Deacon Hill fits with Iowa’s messy offense, and Hawkeyes somehow win again

IOWA CITY — “How to Win At Football with a Deficient Offense” doesn’t sound like something Prairie Lights Books would worry about keeping in stock, but it remains an oft-told story here in this UNESCO City of Literature.

Add another weird chapter. Iowa’s 20-14 win over Purdue Saturday in the Big Ten What, er Whoops, er West, was the latest offensive fever dream that didn’t leave the Hawkeyes ill. Yet again, the Hawkeyes survived flawed offense and found a victory through the looking glass.

It ruins magic tricks to learn how they’re done, but you can’t help but be curious. How can Iowa be 5-1 when it has hit the low bar of 300 yards just once? How can it be 5-1 when it has been outgained five times?

Now, Iowa is winning a Big Ten game despite completing 6 of 21 passes. That’s not how this is supposed to work. Yet, there were the Hawkeyes on the good side of a 20-14 final score against Purdue Saturday at Kinnick Stadium.

Iowa quarterback Deacon Hill was Benny Hill for much of the game when it came to passing, but they don’t ask how, just how many. After an afternoon of throwing balls far and wide of receivers, when Iowa needed a play on third-and-2 at the Purdue 22 in the first minute of the fourth quarter, Hill made it.

With Purdue looking for short stuff, Hill threw a perfect pass to tight end Erick All out of play-action. All made a nice grab for a touchdown and a 20-7 lead. With 14:24 still to play, it was the last pass Hill threw as the Hawkeyes held on tightly the rest of the way.

Hill gave a big fist pump after his touchdown connection, a winner’s fist pump. Why not? He’s 1-0 as a starter, 2-0 overall.

Hill’s performance was messy enough to fit right in with Iowa’s offense. Also, it somehow turned out fine.

“Obviously, I thought I was shaky,” Hill said. “In the first half I was a little jittery.”

The trick is to never let your teammates see you sweat.

“He didn’t show it a bit,” said All, who had all but one of Iowa’s receptions. “I’m surprised he said he was jittery early.

“He’s a calm guy. He’s always just someone I can rely on when it comes to bringing the team together and calming us down.”

A more-calming influence was Iowa working a run game effectively at certain moments. Kaleb Johnson, Boilermaker bane for a second-straight year, got Iowa a lead it kept with a 67-yard touchdown dash, and had 67 more yards. The offensive line had its best game of the season, blowing open a hole on Johnson’s scoring run.

Hill got sacked just once by a team that entered with 17 of them. Iowa came to the game last in the nation in sacks per game, but got to Purdue’s Hudson Card a whopping six times. Card’s numbers were better than Hill’s, but he got stymied just as often.

On Iowa’s first drive of the second half, Hill fired a deep shot to All. It was a jump ball, and All leapt for a 33-yard grab that set up a field goal.

After all Hill’s first-half struggles (3-of-14, one interception, 28 yards), that pass seemed to say he wasn’t going away. And he didn’t.

“I told him maybe I thought he was pressing a little bit and just to relax,” Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said. “Just keep playing and you’re going to be OK. Don’t squeeze the club, you know.

“I quit golf 30 years ago for a good reason. I couldn’t get that concept down. At some point you have to let things happen and don’t overdo it.”

The rest of this season may be squeezing the club and then remembering to let it do the work. The club, in this case, is the offensive line. And another club is Iowa’s defense, which looked more like the Hawkeyes of the last couple years than it has all season.

Iowa gained a mere 6 yards between Johnson’s 67-yard touchdown run on the Hawkeyes’ second possession and his 33-yard run with five minutes left in the first half. And still bumped its lead from 7-0 to 10-0.

Crazily, given the stats, Iowa could have won this one without nervousness. Cooper DeJean had yet another long interception return for Iowa, this one late in the first quarter. Unfortunately for his team, he finished 5 yards short of his fourth career pick-6 and second TD in two weeks.

His team’s offense then went from first-and-goal at the 5 to third-and-goal at the 18, and settled for three points. Iowa had a first down at the Purdue 6 on its first drive of the second half, but managed just another Drew Stevens field goal.

OK, two first-and-goals inside the 6, and you don’t just have your 258-pound quarterback running a couple of sneaks toward the goal line? Well, that’s nitpicking this day. A win is a win, no matter how wacky they look.

Now then: How many points can Iowa get at Wisconsin in the coming Saturday? Hill returns to visit his former team, and a defense that doesn’t figure to be hospitable.

That game will be for the upper hand in the Big Ten Why, er Worst, er West race. It should be, uh, interesting?

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