Wisconsin 26, Iowa 24: Elimination

IOWA CITY - The Hawkeyes dug their fingernails into the championship portion of the season. They pulled, they tugged and put out their best, most complete effort in 2014.

Melvin Gordon ran around and through and over that effort. Wisconsin's nationally No. 1 defense tackled that effort.

The Hawkeyes scored to pull within 26-24 with 5:01 left in the game, but that was as close as they would get. No. 15 Wisconsin headlocked them and ground out the final minutes before 68,610 fans Saturday at Kinnick Stadium.

The clinching run came from UW quarterback Joel Stave, who scrambled for 12 yards on a third-and-8. Iowa has to use its final timeout and it was championship formation for real for the No. 15 Badgers (9-2, 6-1 Big Ten), who face Minnesota for the Big Ten West Division title next weekend in Madison.

The championship season is over for the Hawkeyes (7-4, 4-3). They went out throwing their best punches. It was too little, too late.

'You ever play football?” Iowa quarterback Jake Rudock asked after being asked if this one hurt more because it was so close and gut-wrenching. Rudock wasn't lashing out, he was trying to make a point.

'Anytime you lose, it hurts,” he said. 'It's hard to put into words. It's brutal, it's a little tough to sleep at night sometimes.”

There's no need to lose any sleep. Wisconsin won this. Iowa poured out everything, but the Badgers were just that much better.

Gordon had his FBS record of 408 rushing yards in a game broken by Oklahoma running back Samaje Perin (427 yards on 34 carries), but the junior did nothing to hurt his Heisman Trophy candidacy, rushing 31 times for 200 yards, including an 88-yarder that was the longest run of his career, and leading the Badgers with four receptions for 64 yards.

The back-breaker was a 35-yard catch on a third-and-13 from the Badgers' 32. Iowa free safety Jordan Lomax was charged with covering Gordon, who sneaked by and cradled a perfect pass from Stave. Two plays later, Gordon waited for his blocks to set up and then hit the throttle to the outside for a 23-yard TD and a 26-17 lead with 7:44 left in the game.

'They were doing everything in their power and hats off to those guys,” said Gordon, commenting on the pounding he took Saturday. 'Those guys were phenomenal. Hats off to Iowa.”

The Hawkeyes fell behind 16-3 at halftime. The Iowa coaches weren't taking suggestions, but as the assistants in the press box made their way down to the locker room at half, an angry fan yelled at offensive coordinator Greg Davis to throw the ball downfield more.

Security was called and peace was restored. Let the record show that it wasn't the angry press box yeller who called the plays in the second half. The score dictated bombs away for the Hawkeyes. It almost worked.

Iowa's three second-half scoring drives were seven plays for 70 yards, six plays for 82 yards and seven plays for 86 yards. Rudock finished 20 of 30 for 311 yards and two TDs.

'There are going to be things both teams can feel good about,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. 'We lost. There's nothing good about that. That's not on the books.

'But how you play is important ... That old cliche about win or lose, that's a bunch of crap. Winning is what you work so hard for ... The effort was good, the competitiveness was good, but it's things that weren't good enough.”

Rudock scored on a 3-yard run to pull Iowa within 19-17 with 11:10 left in the game. Iowa was forced to burn a timeout during the try for two-point conversion because the officials didn't place the ball where Iowa wanted it, Ferentz said. The ensuing pass failed and the rest of it was trying to catch Gordon and an offense that just stayed one step ahead of the Hawkeyes.

All the numbers in this game said neck-and-neck to the bitter end. Iowa finished with 412 yards of offense to Wisconsin's 405. Iowa ran 58 plays to UW's 56. Iowa averaged 7.1 yards per play, while Wisconsin was 7.2.

Somewhere in those margins is two points. Was it running back Mark Weisman's fumble on the game's opening drive? The Badgers turned that into Rafael Gaglianone's 50-yard field goal. Was it just one third down too many for the Badgers?

Those questions will ring out for six days. Iowa has to get over this fast with the turnaround into Friday's season finale against Nebraska (8-3, 4-3).

'All of this disappointment and anger, we're going to unleash it on Nebraska,” linebacker Quinton Alston said. 'I hope they're ready. It's senior night and I'm not going out with a loss.”

Certainly, Saturday night was a sleepless night in Iowa City.

l Comments: (319) 398-8256; marc.morehouse@thegazette.com