The fake and Iowa’s real road back to relevance

Brad Nortman pulled down the ball. The punter isn't supposed to do that. Oh wait, he's not punting.

It was fourth-and-4 from Wisconsin's 26. The Badgers trailed 30-24 with a little more than six minutes remaining. The possession math didn't say fake punt. Then-UW coach Bret Bielema did. More accurately, up-back Ryan Groy made the call once he saw how the Hawkeyes were lined up.

Nortman pulled down the ball and took off. Where Iowa's punt return team once stood was yards and yards of green Field Turf. Nortman slid to the turf for a first down. The Badgers scored and held off the Hawkeyes, 31-30.

Since that fake punt, Iowa and Wisconsin have lived in some very different neighborhoods.

Since the fake:

3 - Wisconsin Rose Bowls

2 - Wisconsin Big Ten championship game victories

1 - Iowa TaxSlayer Bowl

Since a play that Bielema described as 'great faith” and, in the aftermath, Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz painted over with 'We blew it, that's my job,” the Hawkeyes (4-0) have been relegated to the kiddie table. Iowa hasn't won more than eight games, bottomed out at 4-8 in 2012 and saw its smallest home crowd since 2003 just last week against North Texas.

Meanwhile, the No. 18 Badgers (3-1) were on the HBO series 'Entourage,” have had their hoops star Frank 'The Tank” Kaminsky meet Will Ferrell, who played 'Frank the Tank” in the movie 'Old School,” and - yes, it's another basketball example, but it's kind of Hollywood - have had Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and his girlfriend, actress Olivia Munn, follow their Final Four charges the last two seasons.

Yes, things are better in Iowa City this season. Iowa has quarterback C.J. Beathard and he has a father who writes country music songs for big acts, a brother who's beginning a career as a solo act and who has had his picture taken with Taylor Swift. The Hawkeyes also are 4-0 for the first time since 2009.

Still, these programs have one of the closest rivalries in college football (UW leads 44-42-2). The Hawkeyes have seen their neighbor's trophy case. They want to be on 'Entourage.” (OK, Ferentz probably doesn't do 'Entourage.” Maybe 'Last Man Standing.”)

This is kind of a trick question held hostage by the notion of recency. No, Iowa hasn't been to the bowls or won the trophies that Wisconsin and Michigan State have in the last five years (Michigan State has won a Rose Bowl and a Big Ten title game). But if you move the timeline back a little farther (one season), Iowa has been to two Orange Bowls while those programs were in Alamo Bowls (Wisconsin was in the '02 Alamo, while the Spartans were in the '10 Alamo).

Ferentz listened to the question this week and offered the 15-year measure between these three programs. But, yes, he wants for the Iowa program what Wisconsin has had since that fake punt in 2010.

'We want to be in the best neighborhood we can all of the time,” Ferentz said. 'That's our goal. I said that back in January. I said it 16 and a half years ago. Our goal is to be a championship-level football program, and it was that way with Coach (Hayden) Fry, and we certainly don't want to go backward.”

Since the fake:

7 - The number of assistant coaches Ferentz has hired

5 - Wisconsin head coaches (Bielema, Andersen, athletics director Barry Alvarez twice in the postseason because of departures and now Paul Chryst)

The Badgers have sustained their success through a coaching change (of course, Chryst is in his first year and removed from Bielema's somewhat surprising departure to Arkansas and Gary Andersen's totally abrupt and 'what the heck” departure).

Alvarez is a huge reason change hasn't broken the Badgers.

During the Big Ten athletics director meetings in May, Alvarez was asked how he liked his new football coach (Chryst was hired in mid-December after two seasons at Pitt).

'I love my football coach,” Alvarez quickly answered and also with a quick smile. 'Paul was on my staff twice (tight ends coach and then co-offensive coordinator). He really understands our formula for success.

'He's a football purist. He loves football. I like his staff. The players have taken to him very well. A lot of the older guys know Paul from when he was on the staff and being recruited. He's made a lot of progress in a short amount of time.”

What's not to love? Chryst is a Madison native. He lettered as a quarterback for the Badgers from 1986-88. Chryst is one of three Big Ten coaches leading his alma mater this season, joining Northwestern's Pat Fitzgerald and, of course, Michigan's Jim Harbaugh.

He is 'of” Wisconsin. And so is his staff, which includes 11 other former Badger players, including offensive line coach and coordinator Joe Rudolph and tight ends coach Mickey Turner.

Since the fake:

30 - The number of NFL draft picks who played in the game

56 - The number of NFL players in the game

1,000,000 - The number of seconds former Badgers defensive end JJ Watt, who blocked a PAT in the game, was on HBO's 'Hard Knocks” this season

The Hawkeyes hit Camp Randall Stadium Saturday with a chance to push away from the Big Ten kiddie table and win back some ground they have lost to the Badgers.

It really is that simple.

Ferentz called a news conference in January (he had never done that, by the way). He wanted to announce that Beathard was the starter for 2015 and that was that. He also felt the need to let anyone listening that, no, 7-5 isn't OK and that the program has championship aspirations.

'If you look at the Big Ten West, just to emphasize that, Wisconsin has done as well as anybody the last five years,” Ferentz said. 'If you're going to be a contender, you're going to have to do well against them. We're not going to let one game define the entire season, but it's an important game. They're all important. This is conference play now.”

Go back to the fake. A lot of what the Badgers players said afterward echoed Bielema's first thought. You heard the word 'faith” and you heard it a lot.

'I think it says a lot about our team,” Nortman said. 'I think it says we're willing to do anything we can to win. Coach Bielema has a lot of faith in his players. Doing something like that shows how much faith he has in us.”

You've seen some of that from Ferentz this year. You've heard his players speak of a confidence the coaching staff has shown in them this season. You've even seen some fake field goals.

2* - The number of Iowa fake field goals since that Wisconsin fake punt in 2010 (*probably)

One game won't define 2015. They just can't afford to think like that and you know it. Still, everything football is about territorial acquisition. You know the Hawkeyes want what the fake helped deliver to the Badgers.

'We're a really confident team,” Beathard said. 'I think we have a lot of trust in each other. I think we've continued to get better each and every week. As long as we continue to do that, we'll have a good season.

'The ceiling gets raised each and every week. You see guys getting better and better. No one is where they want to be right now, but we keep getting better as the season goes on.”

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