Hawkeyes have something to sell this week

So Iowa has successfully handled a pair of ISUs. Now can the Hawkeyes finish off a September sweep?

Before the season, I was among a chorus — or maybe a small gathering of lounge lizards — who felt the football Hawkeyes sorely needed to go 4-0 in September. Lose to Illinois State or Iowa State, and you'd have pitchforks, torches, and assorted other tools of unhappiness wielded by the outer world.

Go 2-0 against the ISUs and fall at home to Pittsburgh Saturday (or much less likely, at home against North Texas the following week), and you've undone the goodwill from your earlier good work.

Well, here comes Pitt. You never know, but Saturday night's game in Kinnick Stadium could be the kind of contest that makes the difference between a season that's sweet or salty.

This is a Power 5 conference club with its own mountains it wants to climb. Its last four records were 6-7, 6-7, 7-6, 6-7. That doesn't play in pro market Pittsburgh.

Paul Chryst was the coach for the last three of those years, and was rewarded for going 19-20 at the school by getting the Wisconsin job when Gary Andersen abruptly bolted to Oregon State.

Pitt again raided the Big Ten. This time it grabbed Michigan State defensive mastermind Pat Narduzzi, whose reputation for getting results with the Spartans was glowing.

Narduzzi's defense held Akron to 110 yards Saturday in the Panthers' 24-7 road win.

'We gave up that one (32-yard touchdown) run that still irks me,' Narduzzi said in a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette story. 'I'm looking for perfection.'

Whether his guys will be anywhere near perfect Saturday night in Iowa City remains to be seen. But that defense sure was aggressive against the Zips of Akron.

'Of course,' said Panther defensive end Rori Blair. 'It's Coach Narduzzi. Come on now.'

Narduzzi has at least two things on offense that are concerns. One, running back James Conner is out for the rest of the season because of an MCL injury he suffered in Pitt's 45-37 first-game win over FCS Youngstown State. Conner rushed for 155 yards against Iowa last year in the Hawkeyes' 24-20 win at Pittsburgh, and was voted the Atlantic Coast Conference's Player of the Year.

The ACC, you'll recall, had Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston.

But red-shirt freshman Qadree Ollison has 37 carries and 288 yards in two games, so maybe the situation at that position isn't dire.

Two, Pitt has a quarterback quandary. Incumbent starter Chad Voytik started Saturday, but alternated series with Nathan Peterman in the first half and didn't play in the second half.

Peterman is a graduate transfer from Tennessee. He was effective after halftime, which began with the Panthers up by just 10-7.

'I think we've got two damned good quarterbacks,' Narduzzi said after the game. But he said he didn't know which will start at Iowa. That's never a great thing.

Unlike last year at Pitt, when C.J. Beathard replaced Jake Rudock after halftime because Rudock had a hip injury, the Hawkeyes know who their quarterback is in Week 3.

With a night-game, a 2-0 start, and a Narduzzi-coached foe, Iowa has something to sell customers this week.

Comments: (319) 368-8840; mike.hlas@thegazette.com