Pace leaves Hawkeyes with hands on hips

EVANSTON, Ill. -- The international sign of "tired" in a college football game is the hands on the hips. The Hawkeyes were all sorts of hands on the hips in the fourth quarter Saturday.

From its perpetual two-minute offense, Northwestern pasted together back-to-back drives of 85 and 91 yards to steal a 21-17 victory at Ryan Field. By the time Northwestern quarterback Dan Persa hit wide receiver Demetrius Fields for a 20-yard TD with 1:22 left, the Wildcats had run 82 offensive plays and the Hawkeyes' defense into the ground.

"They run that hurry-up offense with that fast quarterback," defensive tackle Karl Klug said. "Once he starts running around, it gets tiring."

The pace forced the Hawkeyes to play seven defensive linemen. Defensive end Adrian Clayborn rotated out several times in favor of junior Lebron Daniel in the second half. Junior Broderick Binns also worked in for senior end Christian Ballard.

The pace also emptied Iowa's gas tank and limited the Hawkeyes on the amount of personnel packages they could use against the Cats' relentless spread option.

Iowa played base 4-3 most of the day. When it could make a change, Iowa used a dime package with defensive backs B.J. Lowery and Greg Castillo.

The time of possession didn't swing wildly toward Northwestern, with the Cats owning a slight 31:09 to 28:51 edge. NU did convert 9 of 16 third downs to just 2 of 14 for Iowa, so it did give itself more rope.

But the pace was relentless.

At the end of seemingly every play, Persa was back under center looking for a play from the sideline, while Iowa was hands on hips.

"I think we do what we do," Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald. "At the end of the day, we have philosophical approach we want to play and that's the way we go about our business 365 days a year and not just on game day.

"We want to play fast, we want to play at an up-tempo level and that's contrasting styles with us and Iowa."

In all three of Iowa's losses this season, the defense has yielded a fourth-quarter touchdown that would eventually beat the Hawkeyes. That is a pattern.

"In the hurry-up, it's hard to get guys on and off the field," safety Tyler Sash said. "On critical downs, we sent a couple pressures on them today, but they did a good job."

With about 13 minutes left in the fourth quarter, ESPN's broadcast showed a Clayborn and Ballard on a knee on the sidelines on a third down.

"That's what a high-tempo offense can do, put an all-American candidate on the sidelines gasping for air," ESPN analyst Chris Spielman said on the broadcast. "He's [Clayborn] got to be back in there. He's all-Big Ten, all-American candidate. I understand getting rest, it's the fourth quarter. He's got to get back in there."