Hawkeyes saw red vs. Wisconsin and yet again are the bulls of November

IOWA CITY — It was cold and mean and rough and ugly. The weather wasn’t very nice, either.

This was Wisconsin-Iowa, always a sight for sore eyes, football as a cage fight instead of high art. It’s the Upper Midwest in mid-November, where you toughen up the later the year gets, or you curl into a ball.

The Hawkeyes, again this year, have toughened up as the days have gotten shorter. Thirteen consecutive November wins. Saturday’s came with a preposterous offensive total of 146 yards, yet Iowa somehow out-toughed and outplayed its northeast neighbors and won at Kinnick Stadium, 24-10.

Absurd as it seemed three weeks ago after a 54-10 shellacking by Ohio State left it 3-4 overall and 1-3 in the Big Ten, Iowa will almost surely be the West’s representative in the league championship if it wins its final two regular-season games to get to 6-3 in the conference.

But that’s looking ahead, a cardinal sin here. Who do we fight next? That’s always the only question asked here by the team that climbed off the canvas at around an 8-count after the debacle in Columbus. Say what you will about thus year’s Hawkeyes, they sure don’t have glass jaws.

As it was at Purdue the week before, Iowa’s defense was overwhelming against Wisconsin. The Badgers had averaged 32 points over their last four games. Braelon Allen had rushed for at least 113 yards in each of those.

Here? It was 10 points for Bucky, and 40 yards on 17 carries for Braelon. It was three turnovers taken by Iowa, just one given. It was the Hawkeyes with a pick-6 courtesy of Cooper DeJean.

But defense wasn’t the difference-maker, just the equalizer. It was special teams that pushed the Hawkeyes over the top.

Oh, what a game DeJean had. A pick-6 is plenty, but the Badgers will see him in their nightmares for a while, coming out of every corner.

With Iowa clinging to the 14-10 lead it held at halftime, neither team moved the ball any distance worth mentioning for most of the third quarter. When the fourth quarter began, however, the Hawkeyes were 5 yards from the Wisconsin end zone. Because of DeJean.

First, he had come charging at Wisconsin punt-returner Dean Engram, influencing Engram to let the ball Tory Taylor booted to skip past him as he was standing at the Badger 17. Then, DeJean charged after the bouncing ball, where he scooped it and flipped it backward to teammate Jamison Heinz at the Wisconsin 1.

With the lousy field position, it wasn’t long before Wisconsin punted. Which both teams did nine times. DeJean, returning punts because Arland Bruce missed the game with an injury, returned the punt 41 yards to the Wisconsin 18. Five plays later, Iowa punched it in for a 21-10 advantage.

The best offense really is a good defense/special teams group. Well, that’s if you’re the Hawkeyes. And the best special teams are with your most-special players. DeJean, star linebacker Jack Campbell, this key defender and that key defender — they don’t shy away from special teams duty.

It isn’t that way everywhere. Some players don’t want to be the mayhem-makers on kick teams and risk getting hurt and missing out on showcasing their defensive talents.

“That goes back to Day 1, 23-plus years ago,” Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said. “That was one thing that was just a building block for our program. … figured it was the first thing maybe we could get good at because we weren't very good at anything initially.

“So now you circle back to Cooper who's easily leading the team in snaps right now. I think probably the only time he comes off would be kickoff, kickoff return (and field goal teams). … He's playing every snap on defense.

“The good players I've been around want to play on special teams, and then we have to pull them back. … But it's tough sometimes because some guys can really make a difference, and it's going to be hard to take (DeJean) off any of these teams moving forward.”

Iowa second-team defensive end Deontae Craig, who had 1.5 sacks of harangued Wisconsin quarterback Graham Mertz, made a jackpot special teams play with 11 minutes left in the first half.

Iowa was down 3-0, with the 0 looking like it might stay with the home team indefinitely. Craig blocked a punt, and Iowa took over at the Badger 17. Two plays later, the Hawkeyes had a 7-3 lead and never trailed again.

“I saw an opening, took it inside, and was able to punch the ball,” Craig said.

He punched it so hard, in fact, after the game he said his right forearm still ached.

“A ‘W’ takes all the pain away,” Craig said.

Isn’t that the truth? Iowa’s offense was back to its unproductive self of the first seven games, averaging 2.1 yards per play and 1.2 yards per rush. The Badgers sacked Spencer Petras six times. Yet, it’s all forgivable this time because the Hawkeyes held on to the ball better than their foes, and didn’t lose the game.

This was a day for fans who absolutely have to be at Kinnick, not the social butterflies of decent weather who flee on frigid late-season Saturdays to huddle with the warmth emitted from their televisions.

This was cold and mean and rough and ugly. You can gain a measly 146 yards and still whip respected rival Wisconsin. In a game in which some fans booed Iowa’s offense in the first half, the Hawkeyes paraded a bronzed bull in front of those fans once the game was over.

What a season. What a nutty, bizarre, peculiar season, and there’s good reason to pay attention to the rest of it.

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