Iowa and Wisconsin, it’s paleo fullback-palooza

IOWA CITY - In this game last season, you saw a legit Heisman-caliber running back rush for 200 yards, including a career-best 88-yard carry. You saw the other team pump out nine plays of 20-plus yards, including three that went for big first downs or touchdowns.

Nutty things happen in college football, a game played by excitable young people with a zest for competition. You might see pyrotechnics on the Camp Randall Stadium scoreboard Saturday when the Hawkeyes (4-0) meet No. 18 Wisconsin (3-1). Anything could happen.

But if you feel as if the Big Ten opener for these very, very Big Ten teams is going to be 'paleo football,” there's nothing wrong with you. First, of course, there's history. Wisconsin athletics director Barry Alvarez won three Rose Bowls on the backs of massive offensive linemen. Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz has two Big Ten co-titles with teams that had athletic offensive lines and star-studded defenses.

That's ancient history, though, right? Offenses evolve and grow, right?

Last season, Wisconsin had its ubiquitous gigantic O-line to go along with Heisman-caliber running back Melvin Gordon. So far this season, you've been impressed with Iowa's offense under quarterback C.J. Beathard, a first-year starter. You've also picked up on the fact that Iowa's offense still is heavy with the fullback. It's fullbacks, actually, with seniors Macon Plewa and Adam Cox splitting the duty.

There is plenty of work to go around. In last week's 62-16 victory over North Texas, 35 of Iowa's 65 plays included a fullback. Wisconsin actually one-upped the Hawkeyes in the game of fullbacks. The Badgers played Derek Watt (6-2, 236) and Austin Ramesh (6-1, 246) in an inverted wishbone on 29 of its 54 rushing plays in their 28-0 victory over Hawaii last week. The two fullbacks helped clear the way for 326 yards.

Paleo football, Fullback-palooza, a three-hour infomercial for the wonders of NSAIDs.

'It's one of those no-fear-dodging games,” Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said Tuesday. 'It's going to be a tough, hard-nosed physical football game. They've prided themselves on that for quite some time and done very, very well at it, and our better teams have done the same thing.”

When Iowa goes full-contact in practice, one of the first drills of the day is 9 on 7. It's an inside running drill that includes a fullback leading a play to the weakside. Everyone knows where everyone is going. (This is a drill that Ferentz said is in Iowa's 'DNA.”)

'It's always a big explosion between the Will (weakside linebacker) and the fullback,” senior weakside linebacker Cole Fisher said.

You learn about yourself in a drill like that. You learn how badly you want to do this.

'Yeah, you really do,” Fisher said with a laugh. 'You also learn good the helmets that you have on are working, especially the new ones.”

There is undoubtedly a physical bill to pay at the fullback position. Last August, Cox suffered a torn ACL and missed the season. Plewa suffered several shoulder injuries and missed five games.

The word that jumps to mind is 'sacrifice.” The word Plewa uses is 'commitment.” (This is not a stats position, not with these two teams. The stats between Cox and Plewa and Watt and Ramesh is nine receptions for 65 yards, and Watt has eight of those catches and 62 of those yards.)

'If you're going to be successful at fullback, you have to go out and look for contact and set the tone,” said Plewa (6-2, 244), a native of Franklin, Wis. 'A lot of times in practice, coaches will come up to you and say, ‘Get them going.' That means committing yourself to going in there and setting a tone, hitting guys and being physical day in and day out.”

Sometimes, their contributions are only heard in games or in practice - pad on pad, fullback and linebacker tends to ring out even in the din of football - but, of course, they're appreciated.

'Everyone might think the running back, when he makes a big play, creates a spark for the offense, but no . . .” running back Jordan Canzeri said. 'When our fullbacks run in there full speed and get a good hit on the linebacker, that creates a spark. Everybody notices it, everybody sees it.”

And, really, sometimes they only hear it.

'Plewa and Cox, they get going in practice and make big plays and big blocks, you can hear it,” Beathard said. 'They get really pumped up about it. On Saturday, we had three fullbacks on the third line of our kick return. They're just really hard-nosed. They're fighters and they're good players.”

The word you reach for is 'sacrifice.” They just don't see it that way.

'It's definitely a different game,” Plewa said. 'You're setting the tone every day. You try to be as physical as you can and, obviously, those impact hits could lead to injury, but you commit yourself to it.”

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