Hlas column: Hawkeyes halfway to 20 wins in a row!

Why stop at 10?

IOWA CITY - Iowa's football team has peeled off 10 straight wins, which seems pretty good until you leaf through the Hawkeye record book.

Then it seems fantastic.

It has been 86 years since Iowa's last double-digit win streak. From Greta Garbo to Lady Gaga, from Donald Duck to the Aflac Duck, from Prohibition to the countless empty beer cans clattering in the Kinnick Stadium parking lots late last Saturday night.

Iowa won its last two games in 1984 and first seven in 1985. It won nine in a row in 2002 before running into USC in the Orange Bowl. It won its last eight in 2004, then rolled over Ball State in its 2005 opener before falling at Iowa State.

But now, 10. The last four of 2008 and the first six of this season. That covers wins over teams from six different conferences, and a pair of keepers over Penn State.

This thing started with the 24-23 win against the Nittany Lions last November. Another 1-point victory (Northern Iowa) followed, as did a 2-pointer (Michigan), a 3-pointer (Arkansas State), and a 55-pointer (Minnesota).

No shock here, but Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz isn't gloating. In fact, he says he only sees six.

“I always struggle a little bit more with connecting seasons,” Ferentz said. “That's kind of cheating. Right now it's six in a row. We've found a way to come out on the right side six times this year.”

But the nation counts to 10. Florida has the longest winning streak in the NCAA's FBS with 15. Iowa's is second-longest. When they meet in the national-title game on Jan. 7, Florida's streak will be 23, Iowa's 16. If the Gators can hold up their end of the bargain, that is.

That's written in fun, yes, but the 10 in a row is no joke. The tightrope-walk Iowa has done with half of those wins decided by less than a touchdown, is something to be savored even if the Hawkeyes slip at Wisconsin Saturday.

“I know that stuff does get tracked, and I follow that, too,” Ferentz said. “Because if you're going to have a good football team and a good season and you play in a good conference, you're going to have to win some close games. It's a pleasing thing. It's been a real positive for us.”

But these Hawkeyes will need another 11 months to equal what the owners of the previous double-digit streak accomplished. Those were Iowa teams of 1920 through 1923. Over those four years, they won 20 in a row. Included were 7-0 marks in 1921 and 1922.

Twenty straight for the current Hawkeyes would mean wins at Wisconsin, Michigan State and Ohio State the rest of this regular-season. It would mean winning either the BCS title game or the Rose Bowl. And, it would mean a 3-0 start next season to put a new 20-game streak on the line against Ball State in Kinnick.

Which means it would probably be 21 when Penn State returned to Iowa City the following week. How many heads would gleefully explode in this state if that scenario played out?

The Iowa squads that won those 20 straight in the ‘20s did some cool things. Like:

??Winning two straight Big Ten titles.

? Snapping Notre Dame's own 20-game winning streak by beating Knute Rockne's 1921 team, 10-7.

? Winning 41-7 at Minnesota with Aubrey Devine passing for two touchdowns and rushing for four, kicking five extra-points, and amassing 122 passing yards, 162 rushing yards and 180 kick-return yards.

? Beating Yale 6-0 at New Haven in 1922. That was basically the national game of the year. Yale, then a football power, had never before lost to a team from the “West.”

? Creating so much interest in Hawkeye football that 9,600 seats were added to Iowa's old stadium on the east side of the Iowa River and the first formal discussions on building a larger football venue on the other side of the river were held.

That stadium opened in 1929. Last Saturday night, for the first time, it was the home of a team with a 10-game winning streak.

If that skein is stretched to 12 by the time the Hawkeyes again play in Kinnick, it means Iowa will have won at Wisconsin and Michigan State and really, really have accomplished something. Not that 10 straight is anything to dismiss lightly. Or six.

“Usually it hasn't been easy,” said Ferentz. “Even when it looked like it was easy, it wasn't easy.”

Is it an albatross carrying that unbeaten bull's eye on their backs?

“If it is, it's a burden we'll gladly accept,” Ferentz said. “Losing's a burden.”