Hlas: A 12th story for Hawkeyes' book of dreams

LINCOLN, Neb. — Fables. Fairy tale.

Fundamentals. Ferentz.

How does a football team get to 12-0? By suspending its best defensive player for the first quarter of the 12th game because he arrived late for a team meeting during the week?

No. Of course not. But actually ... yes.

You better believe there are head coaches among the 128 in FBS who wouldn't have sat cornerback Desmond King out for the first quarter of a game his team needed to conclude a regular-season with a perfect record.

How often do chances like this come around? For Ferentz, it was his first. For Iowa, it was its first in 93 years. For Iowa's captains, who took part in deciding the discipline for King, it couldn't have been easy to agree to punish an All-America candidate for a quarter against a Nebraska team with a dangerous quarterback in a game the nation called a virtual tossup.

But what are you and who are you if you let someone slide for breaking a rule, no matter when it's broken? You're someone other than Kirk Ferentz's Iowa, that's who.

The Hawkeyes beat Nebraska 28-20 Friday in polar Memorial Stadium, hung that 12th win on the board, and entered what realistically will be a College Football Playoff quarterfinal next Saturday night in Indianapolis, probably against Michigan State.

The box score looks ugly from an Iowa angle until you dig a bit. Yes, the Huskers had 183 more yards than the Hawkeyes, had twice the first-downs, held the ball for 36 of the 60 minutes, ran 83 plays to Iowa's 44.

But the fundamental things always have applied, and always will. Nebraska had four turnovers, the Hawkeyes but one. The Huskers had more penalties, big killer penalties. Iowa's defense bent, but was as far from broken as Lincoln is from Ogallala.

The Hawkeyes had little offense to speak of Friday except when they needed it most. Twice, a gaping hole was opened for Jordan Canzeri to zip through on stretch plays. On Canzeri's 68-yard third-quarter touchdown run that immediately answered a Nebraska scoring drive and restored Iowa's lead to 11 points, fullback Macon Plewa devoured a Husker linebacker and away Canzeri went.

A fullback! Who still uses battering ram fullbacks on a regular basis? Iowa does, and Plewa and Adam Cox have been unsung heroes of fundamental football this fall.

But let's get back to King. Fellow junior Maurice Fleming replaced him in the first quarter, and the Hawkeyes got out of it with a 0-0 tie despite the Huskers having a strong wind at their backs.

Enter King in the second quarter, and within four minutes he misjudged a punt and fumbled it to Nebraska at the Iowa 31.

'I wasn't acclimated,' King said. He would have been more attuned to the punting of Nebraska's Sam Foltz had he been in the game from the start. But he wasn't, he fumbled, and the Huskers scored three plays later to tie the game at 7.

Bad juju for Iowa and karmic justice for King? No. King kept his head up, like his team has done in every game. He broke up a pass in the end zone late in the first half, helping his team hold the Huskers to a field goal and preserving a lead the Hawkeyes wouldn't surrender.

King returned a punt 26 yards to the Nebraska 48 early in the second half, and got another 15 yards tacked on because Foltz was flagged for a late hit.

On the second play after getting the great field position, Canzeri went 29 yards on the first of his two TDs.

Afterward, King said 'It doesn't matter who you are. You have to face the consequences. You're going to have to face the team.

'It's not about one person. It's about the team.'

Those aren't just words when all the players know they're true.

So there are morals to this game, this fable of a season, this fairy tale about a coach who so many wanted gone just months ago. Now he's steering a team that has boldly gone where no Hawkeyes team has gone before. Which, as you may have heard Iowa fans chanting after this game, was '12-0!'

How has this happened? 'We've been doing the same stuff,' said injured Hawkeye defensive end Drew Ott. 'We're just getting a little better at it.'

Ferentz compared it to driver's education for 15-year-olds.

'Both hands on the wheel, eyes on the road. Think about what you're doing.'

Iowa has players who looked each other in the eyes last winter and said they were better than the way they finished last season and chose to do something about it. They are coached by someone who opened his own eyes wide and tapped into a renewed purpose.

Call it fable, fairy tale or fantasy, it doesn't matter. Iowa is 12-0, and it's the best story in college football.

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

Twitter: @Hlas