No. 5 Iowa 40, Purdue 20

IOWA CITY — A shattered, Plexiglas trophy case greeted Iowa players in their weight room at some point this summer. Out of nowhere, there it was one day.

Everyone knew what it meant.

'We didn't, I think the coaches did it,' senior center Austin Blythe said when asked if the players had a hand in the smashing of the empty trophy cases. 'Seeing that empty case was a punch in the gut. That's not acceptable around here. We had to change the culture a little bit and set a new standard.'

No one knew where the broken case came from, but they knew why it was there, after a 0-for-4 trophy run last season. The players thought maybe strength and conditioning coach Chris Doyle had a hand in it. That mangled case kept popping up. It was on display, for lack of a better term, on Mondays this season before the Hawkeyes faced trophy games. Iowa State, Wisconsin, Minnesota, the splintered shards were placed where everyone could see it.

The murder weapon was an ax. That was set next to it, too, giving the scene a dramatic touch.

'We've seen that a lot,' linebacker Cole Fisher said. 'When we've had trophy games in the past, we've seen the empty case in the weight room. The theme this year is they all were broken.'

After the No. 5 Hawkeyes' 40-20 victory Saturday over Purdue before an announced crowd of 62,920 at snowy Kinnick Stadium, it's snowing trophies on the Hawkeyes.

Quarterback C.J. Beathard completed 12 of 20 passes for 213 yards and three TDs and running backs Jordan Canzeri and LeShun Daniels combined for 126 yards and three TDs to lead Iowa (11-0, 7-0) to its first Big Ten West Division championship.

The Hawkeyes clinched a berth in the Dec. 5 Big Ten championship game in Indianapolis, their first bid since the B1G added a conference title game in 2011. They did it in their grinder style, with Purdue (2-9, 1-6) actually outgaining Iowa, 405 to 387, but never recovering from a 20-0 deficit the Hawkeyes hung on it in their first three possessions.

Someone is going to have to run a credit card for a new trophy display.

'I couldn't smash anything, maybe an egg or something,' said Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz, crossing himself off the list of trophy case mauler suspects. 'I don't know, and I never asked, and I didn't have anybody investigate, but I think the message was there, and again, it just wasn't those games, it was just more so about if you're going to win trophy, you've got to go earn it, and you've got to do things right.'

Iowa's opponent in the Big Ten title game is yet to be determined, but Michigan State has a chance to clinch the East with a victory over Penn State next weekend. No one Iowa was willing to get that far ahead of themselves, not with a short week and a road trip to Nebraska (5-6, 3-4) still on the table.

Ferentz nixed any public celebration of the West Division trophy, instead keeping the trophy with the players in the lockerroom. Don't worry, though, they did get division champion hats and T-shirts. Ferentz said early last week that there wouldn't be a celebration in the stadium. He said they want an outright title.

Go back to the 'culture change' that began in January, when the Hawkeyes returned to Iowa City after a drubbing at the hands of Tennessee in the TaxSlayer Bowl. Goals were set. Leadership roles were clearly defined. Also, somewhere in there, Ferentz and the team became plain spoken on their expectations.

They didn't run out and get 'West Division champion' tattoos. Nor did they point to the scoreboard. Ferentz did put the 'outright' comment on the table last week. This program has been more forward with expectations every week, and every week they've delivered.

Every week, they've delivered.

'The goal back in August was to line up prepared every week, which that means you've got to do things right for seven days,' Ferentz said. 'You've got to be ready, no excuses, and you've got to go compete.'

Preparedness was in question after a 7-yard TD pass to wide receiver Matt VandeBerg gave Iowa a 20-0 lead 13:40 left in the second quarter. The Boilermakers scored on their next three possessions to pull within 20-13 with 10:26 left in the third quarter.

From there, Beathard kind of pieced together an eight-play, 91-yard drive that ended with a 35-yard TD pass to tight end George Kittle that gutted a Purdue blitz. Beathard completed 4 of 6 passes for 72 yards and slid to an 11-yard gain on a third-and-10 from Purdue's 47.

'First time I've ever slid in a game, outside of baseball,' said Beathard, who's now 12-0 as Iowa's starting QB. '(Offensive coordinator Greg Davis) Coach Davis said, 'Good job on sliding.' I need to do that more.'

Iowa's defense, hanging in there by its fingernails, got a stop on a fourth down at Iowa's 21. Beathard answered with the dagger on the next series, hitting tight end Henry Krieger Coble for a 22-yard TD and a 33-13 lead with 8:40 left in the game.

'The year before, we didn't have great leadership on the team,' Beathard said. 'Guys weren't the leaders that we needed. Guys needed to emerge and step up and that's what these guys did. All the seniors you saw play their last game in Kinnick, they've done a great job all season.'

So, the team that had zero trophies last season now has a bonus West Division trophy zipped up outright with Wisconsin's loss to Northwestern. The team that had zero trophies last season still has the Heroes Trophy on the table in Lincoln.

And one in Indianapolis. And who knows after that.

The broken trophy case of broken dreams can't go into the dumpster just yet.

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