- Sep 13, 2002
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Tuesdays with Torbee
by Tory Brecht
Columnist
In retrospect, I don’t know what I was so nervous about.
Maybe it was being deep in Badger territory, surrounded by cardinal and white wearing beer drinkers more interested in the next day’s turkey hunting season opener than the battle of two undefeated Big 10 teams about to take place on the television set behind the bar in their local watering hole.
I should have realized that Maryland was just like Indiana and Iowa State: a pretty good team not quite ready for the spotlight that comes with expectations. I should have had faith in the Hawkeye defense, the one that makes little boys out of Heisman wannabe quarterbacks, sending four out of five played so far this year back to the bench before games even ended, battered and shell-shocked. I should have believed in Spencer Petras, the unfairly maligned signal caller who doesn’t turn the ball over and just wins.
But I’m not always a smart man, so it was with much trepidation my fishing buddies and I sat down to watch Iowa take on Maryland last Friday night at a tiny townie bar in Gays Mills, Wisconsin. Speaking of not smart, we’d made an arrangement with the bartender to gift each person in the bar a free beer token for every touchdown the Hawkeyes scored, figuring that would be a good way to get the Badger faithful on our side as the game wore on. That seemed like a good idea, considering Iowa’s heretofore anemic offense.
By the end of the second quarter, we’d made quite a few new friends, at some considerable expense. Still, it was worth the price to see Iowa finally put a complete game together and shut up some of its critics. Not only did the defense once again outperform already sky high expectations (seriously, Taulia Tagovailoa started the game tied for the fewest interceptions in the Big 10 and ended the second quarter as the conference’s leading thrower of the ball to other teams, that’s insane!) but the run game got in gear, Petras was in total control and special teams contributed to turn this East versus West showdown into a laugher by halftime.
There can’t be too many things more demoralizing to a team than seeing thousands of visiting Iowa fans take over your rapidly emptying stadium while your star quarterback sits on the bench with a 1,000-yard stare of hopelessness. But I expect that scene to repeat itself a few more times this season, one of them, hopefully, in Madison around Halloween.
As the college football world is beginning to notice, Iowa is building a potentially magical season. As we noted in the column last week, it’s already been an unprecedented season of upsets around college football. With week five of the season in the books, more than 30 ranked-at-the time programs have already suffered an upset.
But not Iowa. It just quietly goes about its business holding teams under 24 points and winning by double digits. Week after week after week.
This upcoming week will be a little different. This time the spotlight will be shining directly on the Hawkeyes and the pressure will be ratcheted up. They are home favorites over a reinvigorated Penn State program, which is also undefeated and seeking a Big 10 championship. This will be the biggest game in Iowa City since the 1985 #1 versus #2 classic against Michigan and the stakes are just as high; maybe higher as the winner could walk away as a presumptive College Football Playoff participant.
Will dreams of Big 10 and maybe even a national championship derail the Iowa players’ focus? It’s hard for me to see that happening. These guys appear to be approaching games they are favored in with a chip on their shoulder. I haven’t sensed much, if any, hubris or cockiness on the Iowa sideline. Rather, this team projects a confident, but business-like and focused approach to its work.
A good example is this quote Riley Moss (the Big 10’s current interceptions leader) gave to the Register’s Chad Leistikow: “We were saying before the game we were going to storm through the front door. And we’re going to take what’s ours.”
In quote after quote – from the head man on down to its freshman breakout stars – members of this team sound like they are on a mission to prove any and all doubters wrong.
Heck, even the athletic department itself is projecting success. This email I received Thursday raised my eyebrows and wonder if maybe a little hubris was at work:
“While there is a lot of football left to play, we want to extend this opportunity for you to request tickets to the Big Ten Football Championship game in Indianapolis, IN on December 4, 2021.”
Now, maybe they send this each season in late September and I’m only noticing in 2021 because I might take them up on the offer, but I kind of doubt it.
Unlike the teams Iowa has already dispatched, Penn State is used to the big stage. Kinnick will be a challenge for them, but not an insurmountable one. This Saturday’s game will be a battle of Big 10 heavyweights.
May the toughest win.
