Iowa Hawkeyes re-emerge to the world with a bang against Indiana

IOWA CITY — It was a pregame explosion that turned out just to be the mere snap and crackle to the big bang that quickly followed.

Everyone in the Kinnick Stadium crowd of 68,166 knew there would be a sound and fury in the minutes leading up to kickoff of Saturday’s Indiana-Iowa football game that would be loud and, well, furious.

“It felt like my first game in Kinnick again because it was loud and rowdy,” said Hawkeye senior cornerback Riley Moss, who did so much to raise the decibel level himself.

Those fans didn’t know their Hawkeyes would exceed their end of the bargain the way they did, with a 34-6 hammering of the Hoosiers.

It had been 22 months since a game here was open to the public. It felt like longer than 22 months of football solitary confinement to people who like to spend seven Saturdays per year here with 68,000 of their closest personal friends.

So all the familiar pregame rituals of Herky arriving on the field and the Swarm materializing from the tunnel and “Back in Black” blaring produced reactions bigger and more vocal than normal, and those things normally go over mighty big.

Then the game started, and it was football reasons that got Kinnick rocking hard enough to make AC/DC proud.

Bang! Tyler Goodson, ripping around right end and rolling 56 yards for a touchdown as the tight end firm of Sam LaPorta and Luke Lachey paved his way with Iowa textbook tight end blocking.

It was Iowa, 7-0, and the season was 1:25 old.

Bang bang! Moss, collaring an underthrown pass from Michael Penix Jr. that bounced off the hands and shoulder pads of Indiana wide receiver D.J. Matthews, and returning it 30 yards for a touchdown.

It was Iowa, 14-0, and the season was 2:15 old.

“I’ve always seen Riley as a playmaker,” said Iowa defensive end John Waggoner, and now the nation has as well.

Tea cups and saucers may have fallen off shelves in University Heights because of the crowd’s reaction to two such big plays in the span of 50 seconds.

This season-starting meeting of ranked teams immediately became a two-punch knockout, two teams immediately going in different directions on the national elevator.

The game settled down for a while, but the explosions and their accompanying roars returned in the second quarter for more Hoosier migraines.

Iowa had a 48-yard touchdown drive capped by a 9-yard scoring run up the middle by quarterback Spencer Petras, who some would have had you believe was no more mobile than the Kinnick statue outside the stadium.

Center deluxe Tyler Linderbaum was down in the end zone for too long after getting shaken up on the play. He said later that it was from a helmet to the thigh. It looked like Petras may have kicked him in the head as he crossed the goal line. Ultimately, no harm done.

“I was a little nervous for Lindy at first,” Petras said, “but there’s no tougher guy in college football than Tyler Linderbaum.”

“I wasn’t worried,” Linderbaum said. “I knew I’d be fine.

“I’ll talk to (Petras) tonight. We’ll have a good talk.”

It was 21-3 after Petras’ score, then 28-3 when Moss declared his very early candidacy for first-team All-America. Or the Jim Thorpe Award. Or at least the Hawkeyes’ Employee of the Week.

Penix telegraphed a pass to Cameron Buckley. Penix had reconstructive knee surgery nine months ago. He may need reconstruction to his confidence after all his picks and near-picks, and all the hurries by Iowa’s defense.

Moss embraced the gift and ran 55 yards untouched for his second pick-6 in two quarters.

“Yeah, I was just turning my head and there’s another Riley Moss pick-6,” Waggoner said.

“I just did my job and good things came from that,” said Moss, who had been an underrated talent until Saturday. He now has two interceptions in each of his four seasons, but has 11 and probably more games to top that this year.

Moss may have picked off Penix more in one half than he has intercepted Petras in all their practices together.

“He got me in spring ball at one of those open practices, but it’s funny,” Petras said. “He’s one of my roommates, one of my best friends. He rarely picks me off and I kind of let him hear that a lot.

“What a performance by him, such a great game.”

Get that man Moss some NIL gravy, pronto. We all remember Moss when he was just a man, not an Iowa football god.

Just like we all recall when this was supposed to be an extremely competitive contest. Everyone said it would. And it was, until the second minute.

Up those national rankings the Hawkeyes will climb Sunday. There will be no sneaking up on America now, not with this result against an Indiana team that was terrific last season and had been highly regarded entering this one.

No, Iowa declared itself a defensive force of nature in Game 1, and defensive forces of nature don’t go unnoticed.

All the noise just before kickoff will belong to Iowa State when it hosts Iowa in Game 2. Where things go in that game’s second, third, or 60th minute are anyone’s guess.

But the Hawkeyes held up their end of their bargain to make the Cy-Hawk kind of big. Now comes a different kind of sound and fury, the weeklong yammering about the game.

The wall of sound will belong to the Cyclones’ fans. It’s up to Iowa State’s offense to dent Iowa’s defensive wall.

Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com