Simulated Gameday Experience

Northwestern 17, Iowa 10

Well, Iowa had to do it eventually, right?  There were only so many times that Iowa could pull off some relatively improbable comeback:

-   Northern Iowa: we heard all about the multiple blocked field goals, but the Hawkeyes also got outgained by the 1-AA Panthers.  At one point they were down 13-3.

-  Arkansas State: this was one of the few games that were close Iowa actually led going into the fourth quarter.  However, Iowa let the Red Wolves mount a furious comeback before winning by three.

-  Michigan: as back-and-forth games go, this was pretty solid.  However, Iowa never trailed after halftime (thanks, Michigan secondary!) and got a slight benefit thanks to the then-bizarre decision to have Denard Robinson lead the game-winning drive instead of cardiac kid Tate Forcier.

-  Wisconsin: this wasn’t a true fourth quarter improbable comeback, but Iowa did spot the Badgers a cool 10 points on the road and went into the fourth quarter tied.

-  Michigan State:  Iowa tanks it for a good, oh, 58:30 before running out a completely insane 70-yard TD drive to beat the Spartans on the road on the last play of the game.  Iowa was outgained by a good 35 yards.

-  Indiana: this is the one everyone knows about.  Indiana was up 24-14 (and really should’ve been 31-14) going into the fourth quarter before Iowa just straight-up went off for 28 unanswered.  Ricky Stanzi had one of the strangest lines you’ll see: 13-26 for 337 yards, 2 TDs, and 5 INT.

Iowa failed to top 300 yards of offense in three games: Penn State, Michigan State, and Wisconsin.  This team had – up until now – a chance to play in the national title game.   That’s strange, although strange doesn’t quite describe it; aside from stifling the Nittany Lions in Happy Valley (and beating Iowa State 35-3), Iowa at no point looked dominant or like a team capable of sustaining themselves in a national title game.  That list up there – the close calls – contains only one team with a winning record (okay, maybe two, but I’ll admit that I didn’t check up on Northern Iowa).  That’s why we expected this to happen.

But I didn’t expect it’d happen in no small part to an injury to Ricky Stanzi.  Backup QB James Vandenburg went a Snead-esque 9-27 for 86 yards (and, go figure, 0 TD) after Stanzi injured his ankle in the second quarter.  From that point, and with injuries to everyone you’ve heard of at RB, it fell to redshirt freshman Brandon Wegher to carry this team to victory – and he wasn’t up to the task.  That in it of itself isn’t a problem, and I wouldn’t even call this a bad loss.  I’d call it an accumulation of part losses, and finally – finally – Iowa succumbed to probability.

Tags: ding dong the witch is dead, weekly reflections