Bohnenkamp: Iowa Football Surging in November Again

Hawkeyes Stop Wisconsin Saturday, Tied for 1st in West

Iowa's Kaleb Johnson (2) scores a touchdown against Wisconsin on Nov. 12, 2022 visiting Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa. (Rob Howe/HawkeyeNation.com)

IOWA CITY, Iowa - So, hey, that’s Iowa at the top of the Big Ten West Division standings.

Take a close look, because the Hawkeyes are in a crowd — a four-way knot with Illinois, Purdue and Minnesota with two games to play. But they’re there, and in the chill of another November when they always seem to wake up, they have a chance at back-to-back division crowns and really, who would have thought that a few weeks ago?

Saturday’s 24-10 win over Wisconsin at the icebox known as Kinnick Stadium has the Hawkeyes in position to get into position. Win next week at Minnesota, and that knot at the top loosens. Win the next two weeks, first against the Gophers and then at home against Nebraska, and Iowa might be heading back to the Big Ten championship game in Indianapolis.

Yeah, this is a lot of fun, this three-game winning streak and the sudden revival of a team that seemed buried after the 54-10 loss to Ohio State a few weeks ago.

But don’t look ahead, cautioned quarterback Spencer Petras.

“I think it’s a total waste of time for us to think about that, because we have to beat a good Minnesota team and a good Nebraska team coming up,” Petras said. “Considering where things were a couple of weeks ago, it is great. The second we set our sights on that, we are doing ourselves a disservice. You can’t do it.

“We still have to keep our focus on what is important.”

The Hawkeyes have made it clear that they never gave up when others seem to have left them in the disappointing also-ran category.

“We didn’t put our heads down and consider the season as a failure,” safety Kaevon Merriweather said. “We kept working each and every day. We knew who we were as a team and as a defense and offense, and our units just came together. We refuse to put our heads down. We want to keep pushing.”

“Like I mentioned last week, I feel like we have our best football to play, and I still believe that,” tight end Sam LaPorta said. “A few weeks ago, it just wasn’t showing yet and I think it is starting to turn around a little bit. But we have to keep progressing.”

Now this is fun. Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz has always emphasized November as the best month to be playing your best. This win was the Hawkeyes’ 13th consecutive in November — the last loss coming at Wisconsin in 2019.

Final months of a season become their own crucible.

“Really, a good team should be peaking in November,” Petras said. “You do that by compound interest of months and months of work. It’s been something our teams have done recently, and we have to continue to do it, because it pays off. This is when the games really count. Chips are on the line.”

A season that was as erratic as a cryptocurrency suddenly seems stabilized. No, Iowa wasn’t very good offensively in this game — they had just 146 yards and averaged 2.1 yards per play. But the Hawkeyes (6-4 overall, 4-3 Big Ten) won this game with the gifts they made for themselves.

Cornerback Cooper DeJean returned an interception for a touchdown, set up another score with a 41-yard punt return, and that return was set up by him and Jamison Heinz downing a Tory Taylor punt at the Wisconsin 1-yard line. Deontae Craig blocked a punt to put the Hawkeyes into position for another touchdown. And Iowa’s defense was better than Wisconsin’s and in this rivalry where points are as precious as votes still being counted from Tuesday’s Election Day, that always seems to matter.

“If we're going to win this game, we're going to have to earn it because don't expect any freebies,” Ferentz said. “We're not going to get anything easy out of this. We're going to have to go out and play and win it, earn it, or you're going to go home sad. We've had a few of those, and it's not much fun.”

“It’s the collective efforts every week,” LaPorta said. “Putting everything together to come away and get the win.”

The Hawkeyes have won three consecutive games after losing three in a row.

“A lot of people nowadays have a glass jaw, and if they get knocked on their butt, they don’t want to get back up,” LaPorta said. “That three-game losing streak, that was really tough for us.”

This game was defined by big plays, and DeJean seemed to be in on all of them.

“He’s a special kid and a special player,” linebacker Jack Campbell said.

“His ceiling is the sky,” Merriweather said.

DeJean, standing in the press-conference room as Merriweather spoke, just shook his head, embarrassed at the praise.

“It’s a lot of fun,” he said. “I love playing the game of football, so any time I get to be out on the field, I just enjoy the moment.”

It’s another November moment for the Hawkeyes, who are at their best when it wasn’t so long ago they were at their worst.

“I don’t know if you could have told me a couple of weeks ago this is what it would look like, but we still have two games ahead of us and we’re happy that we kind of have our fate in our own hands.

“Let’s see what we can do with it, a game at a time.”