Tuesdays With Torbee: Fare thee well, Big 10 West, you purveyor of punts and bad football!

[torbee]

Tuesdays With Torbee​

by:Tory Brecht•
https://twitter.com/ToryBrecht

The sloppy, low-scoring, mistake-ridden yet oddly compelling and competitive tussle between the Iowa Hawkeyes and Nebraska Cornhuskers on Black Friday was a perfect epitaph for the now-defunct Big 10 West Division.

Rest in peace, you purveyor of punts and provider of endless schadenfreude.

Yes, fierce defense was on display from both teams. So too were hyper conservative offensive game plans, special teams gaffes, poor quarterback play, spotty officiating, questionable time management, missed field goals, back breaking interceptions and all the other sublime silliness that helped define college football’s weirdest, wackiest and maybe worst division.

The drama will be missed, if not the near ineptitude.

Don’t get me wrong, I am giddy about Iowa football’s achievement of 10 wins with a depleted roster devoid of its best offensive weapons. This is Kirk Ferentz’s best coaching job since the MacGyver-like 2004 Big 10 title won by a run-first team without a running game. Anyone who thinks the elder Ferentz is past his prime or the game has “passed him by” is woefully mistaken. No coach in the country could have coaxed this roster of misfit toys to 10 (actually 11) wins other than the longest-tenured head coach in the game, I am convinced.

What this season’s Hawkeyes lack in star power and health is more than made up for in resilience, heart and moxie. There is a terrible beauty in its power to win ugly, time after time.

On Friday, even special teams – one of the two strong pillars all season along with the defense – went AWOL. Two kickoffs out of bounds, two blocked field goals – that is not a formula for success for Iowa. Yet when the chips were down, Ferentz made the bold decision to bring out a cold transfer kicker whose first-ever attempt in a Hawkeye uniform sent 80,000 rabid Nebraska fans home miserable. What a story.

Of course, the entire sports-watching world is certain the Cinderella story ends next Saturday in Indianapolis. The plucky Hawkeyes are taking on the Evil Empire, and Darth Vader is back on the sidelines having served his slap-on-the wrist for cheating. The line favors the Michigan Wolverines by 22.5 points and frankly, that feels a bit low. After all, a better Iowa team faced a worse Michigan team in the 2021 Big 10 Championship game and got steamrolled 42-3. Granted, it was mostly competitive in the first half, but once the tsunami hit, the Hawkeyes succumbed.

Can Iowa make the rematch more competitive?

I think so, but it will be a tough ask. The first order of business is slowing down Michigan’s running game. People point to Iowa’s dismantling at the hands of Penn State 31-0 as proof the Hawkeyes can’t hang with elite teams. That’s a fair analysis, but I think ignores the fact that heading into that game, every intangible favored Penn State: revenge, a night whiteout, a still gimpy Cade McNamara. Even so, the game was only 10-0 at halftime before Iowa’s worn out defense finally crumbled and gave up 21 straight points in the second half while the Hawkeye offense was stuck in reverse.

A similar outcome is certainly plausible in Indianapolis, but hopefully the coaching staff has learned some lessons since that loss. This is another game where a frustrating ball-control, “first do no harm” offensive game plan is needed. Against Michigan, punting and field position will matter. Then you have to hope the defense does its things, some special teams magic occurs and maybe – just maybe – Iowa can make Harbaugh’s heroes sweat.

Regardless of the outcome, I am proud to call myself a fan of this team. Absolutely nothing has come easy to it and yet it goes out, competes and usually wins week-after-week. Winning the final West Division title and representing it in the championship game is a stellar achievement worth celebrating.

I’m also not a member of the “woe is me” camp that believes the Hawkeyes are destined for mediocrity due to the end of divisions and an expanding conference footprint. Frankly, that is loser talk from fans of the program that arguably did the most to dismantle the “Big 2, Little 8” narrative of Big 10 football back in the 1980s.

Will it be harder to be in position for a title in a division-less, 18-team league with new blueblood programs from the West Coast? Absolutely. Does this mean Iowa is destined to be Purdue or Rutgers? Hell no!
Iowa football has the facilities, fan and financial support, coaching and earned pedigree to continue to be a top tier team in the Big 10. Are we really supposed to fear a UCLA team that can’t beat 5-6 Cal, a USC team that limped to a 7-5 record by losing four of its last 5 or a Washington team that needed an Indiana castoff to help it squeak by a 5-7 Washington State team that’s headed to the Mountain West?

Not me.

A new era is dawning for the Big 10 and that can be a bit frightening. But if this season has taught us anything, it’s that Iowa under Kirk Ferentz can take a punch, another punch and yet another punch and still come out fighting and winning.

Follow me on Twitter @ToryBrecht and the 12 Saturdays Podcast @12Saturdays.