While some Big Ten powers were staggered, Hawkeyes came out with swagger

MADISON, Wis. — It’s not too bad being Iowa football right now.

Saturday showed us some things about the Hawkeyes, none of which were bad. Some were displayed via other Big Ten teams.

We saw Indiana is even better than it appeared in its 20-15 win at Iowa two weekends ago. Good enough to win at Oregon, that’s how much better.

“I thought they were (a good team),” Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said late Saturday night. “I guess they are. Confirmed.”

We saw that Penn State, the preseason No. 2 team in America according to Associated Press, will bring a tire fire instead of a Lamborghini to Kinnick Stadium Saturday. The Nittany Lions lost 22-21 at home to Northwestern, lost quarterback Drew Allar to a leg injury for the rest of the season, and have dropped three straight games.

Penn State fell two weeks in a row as 3-touchdown favorites, which could be a first. It won’t be favored by any margin at Iowa.

Then we saw that Iowa didn’t get in the fetal position after its hard-fought loss to Indiana. It did some very good and thorough work in dissecting the forlorn Badgers 37-0 Saturday night at Camp Randall Stadium.

Wisconsin is lousy, but the Hawkeyes didn’t wallow in the mud with their hosts and let them rise from the ooze. Iowa seized defensive opportunities early with two first-half interceptions that led to touchdowns. That broke the Badgers’ will, and they stayed down and out.

The first pick was defensive end Brian Allen tipping a Hunter Simmons pass to defensive tackle Bryce Hawthorne.

“It didn’t feel real out there,” Hawthorne said.

The second interception was a gift from Simmons to defensive tackle Aaron Graves, who returned it 35 yards to the Wisconsin 1.

“The quarterback just turned right to me and we’re looking at each other, and he just tossed it to me,” Graves said. “It kind of worked out.”

It all kind of worked out here in the Hawkeyes’ first shutout at Camp Randall since 1929. Iowa can dispose of the Nittanies Saturday, and is there any reason they shouldn’t go helmet to helmet with Oregon in November at Kinnick?

We hear brand names like Oregon and Penn State and assume they’re football royalty though they’re using 21-year-olds like everyone else. We used to think the same about Wisconsin, which went to a bunch of Rose Bowls and rushed for a million yards over the last three decades. No more.

Iowa flattened the Badgers in Kinnick last year, 42-10. This was the sequel, “Scream 2” if you’re a Badger.

It’s the halfway point of the season and the best team the Hawkeyes have beaten is Rutgers, but they look like a group that can have a lot more fun in the second six games.

“The guys have done a good job of handling highs and lows thus far,” Ferentz said, “and then the rest of the story is that we've got things we get better at. Our passing game is hardly sharp, but I think that's a byproduct of Mark (Gronowski) missing some time and being a little bit limited in the work that he got. But I'm encouraged that can get better.

“So I think we still can get a lot better. And I feel the same way about our defense.”

Iowa’s defensive linemen surely won’t be intercepting passes against good college quarterbacks, but any shutout in the Big Ten is a statement. The best chance Wisconsin had to score was on a bomb to the end zone that looked good for a moment, but Iowa cornerbackTJ Hall broke it up and then raised his arms to the fans to celebrate himself.

It was an un-Iowa gesture, but maybe this club functions better with swagger.

The Wisconsin students did “Jump Around” as always between the third and fourth quarters. So did some Hawkeye players on their sideline as the stadium lights flashed on and off.

Back from a knee injury that knocked him out of the Indiana game, the biggest risk to Gronowski’s health may have been him bouncing around to the music.

“I think it was just us having fun out there,” Hall said.

“I just thought our everything was there. Like our focus, our intensity, our effort. … I’m getting excited each and every week for this team. I just feel like we're growing and growing every day.”

Next is Penn State, at Kinnick, at night. A sudden tire fire against an Iowa team that knew it was its time for the rubber to hit the road and responded with action.

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