkeyes' carbon footprint isn't as quite as bad as it would have been.

The team got to Lafayette around 9 p.m., Friday. What would have happened had it been a week earlier when they played at Pittsburgh? Or in late October, when they play at Maryland?

It would have been a real pickle, that's what.

Speaking of Chicago, I covered the Ryder Cup at Medinah two Septembers ago. It was, without exaggeration, one of the most-memorable sporting events I've ever attended.

When Ian Poulter birdied his last five holes on Saturday afternoon to rally him and Rory McIlroy to a doubles win over Zach Johnson and Jason Dufner and cut the U.S. lead to 10-6 going into Sunday's singles, I still didn't think the Europeans had much of a chance. But the way their fans were singing and chanting as they filed out of the grounds of the golf course made you think those people were way too happy for needing to win eight of Sunday's 12 singles matches to retain the Cup.

I followed the Zach Johnson-Graeme McDowell Sunday, and that match wasn't at all a portent of U.S. trouble to come. Johnson got off to a great start and finished McDowell off at the 17th hole. But all around him, bad things were happening for the Americans. They only got worse.

The tension on the course was like little I've felt in sports. I was at the 18th green when Jim Furyk and later Steve Stricker were beaten on the final hole. Furyk was bent over with his hands on his head for at least 10 seconds after he failed to halve his match. I saw the shock of the U.S. team and its fans, the utter glee of the Euros.

What surprised me was just how much this mattered to everyone involved. It was great.

I don't know if Sunday in Scotland will have similar drama or greatness. That 10-6 Europe lead looks pretty imposing, and the U.S. didn't have a Saturday closing kick like the Euros did two years ago. But after driving through home from here tonight, I need to find out in the morning.