Hlas: Hawkeyes' heartbeat thumps 'Cats

EVANSTON, Ill. — We have more than enough for a sample size.

It's seven games now, with three stern road tests in the rearview mirror. Iowa's football team clearly has something special cooking, and it's about more than having a 7-0 record.

'How good we are, I have no idea,' Hawkeyes Coach Kirk Ferentz said Saturday. 'But I do know this: This team plays extremely hard and they've got a lot of guts.'

That statement was vividly supported in Iowa's 40-10 Ryan Field dissection of Northwestern, a fellow Top 25 team until Sunday's polls come out. It was something we'd already seen, from weathering storms against Iowa State and Pittsburgh to prevailing at Wisconsin.

In their previous game, true freshmen Jerminic Smith and James Daniels made vital contributions in Iowa's 29-20 win over Illinois. Here, it was Sean Welsh switching from guard to tackle without a hitch. It was Parker Hesse easing the considerable pain of losing Drew Ott at defensive end with strong play.

It was Jordan Canzeri taken out by an ankle injury early in his first game after his 256-yard rushing showcase the Saturday before, and sophomores Akrum Wadley and Derrick Mitchell filling the void with 204 and 79 yards, respectively.

Who has two different players rush for 200 yards in the Big Ten in two consecutive weeks? Brian Ferentz was the CoachingSearch.com Offensive Line Coach of the Week last week. What does that make him now?

Wadley had yet to see a stat sheet when he began postgame interviews. So I pulled one out and pointed to his 204.

'Sounds about right,' he said, with the same kind of confidence he had shown in powering and high-stepping his way to that number and a school record-tying four rushing touchdowns in a game. Canzeri tied that mark himself three weeks earlier.

Rushing yards

For a more detailed breakdown of this game, click here.

'I've been grinding since the beginning of the season,' said Wadley, who had 35 rushing yards this season and hadn't yet filled Ferentz with confidence in his ability to hang on to the ball. But Wadley got more work in practice out of necessity last week, then became another name on an ever-growing list of Hawkeye stars.

Wadley comes from Weequahic High School in Newark, N.J. He averaged an insane 14.7 yards per carry there as a senior, shopped his game tape to college coaches near and far, and got depressed by all the rejections.

He finally got an offer from Temple. But Iowa's staff has friends out East, and they sold Wadley's potential hard to Kirk Ferentz in the nick of time.

Two-and-a-half years later in a big game, Wadley had more bounce than a box of bad checks.

On the other side of the ball is Cole Fisher. On one first-quarter Northwestern 3-and-out, the tackles were made by the linebacking firm of Fisher, Fisher and Fisher.

Fisher had a total of nine tackles in his career entering this season. The senior had nine solo stops Saturday. He was second-team until late in fall camp. He was a leader in his team's defensive tour de force.

'It is kind of crazy,' Fisher said. 'It's been a hugely long battle. All the frustrations over the years, it's finally paid off this year.'

A season can turn on a dime, and nothing is given in the final five games. But nothing was given coming into this game, and Iowa had a quarterback who sometimes hobbled after plays like a 21-year-old going on 81.

But though C.J. Beathard played with a sore groin and sore who-knows-what-else, he played well. Again. Playing hurt is a football thing. It's expected. But when a quarterback does it and still moves the chains?

'That was just pure guts today,' Kirk Ferentz said.

Before Iowa's postgame conga line to celebrate with its fans, Beathard had one of his own. He went from bench to bench on the sideline, slapping hands with nearly all of Iowa's starting defenders.

There was still 6:04 left on the game clock, but this one was long over. A team that was beaten-up physically is full of spirit and life. On and off the field.

'This team is playing with one heartbeat,' Iowa radio analyst Ed Podolak said outside the stadium.

That beat keeps getting louder.

Comments: mike.hlas@thegazette.com

Twitter: @Hlas

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