Iowa football’s resiliency is undeniable as wins keep coming

CHICAGO — Just when you think it’s safe to mock the Iowa football team without any type of response, the Hawkeyes once again find a way to smirk as they walk off the playing field.

This time it was a 10-7 win against Northwestern at venerable Wrigley Field on Saturday. Officially designated a home game for the Wildcats, perhaps 80 percent of the fans in attendance wore black and gold. The performance hardly was the type of masterpiece that would hang down the road at the Art Institute of Chicago. But it was emblematic of a program that doesn’t care whether the final product is paint-by-numbers as long as the result merits a victory.

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Resiliency is the word that best captures this group of Hawkeyes, who improve to 7-2 overall and sit alone atop the Big Ten West at 4-2. Their deficits are well known. They’ve scored six offensive touchdowns in six Big Ten games. For the first time, Iowa quarterback Deacon Hill completed more than half of his passes in a contest. Their receivers have combined for 35 catches this season through nine games. Their top two offensive players are out for the season as is their prized portal addition at quarterback.

Year after year, any of those issues sink college programs. They lead to dissent, especially when one side of the ball ranks among the nation’s best and the other side is the worst statistically. Yet, those internal conflicts are brushed aside at Iowa. If there’s frustration, it doesn’t affect Iowa’s quest for victory.

“You saw tonight how our guys are and how they operate,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. “We talk in August about bumps in the road. It’s one of the factors in any season. It kind of falls in line with our best guys have got to play their best. We need stories. It’s true for anybody, whether it’s football or life. How are you going to respond to things that you’re not wild about, things that you didn’t anticipate, things you can’t prepare for? How do you respond to that?”

“I’d say after the Penn State loss, I quickly understood what type of team we had,” linebacker Jay Higgins said. “We really just have a bunch of guys who are focused on the team, and we respect everybody in our building.”

Iowa pulled off a masterful goal-line stop in its 10-7 win against Northwestern. (David Banks / USA Today)

Even with an offense that struggles for first downs, let alone touchdowns, the Hawkeyes have won 12 of their last 15 games. Perhaps the schedule has played a role in those outcomes, but to overcome nearly every challenge and win consistently takes guts. It takes heart. It takes togetherness, leadership and toughness. In the win at Wrigley Field, the Hawkeyes put together a snapshot of resilience. It’s why they are where they are.

Sophomore kicker Drew Stevens entered the day perfect from 50-plus yards and 29-for-34 overall on field goals in his young career. In the first quarter, he drilled a 53-yard attempt toward the rooftops overlooking right field but the ball doinked off the right upright.

For a kicker, confidence is everything. Stevens got a second chance at a 52-yarder in the same direction, this time with 14 seconds left. Before walking on the field, Stevens was warming up and kicking in the net, oblivious to his surroundings or what the offense was doing.

“Shout out to my coaches for believing in me, but to be quite honest with you, I wasn’t looking,” Stevens said. “I already knew what was going to happen.”

Stevens has no shortage of swagger, which is how skill players have to operate.

“As soon as I kicked it, I started to celebrate,” he said. “It’s like a three-second delay and then the crowd starts cheering.”

That’s mental toughness, and that’s a trait for Hill as well. Before Iowa’s last drive in a 7-7 tie, Hill had completed 8-for-13 passes for a mind-boggling 34 yards. But he opened the series with an 8-yard pass to Nico Ragaini. Two plays later, he found receiver Kaleb Brown for a 23-yard deep out. It was Brown’s first catch of the season, and it gave the Hawkeyes the ball inside the Northwestern 40-yard line.

“We game-planned that pass all week,” Hill said. “A couple of out routes to the field and we got the look that we were planning for. So, it was my job to get him the ball, and thankfully I did. He ran a great route, made a great play on the ball and got some extra yards.”

Iowa’s defense was masterful almost the entire game and put together a goal-line stand with four snaps inside its own 2-yard line. On four consecutive plays — two sneaks, two inside zone runs — the Hawkeyes repelled the Wildcats. While Northwestern scored a touchdown on its next possession, the Hawkeyes held the Wildcats to 170 total yards. It was a season-low for Iowa’s defense and the fifth time this year the Hawkeyes held a team under 300 yards.

Then there’s the whirlwind of a week for Ferentz. On Monday, interim athletics director Beth Goetz — in consultation with President Barbara Wilson — announced offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz would not return after the season. The emotional residue stuck to the head coach Tuesday during his weekly news conference. Kirk Ferentz quieted speculation on his Wednesday radio show that he might leave the program, too, but teams take cues from their coaches and leaders. Whatever Ferentz told his players about staying in the moment, they seemed to accept.

“It doesn’t matter what’s going on right now,” Hill said, “it’s just how we finish the year.”

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Iowa began the day in a four-way tie with Wisconsin, Nebraska and Minnesota atop the Big Ten West. The Huskers then lost at Michigan State. The Badgers fell at Indiana. The Gophers allowed a late touchdown against Illinois. Those three losses came by a combined 10 points. The Hawkeyes could have joined them, but they didn’t. Why? Resilience.

None of the remaining games will be easy for this team. The offense is what it is, as they say. The Hawkeyes are capable of beating Rutgers and Illinois at home, then topping Nebraska on Black Friday. Or, they’re equally capable of losing any one of those three games. But over the last five seasons — including Saturday — Iowa is 15-2 in November.

“It’s hard to be 7-2 in the Big Ten,” Higgins said. “I felt like maybe people are forgetting about that, seven wins in this conference is not easy to come by. So I’m telling my guys to hold their heads up high. I’m extremely, extremely happy with my team right now. We know November is a big month for Iowa football.”

Even if Iowa’s performances are more like painting the fence than producing a magnum opus, the result is the same. And it feels all the same to the Hawkeyes.

(Top photo: David Banks / USA Today)