Hawkeyes are in it to win it

LINCOLN, Neb., - When the Hawkeyes landed at 12-0 at Memorial Stadium on Friday afternoon, yes, it was giant sparkly moment.

'I don't know if anybody expected 12-0,” quarterback C.J. Beathard said. 'We knew we had a good team, we knew we had something special. But finishing 12-0, it's awesome and it's surreal.”

Awesome and surreal paired up all over Iowa's lineup in Friday's 28-20 victory over Nebraska. Awesome and surreal played cornerback. The defensive tackles and ends. The fullbacks. The offensive tackles and guards and center.

Awesome and surreal dressed in the Hawkeyes' lockerroom for 12 games.

'I'm really happy for our players,” Ferentz said. 'I just told them, ‘I really don't know what to say because I've never been around a team that's 12-0.' A little bit speechless on that. It's an unbelievable accomplishment.”

Remember back in January, that news conference that will forever be known as the one that introduced Beathard as the 2015 starting QB? In the wake of a 7-6 season, a disaster in the bowl game and string of middling seasons, Ferentz sent a crystal clear message: Championship remained the goal. Championships were the goal in 1999. Championships always will be the goal.

After that nice thought on 12-0 and not knowing what to say, Ferentz dropped the 'aw shucks, happy wanderer” and went full steam into the week ahead for the Big Ten West Division champions.

'We said back in August and going all the way back to January, our goal is to be a championship-level, a Big Ten championship-level team,” Ferentz said. 'Today we moved one step closer.”

The No. 4 Hawkeyes (12-0, 8-0) next step will be into No. 5 Michigan State (11-1, 7-1), which clinched the Big Ten East Division with a decisive smushing of Penn State, 55-16, Saturday at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing. For good measure, MSU coach Mark Dantonio called a run play for senior center and captain Jack Allen that went for a 9-yard TD.

That's how good the Spartans are feeling right now. The quintessential fat guy touchdown came on the heels of last week's slaying of Ohio State, 17-14, on Michael Geiger's 41-yard field goal with no time on the clock.

MSU quarterback Connor Cook, who battled through a right shoulder injury, moved to 33-4 in his career with Saturday's victory. Dantonio clinched the Spartans' fifth 11-win season in the last six. This is MSU's third Big Ten title game appearance in the championship's five-year history.

'I just want to win, I just want to go to a championship game,” Dantonio told ABC as he put on his B1G East Division championship baseball cap. 'I don't know if the hat's fitting, but we'll get there.”

Ferentz's 'one step closer” statement says a championship still is out there. First, there's the Big Ten on Saturday in Indianapolis at Lucas Oil Stadium (7:17 p.m. kickoff on Fox).

'When we come in on Sunday (today) and start getting into who we're going to play next week, then it'll really set in,” center Austin Blythe said. 'Not that we weren't playing for something today, we were. We were playing for history. The stage is going to be even bigger next weekend.”

For all intents and purposes, Iowa is in the elite eight. It's not exactly that, but it is. The Iowa-MSU winner will earn a spot in the College Football Playoff.

Ferentz said Friday kind of what everyone has known all along about the Hawkeyes. Yes, they are a legit CFP contender (they're 12-0 for goodness sake), but . . .

'I was aware that whenever the first announcement was . . . three weeks ago,” Ferentz said, 'that the only way we were going to get there, we have to run the table. That's the only chance. That's the way it is. That hasn't changed, that hasn't changed our operation.

'Our goal next week is to win the Big Ten title. That's our goal. That being said, we know it won't be easy.”

So, they knew. The Hawkeyes knew all along that they were in 'run the table” mode. Now, at least next weekend, there are only two left at the table.

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