Recovery ‘even more’ critical for Iowa football after 7-hour game

IOWA CITY — Iowa linebacker Jack Campbell tried to “get to bed right away” after his team’s game against Nevada.

Falling asleep shortly after playing 60 minutes of football, especially for a player on the field as much as Campbell is, “usually” isn’t something he can do.

“But after that one, I did,” Campbell said.

It was partially out of necessity.

After three lightning delays that led to a 1:39 a.m. finish, Iowa has a relatively short window to recover ahead of traveling to Rutgers for its first road trip of 2022.

“Recovery is always critical, but it’s even more so now,” quarterback Spencer Petras said.

Petras estimated he fell asleep at “3 or 3:30” Sunday morning after arriving at home and having some food, although it’s hard to say when exactly because “it’s all a blur.”

“All of our sleep schedules are a little screwed up still,” Petras said Tuesday.

The seven-hour game — “probably the longest game any of us were involved in,” Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said to reporters at his Tuesday news conference — was the first time a game at Kinnick Stadium had multiple weather delays.

Petras is confident he’ll be “very well rested for Saturday,” but getting to that stage is not easy.

“The hard part is if I nap during the day, I really don’t sleep well at night,” Petras said. “You kind of have to nap to make up, but you can’t ever really make up sleep.”

Rutgers had a head start in the training process. Its win against Temple ended at 4:19 p.m. (Central time) on Saturday — more than nine hours earlier than Iowa’s finish — and the Scarlet Knights don’t have to jump on a flight either.

“Our opponents did get a jump on us,” Petras said.

Ferentz moved Sunday’s team meetings back from 9 a.m. to the afternoon. Petras said he “probably had a couple cups” of coffee before that.

“We tried to get caught up,” Ferentz said. “I think we're pretty much where we need to be right now, but yesterday we were a little bit behind.”

Ferentz expects to make a similar adjustment to the schedule next week after a late-night flight from Rutgers.

“It's a debate how far to do it, but you just adjust as the circumstances present themselves,” Ferentz said.

At the end of the day, the recovery from last week is just one of many factors that will go into Saturday’s game.

“Hopefully there’s no delays when we get there, but we’re still playing the game at 7:10 or whatever time it is (6 p.m. CT), and it’s our job to make up that ground and recover and rest as best we can,” Petras said.

Iowa is a 7.5-point favorite, and Rutgers hasn’t won a Big Ten home game since 2017. Ferentz has plenty of respect for his Rutgers counterpart Greg Schiano, though.

“They definitely have an identity and know what they're trying to get accomplished,” Ferentz said. “And then more importantly, you can see their players embracing what it is they're doing.”

As the Hawkeyes catch up on sleep, they certainly won’t be sleeping on the Scarlet Knights.

“We're back in Big Ten play,” Ferentz said. “The guys we're playing are bigger, they're more athletic, and certainly Rutgers has a lot of guys that can cause problems.”

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