You don't want to see Marvin mad

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- You've seen Marvin McNutt do just about everything this season. After Saturday, that everything includes a dropped touchdown pass.

McNutt twisted his Purdue defender into the Ross-Ade Stadium turf with a post route. James Vandenberg's ball was a little behind him and about hip high, but McNutt said he should've had what would've been a 23-yard TD pass.

Iowa lived to tell during its 31-21 victory at Purdue, but that particular drive ended with no points, after kicker Mike Meyer doinked a 34-yard field goal off the right upright.

"I was real mad, especially knowing it was a touchdown, we don't drop those," McNutt said. "That what football is, how do you handle adversity, during the season, during the game? The way we handled it, shows a lot about the team."

Yes and yes. McNutt and the Hawkeyes handled it fine.

After a Vandenberg fumble was recovered in Iowa's end zone for a Purdue TD, the Hawkeyes marched 70 yards on 11 plays and scored their first TD inside two minutes of a half or end of the game in five weeks (TD with 1:00 left in the first half against Indiana).

Of course, McNutt rebounded. You kind of figured that.

He finished Saturday with nine catches for 151 yards and two TDs. He passed Mo Brown (2002) for the single-season TD reception record now with 12.

McNutt's bobbling 51-yard TD catch early in the fourth quarter pretty much bagged the Boilermakers, giving Iowa a 31-14 lead with 14:52 left in the game.

"I don't know what happened," McNutt said. "They told me to stop trying to dribble it. When I finally got a hold of it, I broke a tackle and just kind of took off."

The last records out there for McNutt are receptions. With 162 in his career, he needs 11 to tie Derrell Johnson-Koulianos for the record. This season, McNutt has 74, eight off Kevin Kasper's 82 in 2000.

Vandenberg knows what time it is. Of course, he's not going to let his star wide receiver take the hit for the non-TD drop.

"It was my bad, I told him that," Vandenberg said. "I threw it a touch low, right on his hip. That's an awkward spot; do you turn your hands over or do you flip them?

"Knowing Marvin, it's not going to affect him, it's only going to make him more mad and that makes him a little more hungry to get into the end zone."