Hawkeyes’ next foe no Bullies of the Beltway

Iowa's football team has won six of their last seven road games. Maryland has lost five of its last six home games.

Considering Iowa plays at Maryland Saturday, those are pretty positive trends for the Hawkeyes. But even more encouraging is this:

The Terrapins gave up 694 yards at home to West Virginia, 511 by air, in a 40-37 loss. Eight days ago, they surrendered 533 yards to Ohio State, almost evenly divided by passing and rushing.

Want some more reason to feel Maryland football might not be Bullies of the Beltway? Check out these quotes from Terrapins Coach Randy Edsall after his team's 52-24 loss to the Buckeyes:

'We're not as big up front as we'd like to be.”

And, 'We have to get the facilities. We have to be able to recruit.”

That sounds like someone facing the reality that being a so-so program in the Atlantic Coast Conference isn't the springboard to instantly becoming a Big Ten contender.

Saying the Terps were so-so in the ACC is being generous. They were 6-18 in that league over their last three years there.

So Iowa should be able to jet into Washington, bus over to Byrd Stadium Saturday morning, and collect a victory in front of a crowd that's confused about seeing the Hawkeyes as conference opponents. Right?

Ha. For one thing, it's college football. For another, Maryland had last week off to get its minds and bodies healthier.

For a third, this team did go into Indiana two weeks ago and clubbed the Hoosiers, 37-15, holding Indiana to an unusually low 332 yards and a meager 4.0 yards per play.

Iowa is somewhere between Ohio State and Indiana. The question is, are the Hawkeyes definitely progressing, or have they feasted in their last two games against teams that don't fully have their acts together in Purdue and Indiana?

It's as much or more the former as the latter. Since the Hawkeyes will be facing the best of the three Big Ten teams they've met, they have little choice but to stay on their current upswing.

What kind of road environment Maryland will provide is a mystery to us in flyover land. It's not a football hotbed. And, there will be quite a few Iowa grads and transplanted Iowans out East who are getting a rare opportunity to see the Hawkeyes close to their homes.

A lot of Ohio State fans were in College Park to see the Buckeyes' give a rude welcome-to-the-league to the Terrapins in their 51,802-seat stadium. It was Maryland's first home sellout since a night game against Florida State in 2008.

Several Buckeye players sat on tables outside the visitors' locker room to get taped before the game at Maryland. Maybe they just wanted to be outdoors and enjoy the ambience. Or maybe that was part of the 'facilities” thing Edsall said needed upgrading.

Whichever, Ohio State had no problem focusing out there and took care of business against a team not ready to make the leap from Military Bowls to Outback Bowls.

If Iowa is to make November as meaningful as it can be - and it can be deeply meaningful - the Hawkeyes need to reinforce to Edsall that his program has a ways to go to be anything special in its new league.

l Comments: (319) 368-8840; mike.hlas@sourcemedia.net