2015 Hawkeyes still hold 2014 edition up for motivation

IOWA CITY - At some point, maybe the 2015 Hawkeyes will stop playing against the 2014 Hawkeyes.

Maybe not. Maybe this week when Iowa (4-0) opens Big Ten play at Wisconsin (3-1). Maybe not at all.

Whatever works.

'We had more confidence in us than anybody on the outside,” quarterback C.J. Beathard said after Iowa dunked on North Texas (0-3), 62-16, last weekend at Kinnick Stadium. 'I don't think anybody had us (with a 4-0 record) other than us and these coaches. We're a close-knit group of guys. We've worked through it all, from the ups and downs.”

It's on the tips of their tongues almost all the time. Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz this week was asked about the first-ever rugby punt unleashed against Pitt two weeks ago.

'It's as simple as this,” he said. 'You just get back to everybody who left the stadium back there in November (after Iowa blew a 17-point second-half lead and fell in overtime to Nebraska) - everybody, players, coaches, every fan that we have, and we have the best fans in the world. Everybody left saying, ‘Hmm, you know . . . Really?”

Maybe last week the Hawkeyes cleared that 2014 hurdle. In the North Texas postgame, that really was pretty much it. It was the first postgame this season where Ferentz didn't field any 'the difference between this year and last” questions. Beathard was asked about vindication. That really was about it.

This is a good thing. This is a shedding of the skin. It's the kind of thing that has to happen.

'You can't listen to the noise, you can't listen to the outside,” said Beathard, who completed 18 of 21 for a career-high 278 yards and two TDs (81 yards to wide receiver Tevaun Smith and 43 to tight end George Kittle). 'They obviously don't know much. When they're telling you how bad you're going to be, you've got to brush that aside, but it also can fuel you.

'It can give you some anger, make you want to win. Not only that, we're a tight group of guys. We're playing for each other out there and want to win for each other.”

Ferentz said at some point during the talking season, the media days season in late July and early August, that the whole of Iowa might this season be greater than the sum of its parts.

That has manifested itself in a few ways.

- Junior wide receiver Matt VandeBerg is second in the Big Ten with 25 receptions. He had 22 career coming into the season.

- Running back Jordan Canzeri, all 190-plus pounds of him, has willed himself into a 20-carry back. Yes, it's fair to wonder how long he can keep this up, but through four games, Canzeri has 63 carries. Last season, he had 103. In ‘13, he had 74.

- In four games, Iowa's defense has 14 sacks. It had 26 all 2014.

- Junior cornerback Desmond King has seven punt returns for 131 yards. Iowa had 123 punt return yards all last season. King returned two punts against North Texas for 71 yards.

- Left tackle Boone Myers left Saturday's game with a neck stinger suffered in the first quarter. Junior Cole Croston, who was put on scholarship in August, stepped in and made it a seamless transition. Iowa probably doesn't survive a tackle injury in 2014 (remember, Brandon Scherff, the football animal that he is, played five days after arthroscopic knee surgery).

'Cole is a good player,” center Austin Blythe said. 'He's good with his technique and fundamentals. He knows the game, knows his assignments. He's just as good as the other two (offensive tackles).”

- Junior wide receiver Riley McCarron went nearly two years between receptions, but he caught the game-winner against Iowa State and another three passes last week. He also caught a scholarship in August.

- Fifth-year senior Cole Fisher won the weakside linebacker job in camp. He leads the Hawkeyes with 33 tackles, has 3.5 tackles for loss, two sacks, two QB hurries and a pass breakup.

- Beathard still is relatively new at this, but he's set a different pace. Last season, Iowa's passing game had eight plays of 50-plus yards. This year, Iowa already has six.

At some point, everything Beathard does for this offense won't be considered new. Remember, he'll walk into Camp Randall Stadium this weekend and make his second career Big Ten start.

Beathard was asked what he learned about the Hawkeyes' offense during the non-conference schedule.

'It shows the fight we have,” he said. 'We can do a lot more than a lot of people thought we could. We knew all along that we were going to be good and continue to improve each week.”

At some point, maybe 2015 Iowa finally beats 2014 Iowa. Maybe not. Whatever works.

l Comments: (319) 398-8256; marc.morehouse@thegazette.com