IOWA CITY - Iowa’s football team, which hasn’t enjoyed a winning season in 18 years, was beaten by too much success Saturday at Kinnick Stadium.

While ushering in Hayden Fry’s coaching era, the Hawks built a 26-3 halftime lead, but couldn’t cope with success and lost to Indiana 30-26.

“I was concerned about how our players would handle success for a full 60 minutes, because these guys have never experienced it before,” Fry said.

What the Hawks did experience was Indiana’s 20-point fourth quarter blitz, which stunned the record opening day crowd of 59,780, seventh-largest in Iowa history.

“At halftime,” added Fry, “we wanted to make sure that no one complimented our players and patted them on the back. We were trying to prevent what did happen from happening.”

Afterward, Fry was searching for an explanation to the wacky Big Ten opener.

“I wish I was the Good Lord or a magician so I’d have the vocabulary to explain it,” he said.

The Hawks wowed the near-capacity crowd with a sensational first half show. They rolled to touchdowns the first four times they had the ball and outgained Indiana 292-147 in those opening 30 minutes.

But in the final two quarters Indiana outscored the Hawks 27-0 and outgained them 332-97.

“It was like a nightmare,” said Fry. “It was completely unbelievable how we had that about-face in the second half after executing and performing so well in the first half.”

The Hoosiers’ winning score came with just 58 seconds left, as fullback Lonnie Johnson sped 66 yards with a sideline pass from quarterback Tim Clifford.

Indiana Coach Lee Corso said he had borrowed the play and never used it before.

“I got it from Notre Dame,” he said, “because they seem to always do as good a job as anybody of coming back. I spent the day with Notre Dame last June. The back (Johnson) swings out to sideline and the split end (Lee’s son, Steve) takes the cornerback (Mario Pace) with him across the middle. I think I’ll call it my all-Catholic play.”

“We had people revert to man coverage from our zone defense at times, and that gave up open receivers,” said Fry. “Like the touchdown pass, for example. All we had to do was back up and not let anybody behind us. You saw what happened.

“I want to give Indiana all the credit in the world. They made a great comeback. But we had a lot to do with our defeat today.”

“I’ve never been involved in a comeback like this away from home,” said a relieved Corso.

Quarterback Phil Suess, running back Dennis Mosley and tight end Jim Swift were the standouts for Iowa’s spectacular first-half offensive show.

Suess, the former reserve defensive back and scout team quarterback, connected on 12 of 17 passes for 158 yards while guiding the Hawks on touchdown drives of 32, 94, 69 and 73 yards in the first 30 minutes.

“Suess was just unbelievable,” said Corso. “I didn’t think anyone could keep throwing as well as he was in that first half. And that’s one of the things I told our players at halftime.”

Mosley scooted for 114 yards in 14 first-half carries, and scored all four Iowa touchdowns, tying an Iowa game record set by former Cedar Rapids Jefferson star Larry Lawrence in 1968.

Swift caught four passes for 74 yards, each netting a first down.

But in the second half, Suess completed only five of 13 passes for 69 yards, with one interception; Mosley was limited to 28 yards in six trips and Swift didn’t catch a pass.

“We weren’t tired in the second half,” said Mosley, who finished with a career-high 142 yards rushing. “We’re very well conditioned. But we probably did let down a lot mentally.”

“More than anything else,” said Suess, “we lost our concentration in the second half on both offense and defense.”

“I guess we just had a mental break down and were a little overconfident in the second half,” said wingback Brad Reid, who caught two passes for 31 yards.

If Iowa was overconfident in the second half, Indiana was enraged, especially when the ball was airborne. In the final half, Clifford went to work on what still seems to be the major weakness of Iowa’s defense — the secondary.

After completing seven of 11 passes for 102 yards in the opening half, Clifford connected on 12 of 17 for 214 yards in the final half.

Still, there were plenty of plusses for Iowa fans to remember in Fry’s first try here.

After all, it’s been awhile since an Iowa quarterback passed for 227 yards, an Iowa running back rushed for 142 yards and four touchdowns in 20 attempts, an Iowa tight end caught four passes for 74 yards or an Iowa team totaled 389 yards.

And although the Hawks were held scoreless in the second half, they still mustered 26 points, an accomplishment last year’s team didn’t manage until the fourth game of the season.

Fry blamed himself for the defeat.

“I don’t feel the coaching staff, particularly myself, did a very good job. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have made so many mistakes. But we did play well in the first half; that gives us hope.

“I haven’t lost any confidence in our players. They’re good players. They just need better coaching. The players weren’t disciplined enough to do what we’ve been coaching them to do. But that’s not their fault; that’s the coaches’ fault.”

A few weeks before the game, Corso had joked that “if Iowa blocks a punt, we’ll quit.”

Just 2 minutes 4 seconds into the game, that statement went into the false information file, as left end Jim Molini blocked a Hoosier punt and left tackle Don Willey recovered it at Indiana’s 32.

Three plays later, with 11:39 left in the first quarter, Mosley took a Suess pitch and rambled 23 yards for a touchdown.

“I tried to quit after the blocked punt, but they made me go back out,” Corso said with a smile.

The Hawks’ finest drive came in their next series. Taking over on their own 6, they marched 94 yards in 13 plays. During the drive, Swift caught three Suess passes for 49 yards and Mosley ran for 37 yards, including the final five.

Following a 29-yard field goal by Indiana’s Steve Straub early in the second period, Iowa needed only eight plays to march 69 yards for another score. The TD came on a four-yard Suess-to-Mosley pass with 8:47 left in the half.

The Hawks continued their rapid-fire scoring, needing just 10 plays to travel 73 yards for a score. Mosley again hit paydirt, from one yard out, giving Iowa a seemingly insurmountable 26-3 advantage with 3:06 left in the half.

While posting its fourth straight victory over Iowa, Indiana played most of the game without star tailback Mike Harkrader. Hobble for two weeks with a pulled hamstring, Harkrader, who had rushed for 320 yards in two previous meetings with Iowa, didn’t enter the contest until 22 seconds remained in the third quarter. He finished with 23 yards in six carries.

The victory was reminiscent of Indiana’s last trip to Iowa City, in 1977. Trailing 14-0 early in the game, the Hoosiers came back to win 24-21 on David Freud’s 23-yard field goal with 16 seconds left.

Saturday’s opener was the earliest in Iowa’s 91-year football history. But it didn’t end early enough for Iowa.

Members of the Turnover family, usually loyal allies of the Iowa football team, committed treason Saturday, and the Hawkeyes’ pass defense went AWOL.

As a result, Minnesota ruined Iowa’s homecoming with a 24-7 win before 60,050 at Kinnick Stadium.

The Hawks, who were leading the nation in takeaways with 16 fumble recoveries and 10 pass interceptions, had four turnovers to only one by Minnesota.

Those mistakes helped nullify the Hawks’ 20 first downs (four more than Minnesota) and 334 total yards (Minnesota had 348).

And Minnesota quarterback Mark Carlson riddled Iowa’s pass defense, completing 14 of 17 for 230 yards.

The loss dropped the Hawks to 3-4 overall and 2-2 in the Big Ten, tying them for sixth place with Michigan State. Minnesota is 4-3 overall, 3-2 and in fifth place in the conference.

“We certainly didn’t play well enough to win,” said Iowa Coach Hayden Fry. “It seems like we made more mistakes today than we had all year long. Obviously, we had very poor coaching, and I think I’m to blame for that.

“There’s no question the better team won, and we looked terrible. It was a terrible, terrible performance by the Hawks. This was by far our worst game. We just weren’t mentally sharp today.

“I think you could say anything bad you want about this performance and be right.

“We just didn’t seem like the Hawks today. We weren’t sharp, and I have to be careful not to get discouraged. There’ll be a little soul searching this week, I’ll tell you.”

Minnesota Coach Joe Salem said “the key factor in the game was turnovers. We didn’t give them up the way Iowa has been getting them in the past. But then, we worked quite a bit on that part of the game — not fumbling — this past week.”

Mistakes killed Iowa early, but the Hawks’ pass defense — or lack of same — killed them later.

Iowa’s first mistake came just 42 seconds into the game, as quarterback Gordy Bohannon lost a fumble at the Hawks’ 9-yard line. Four plays later, Paul Rogind kicked a 24-yard field goal to give Minnesota a 3-0 lead just 2:24 into the game.

It marked the first time this year that Iowa hadn’t scored first.

Minnesota’s only sustained scoring drive came on its next possession. With Carlson completing three passes for 47 yards, the Gophers marched 64 yards in 12 plays to take a 10-0 lead with 5:56 left in the first period.

At the time, Iowa had run five plays and netted minus-one yard.

The Hawks stormed back, however, zipping 54 yards in nine plays to earn a first down at Minnesota’s 26. But the Turnover family played turncoat again, as roverback Mike Robb rapped Bohannon hard enough to cause another fumble which Robb then recovered.

Iowa’s defense held, however, and the Hawk offense continued to show moxie, driving 87 yards in 12 plays on its next possession. Bohannon was the star of the drive, completing passes of 13 and 22 yards to Keith Chappelle and running for gains of 10 and 18.

Iowa’s only scoring thrust ended when Dennis Mosley flew around right end for a 19-yard score with 8:35 left until halftime.

It was Mosley’s 11th touchdown, tying Iowa’s season record. Until that run, he had been limited to 16 yards in seven carries. He finished with 74 yards in 19 carries, giving him 877 yards rushing in seven games.

Minnesota’s final two touchdowns resulted from Carlson’s long passes to split end Elmer Bailey, who seems to save his best for Iowa. The senior split end from St. Paul has scored seven touchdowns for Minnesota and five of them have come against Iowa.

Bailey, who caught six passes for 158 yards Saturday, combined with Carlson to break open a 10-7 game with 8:49 left in the third quarter. Facing third-and-9 at midfield, Carlson tossed a 50-yard scoring pass to Bailey, who was 10 yards behind the nearest Hawk at Iowa’s 10.

Just a few minutes later, Minnesota’s second long scoring pass was set up by Robb, the Gopher who had unlodged Bohannon from the football earlier. He, well, Robbed Bohannon again, returning an interception 29 yards to the Minnesota 43.

From there, it took one play for Minnesota to score. Carlson threw a short pass to Bailey at the Iowa 47, and Bailey somehow evaded half a dozen Hawk defenders en route to a 57-yard touchdown with 6:27 left in the third period.

Carlson, too, has been a thorn in Iowa’s side. In last year’s 22-20 win over Iowa he completed 14 of 19 passes for 175 yards and two touchdowns — to Bailey, of course.

A bright spot for Iowa was the foot of Reggie Roby, freshman kicker from Waterloo. He was inches wide on a 53-yard field goal try (which would have broken Dave Holsclaw’s school record by two yards) and he averaged a whopping 52.3 yards on four punts.

And the Iowa defense continued to be tough to run against, as Minnesota managed only 118 yards in 44 carries, a 2.7 average.

Gopher tailback Marion Barber, who needed only 52 yards to tie Paul Giel’s school career rushing record, was limited to 38 yards in 11 carries. Teammate Glenn Lewis was the game’s top rusher with 84 yards in 22 tries.

The leading Iowa tacklers were linebacker Levin Weiss (six solos, nine assists), tackle Don Willey (six and two), end Jim Molini (five and four) and tackle Bill Bradley (five solos). Willey, usually a noseguard, replaced injured starter John Harty, who did not dress for the game.

Minnesota’s outstanding tackler was Jack Johnson, weakside linebacker who had seven solos, including two sacks and three assists.

MADISON, WIS. –

So what’s Dennis Mosley going to do with the game ball presented to him Saturday for sending Iowa football records flying like autumn leaves?

“I’m going to get my offensive linemen to sign the ball,” the speedy Hawkeye said, “and then I’m going to put it somewhere so I can look at it later in life.”

Coach Hayden Fry seemed more elated even than his senior running back as he pointed out this is the first time in Iowa’s 4-4 season that he has presented anyone with a game ball.

A capacity crowd of 79,026 — seventh largest in Camp Randall Stadium history — watched the Hawkeyes ruin a host’s homecoming for the third time in October, 24-13 over misfortune-plagued Wisconsin.

The victory rocketed Iowa into a fourth-place tie with Indiana in the Big Ten, and next Saturday the Hawks (3-2) face Purdue, the third place team with a 4-1 mark, in Iowa City.

Fry’s game of musical quarterbacks paid off in the end zone Saturday. Phil Suess, re-established as No. 1, hurled passes for all three Iowa touchdowns, and none of them was more vital or more spectacular than the final one.

The setting: Iowa was nursing a 17-13 lead with 8 1/2 minutes to go and was pinned down — third and eight yards to go — on its own 25-yard line.

Suess rolled out to his right and flipped a little southpaw toss to Mosley, who took it in full stride and seemed likely to get the first down, at best.

“It was about a three-yard pass,” grinned Mosley, “but I got a good block from Keith Chappelle and was able to pick up some running room. Then Wisconsin’s No. 5 (Terry Stroede) got me around the legs, but I was able to kick free and maintain my balance.”

Mosley sped on to complete the 75-yard play and become the most prolific one-season scorer in Iowa history. It was his 12th TD, breaking the school records for TDs and points (72).

In the third quarter Mose had become Iowa’s greatest one-season rusher. He entered the game needing 60 yards to tie Eddie Podolak’s mark of 937, set in 1968. He wound up with 79 yards in 26 rushes Saturday, so the record is 956.

“And he’s got three games to go,” chortled Fry. “We did what we had to do on offense today, but Wisconsin definitely was keying on Mosley. Wisconsin played tough defense, you bet, but I think our guys came up with some super moments on defense, too.”

Wisconsin outgained Iowa 370 yards to 335 and had more first downs, 23-18. But when it was over the scoreboard showed Iowa had won two straight at Madison for the first time in half a century — 1927 and 1929.

Fry pointed out his defense was riddled with injuries, so he was proud of some goal-line stands. They were:

1. The game was scoreless in the first quarter when Wisconsin marched to Iowa’s four-yard line. There, second down and goal to go, tailback Chucky Davis fumbled and Iowa’s Leven Weiss fell on it.

2. Early in the second quarter, still no score, the Badgers penetrated to Iowa’s 10, but on fourth down and a yard to go they chose to go for Steve Veith’s 27-yard field goal.

3. Best of all may have been early in the third quarter after the Hawks had snatched a 14-10 lead just before the half. Wisconsin moved ominously to Iowa’s one-yard line and elected to try for the touchdown. Steve Parish, who started at quarterback because the top two men are injured, tried to hand off to fullback David Mohapp, but the Iowa defense rose up so quickly that Parish couldn’t even make the handoff and wound up being smashed a yard short.

From there the Hawks mixed runs by Mosley and fullback Dean McKillip with Suess’ passes and swept to the Badger five. But they had to settle for Reggie Roby’s 22-yard field goal, which upped their lead to 17-10 with 14:14 to play.

The Iowa defense wasn’t done. The Badgers took the ensuing kickoff and proceeded to Iowa’s 19-yard line, but Coach Dave McClain chose to settle for Veith’s 37-yard field goal on fourth down.

It was then that Suess and Mosley combined for 75-yard TDD that clinched the outcome.

Mohapp, 220-pound soph from Woodstock, Ill., who almost came to Iowa instead of Wisconsin, was the game’s top rusher with 139 yards in 16 carries. He also scored the Badgers’ only touchdown on a 15-yard run up the middle in the second quarter.

The Hawks seemed to catch some offensive fire at that point, and they scored two touchdowns within two minutes of playing time. And what a pair of contrasting drives they were.

The first was an 85-yard march in 13 plays, aided by a face mask penalty against the Badgers. Fry had promised that the Hawks would pass to tight end Jim Swift Saturday, and that’s what Suess did for the first TD. It was a six-yard play, followed by Roby’s perfect kick.

“I told you we would be able to pass to Swift today,” smiled Fry, “and that’s what we did on our very first play, but Jim dropped it. He more than made up for it, though, by catching that touchdown pass.”

It was the first pass Swift had caught since the second game of the season, at Oklahoma.

The Hawks intercepted two passes, and the first one set up their second touchdown. Kent Ellis stole Parish’s pass and legged it back 27 yards to the Wisconsin 27.

Suess dropped back and looked for Mike Brady, the split end who didn’t catch a pass all last season and had become the forgotten man in Iowa’s receiving picture. The slow-footed, sure-handed Brady got five yards behind the defense and caught Suess’ pass with a flying leap in the end zone. Roby’s kick made it 14-10 at the half, and the Hawks won the second half, too, 10-3.

IOWA CITY –

The folks who produced “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” are getting to be angry at Iowa’s football team.

After all, by losing to Purdue 20-14 Saturday, the Hawkeyes took clear title to what could have been a dandy movie sequel: “Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind.”

A Kinnick Stadium crowd of 59,940 watched Saturday as Iowa had its close encounter of the fourth kind against nationally-ranked and/or bowl-bidding teams.

On previous Saturdays, the Hawks had lost to Indiana 30-26, after leading 26-3 at halftime; to No. 7th-ranked Oklahoma 21-6, after trailing by only 7-6 through three quarters; and to No. 2 Nebraska 24-21, after leading 21-7.

And Saturday came the loss to 15th-ranked Purdue.

“We’ll five the big boys a damn knot on the head one of these days,” said a dejected Iowa Coach Hayden Fry, who as a former Marine from Texas, knows that coming close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

The victory was Purdue’s 19th straight over Iowa, giving the Boilermakers a 7-2 overall record and 5-1 mark in the Big Ten heading into next week’s home showdown with 10th-ranked Michigan (6-0, 8-1).

Despite the loss, Iowa stayed in fifth place in the Big Ten with a 3-3 mark. The Hawks are 4-5 overall, however, and now must win at unbeaten Ohio State next Saturday to hope for their first winning season since 1961.

As usual, quarterback Mark Herrmann was one of Purdue’s biggest stars. He passed for two touchdowns and, even though his receivers dropped six passes, completed 21 of 38 for 236 yards. In three victories over Iowa, the 6-5 junior has tossed nine touchdown passes and connected on 48 of 86 for 679 yards.

Funny thing, though, is that Herrmann wasn’t the most prolific 6-5 junior quarterback in Saturday’s game; Iowa’s Phil Suess was.

Suess completed 21 of 34 passes for 248 yards. While Suess didn’t loft an interception, Herrmann threw three.

And while Herrmann was not a running threat, Suess ran for 56 yards in seven carries, not counting the six times he was sacked for minus-25 yards. Five of Suess’ seven intentional carries gained first downs, including second-half jaunts of 14 and 20 yards.

Even though the Hawks’ record at home dropped to 1-4 (they’re 3-1 on the road, Ohio State), there were some moments to remember for the Parents Day crowd. Especially the parents of senior running back Dennis Mosley.

On his 11th carry of the game, with 13:10 left until halftime, Mosley became the first Hawk to rush for 1,000-yards in a season. It was an 8-yard off-tackle burst in which Mosley broke two tackles at the line of scrimmage.

The crowd, as well as Iowa’s players on the bench, responded with a standing ovation. And the officials tossed the football to Fry.

Mosley finished the day with 88 yards in 21 carries, giving him 218 carries and 1,044 yards this year, both school records. He needs only 27 more yards to equal Levi Mitchell’s career rushing record of 1,927 set in 1969-71.

What Iowa needed Saturday was to continue its habit of not making mistakes. The Hawks entered the game ranked fourth nationally in turnover margin, making only 16, causing 30.

But Saturday was a different story, although not all of Iowa’s mistakes will show on the statistic sheets, and not all of them will be termed as turnovers:

l An illegal procedure penalty on Iowa — the Hawks’ only penalty during the game — led to Purdue’s first touchdown. The Boilers faced fourth-and-eight at Iowa’s 38, and were ready to punt. But with fourth-and-three thanks to the penalty, Purdue gambled and got a first down at Iowa’s 25.

l Reggie Roby, who had connected on 18 of 20 previous point-after kicks, missed his first try Saturday, into a 15-mph wind.

l Thanks to leaping pass receptions of 22 yards by Brad Reid and 38 by Mike Brady, Iowa had a first down at Purdue’s 18 with 1:19 left until halftime. But Suess was then sacked three times for minus-13 yards, and Roby was far short and off to the left on his wind-aided, 50-yard field goal try.

l Roby’s punt attempt was blocked by Kenna Turner early in the third quarter, setting up Purdue’s final scoring drive at the Iowa 42.

l Fullback Dean McKillip twice lost fumbles in Purdue territory, at the 30 midway through the second quarter and the 43 late in the third.

l And after Iowa had moved 65 yards to the Purdue 21 with 1:48 left in the game, Reid ran an incorrect pass pattern on fourth-and-six. The result was that Suess’ pass to Reid in the end zone was tipped away by cornerback Wayne Smith.

Reid, who had been limited by double coverage to 13 catches in the Hawks’ first eight games, had his finest game of the season. The former Linn-Mar star caught six for 53 yards. But…

“The kid read the coverage wrong,” said Fry, “He ran a busted route, if you can believe that. We wanted a 7-yard stop route to get the first down.”

Purdue took a 7-0 lead on Herrmann’s 3-yard strike to tight end Dave Young with 7:37 left in the quarter. It capped a 13-play, 80-yard drive and marked the 27th consecutive game in which Young had caught a pass.

Iowa came right back with its own 80-yard scoring drive, but the Hawks needed only 11 plays. With 2:44 left in the first quarter, Mosley scored his 13th touchdown of the season on a 1-yard run, but Roby’s kick failed.

On their next possession, the Hawks took their only lead, marching 69 yards in 12 plays. McKillip finished the drive, running 16 untouched yards through a hole provided by tackle Matt Petrzelka and guard Greg Gilbaugh.

Iowa made up for the missed point-after kick, too, as Mosley passed to Reid, who made a diving catch in the right corner of the end zone. That gave Iowa a 14-7 lead with 11:54 left until halftime.

The wild scoring show continued, as Purdue went 68 yards to score in nine plays. Herrmann clicked on five of six passes for 52 yards as Purdue tied the score with 8:33 left until halftime.

The offenses cooled after that wild opening half, in which the teams combined for four touchdowns, 27 first downs and 496 yards.

Purdue notched the only touchdown in the final, and the drive totaled only 42 yards, thanks to the blocked Roby punt.

The Boilermakers did threaten several times in the second half, however, only to be turned back by Iowa’s defense:

l Hawk linebacker Todd Simonsen recovered a Ben McCall fumble at the Iowa 19.

l Herrmann, under pressure from end Bryan Skradis, threw an interception to end Brad Webb in the end zone, after Purdue had collected a first down at Iowa’s 11.

The Hawk defense also forced Purdue mistakes in the opening half:

l Late in the first quarter, Free safety Bobby Stoops intercepted a Herrmann pass which was tipped by cornerback Mario Pace at Iowa’s 28.

l Late in the second quarter, Webb forced Herrmann into an intentional grounding call when the Boilers had second-and-10 at the Iowa 15. The penalty put Purdue into a third-and-30 spot at Iowa’s 35, and on the next play Kent Ellis intercepted Herrmann’s heave at the Iowa 4.

So it was a case of “so close, yet so far away” for Purdue, too. But not on the scoreboard.

“Sorry to be late,” he apologized, “but I’ve been tied up with bowl committees.”

Fry was kidding, of course, but a postseason bowl game was one of the few things his first Hawkeye football team missed after wrapping up a 5-6 season with an impressive 33-23 victory over Michigan State.

A few of the 58,320 spectators got excited enough to tear down the north goal posts; the rest booed the demonstrators but applauded the Hawks.

Iowa even achieved something Fry had not predicted before this season began: The Hawks, picked eighth, wound up in the Big Ten’s first division, finishing alone in fifth place with a 4-4 record.

Dennis Mosley made his coach look like some kind of mystic. Not only did the Youngstown, Ohio, senior become the first Hawkeye to gain a thousand yards — as Fry predicted last summer — but he gained 136 yards in 31 carries Saturday to wind up with 1,267 yards for the season.

He also emerged as the Big Ten’s leading rusher, as he far outdistanced Michigan’s Butch Woolfolk, who gained 68 yards in the loss to Ohio State Saturday. In eight conference games each, Mosley has 882 to Woolfolk’s 831.

Mosley also scored three of Iowa’s five touchdowns on runs of one, three and five yards. That gave him 16 for the season, tying what is believed to be the all-time school record set by Gordon Locke in 1922.

The modern (since 1939) Iowa record that Mosley broke earlier was 11 — by Earl Smith in 1954 and Wilburn Hollis in 1960.

But as spectacular as the offense was in rolling up 442 yards, it was the defense that provided the game’s real turning point.

No, not in forcing the Spartans three times to settle for field goals by their marvelous “Great Dane,” Morten Andersen, in the first half.

Michigan State received the second-half kickoff with a 16-13 lead, and Coach Darryl Rogers chose to go for it on fourth down and inches to go on the MSU 29-yard line.

The center of Iowa’s line and linebackers smashed through the Spartan offensive line as if it were papier-mache and smeared Bryan Clark, freshman quarterback who is the son of Detroit Lions Coach Monte Clark, for no gain. John “Haystack” Harty was credited with the tackle, and he had lots of help.

That brought the near capacity crowd to its feet in noisy tribute, and the offensive unit came onto the field with renewed vigor. In just five plays the Hawks socked in the go-ahead touchdown on gangling Phil Suess’ seven-yard keeper, and the snowball began rolling.

Again the aroused Iowa defense stopped Michigan State in its tracks, so Ray Stachowicz, who won the Big Ten punting crown from Iowa’s Reggie Roby, got off a modest 41-yard boot to the Iowa 44.

This time the Hawks went the 56-yards in six plays, the biggest one of which was Suess’ 22-yard pass to Jim Swift. Dean McKillip achieved a fullback’s dream by racing untouched for the final 18 yards, his seventh TD of the season. Roby kicked the point for a 27-16 lead with 7:04 to go in the third quarter, but the race still wasn’t over.

Suess had a pass intercepted by Mark Anderson, and even that didn’t faze Iowa’s defense. The Hawkeye defenders promptly got the ball back when Leven Weiss, one of 20 seniors winding up careers, intercepted Clark’s pass and legged it back 14 yards to the Spartan 34.

An MSU player piled on after the whistle, so Iowa got the ball on the 19. Mosley scampered over left guard for 11, swept right end for three and then skipped through a hole over right guard for the final five yards and the last TD of his Iowa career.

Michigan State salvaged a touchdown on a one-yard plunge by Derek Hughes. Hughes rolled up 213 yards against Minnesota last week, but the Hawks limited him to 27 Saturday. Steve Smith was the Spartans’ top gainer with 114 yards in 22 runs.

As usual, Andersen soccer-kicked the point. He finished the season by making all 25 of his conversions, and he also connected on 11 of 18 field goal tries. He is a soph from Struer, Denmark.

Andersen’s accuracy kept the Spartans in the game in the first half — that and Iowa’s repeat of some of the philanthropic ways the Hawks learned last week at Ohio State. The Spartans recovered a fumble each from Suess and Mosley.

Iowa started out as if to turn the game into rout like the 58-6 victory over Northwestern. The Hawks took the opening kickoff and went 80 yards in nine plays. This included Suess’ 43-yard pass to Jeff Brown. Mosley traveled the final yard after getting a deft pitchout from Suess outside the end.

But the Spartans scratched back for two field goals — one of 54 yards that tied the school record and one of 25 — before the Hawks could find the firing pin again. Suess hit Keith Chappelle for an 18-yarder and Mosley with a 19-yarder, and soon Mose was following massed blockers through right tackle on a three-yard scoring run. The center snap was bobbled, and Iowa had a 13-6 lead.

It didn’t last. The Spartans bounced right back for an 80-yard drive of their own, Clark sneaking the final yard. Andersen’s kick left the score tied, and soon an Iowa mistake gave him the chance to put the visitors ahead for the final time.

Iowa had the ball at midfield and someone erred by calling timeout just before Dave Holsclaw came in to punt. This gave the Spartans an extra 25 seconds, and they steamed downfield to get into field goal range. The big gain was Clark’s 23-yard pass to Gene Byrd. Andersen kicked a 45-yarder against the light wind with two seconds left to give MSU a 16-13 handle at the half.

Brad Reid and Chappelle each caught three passes, and Brown two as Suess completed half of his 22 attempts. Byrd was the game’s top pass-grabber, as he caught five for 159 yards.

Linebacker Todd Simonsen led Iowa’s tacklers with 12, while noseman Pat Dean was credited with 11 and safety Bobby Stoops with 9.

Dan Bass, MSU linebacker who has started all 44 games of his career, and safety Mark Anderson led the losers with 12 tackles each. Bass, who didn’t play after being hurt late in the third quarter, led his team in tackles all four seasons.

COLUMBUS, OHIO –

Ridiculous!

That’s the way Iowa Coach Hayden Fry described the way his offense gave away five fumbles and five interceptions Saturday in a monumental 34-7 self-destruction that hurried Ohio State on its 10-0 path to clinching at least a tie for the Big Ten championship and a probable Rose Bowl berth.

Magnificent!

That’s the way Fry described his defense, which somehow limited the No. 3 rated Buckeyes to four touchdowns and two field goals after the offense squandered the football like sailors in port after a year’s cruise.

Ohio State’s vast double-deck horseshoe has been a House of Horrors for Iowa many times, but this was the biggest nightmare of all. The 70th straight sellout crowd of 87,835 couldn’t believe that Halloween was over, because the Iowa offense played tricks on itself and treated the Buckeyes to ideal field position six times in a 27-0 first half.

Ohio State must beat Michigan, 24-21 loser to Purdue Saturday, next Saturday at Ann Arbor for a clear championship and Pasadena trip.

However, even if the Buckeyes lose to Michigan, they will go to Pasadena if Purdue makes it a three-way title tie by beating Indiana.

Don’t bother reading the statistics in this one. You wouldn’t believe them. Who would guess a team losing 34-7 would have more first downs (13-11) and more net yards gained (229-185) than the victors?

“We found a secret way to keep Ohio State from rolling up yards,” said Fry, so devastated by the series of freak giveaways that he was loose and laughing after the game. “We gave them the ball so close to our goal line they didn’t have far to go.

“This didn’t look like my team out there today. We did every ridiculous thing possible on offense, but if it hadn’t been for a magnificent defense we would have given up a whole bucket of points. Well, Ohio State got enough as it was, but it could have been unreal.”

The Hawkeyes, who play Michigan State in next Saturday’s closer at Kinnick Stadium, found scant consolation in that Dennis Mosley — when he wasn’t fumbling — led all ball carriers with 87 yards in 21 carries to set two more modern (since 1939) Iowa records:

1. Most career yards rushing, 1,997, breaking the 1,927 set by Levi Mitchell (1969-70-71).

2. Most career carries, 427, breaking the 425 by Mitchell.

With one game to go, the Youngstown, Ohio, senior has broken almost every Iowa rushing record except the one-game mark of 286 set by Eddie Podolak against Northwestern in 1968 and Eddie Vincent’s 96-yard scrimmage run against Purdue in 1954.

Art Schlicter and Doug Donley, Ohio State’s pitcher-catcher combo, also set school records, but the Hawkeye defense made their feats look almost ordinary.

The Buckeye defense was might tough, too. And so were their specialty teams. The Bucks deflected two of the punts by Reggie Roby, the Big Ten’s top punter, and forced the Hawks to use some of Fry’s long-awaited “exotics.”

When Ohio State rushed 10 men in an attempt to block another punt, Roby deftly passed 21 yards to Jim Swift for a first down. After Iowa’s lone touchdown — Pete Gales’ 40-yard pass to Keith Chappelle with 4:07 to go — the Hawks tried a short kickoff that Ohio State anticipated and recovered.

One of the embarrassing things that happened came with two minutes left. Deep in his own end zone, Roby swung his leg into the ball and struck his blocker, fullback Dean McKillip, squarely on — well — his own end zone. But by then Buckeye Coach Earle Bruce had his third teamers in action, and they couldn’t add to the score.

Getting back to Iowa’s errors, consider this: Ohio State never was farther away from Iowa’s goal than the Buckeye 45-yard line until receiving the second-half kickoff.

Honest. Iowa treated the Bucks to the football six times inside the Iowa 37-yard line in the first half, plus two more in the second half. The Hawks didn’t get their only first down of the first half until after 24 minutes of play, and they never got past their own 37-yard line until the next-to-the-last play of the first half.

The giveaways went as follows on Iowa’s first-half possessions.

1. Roby punted 45 yards, and Mike Guess returned it to the Ohio 45. No score.

2. Roby’s punt was deflected but went 31 yards to the Ohio 48. The Bucks had their only long drive of the day, going the 52 yards in nine plays with Schlichter skipping into the end zone from a yard out.

3. Phil Suess fumbled to Ohio’s Jim Laughlin on the Iowa 25, and soon Vlade Janakievski, a Yugoslavia native, kicked a soccer-style field goal of 35 yards.

4. Mosley fumbled a pitchout (he was charged with an 11-yard loss) to Ohio’s Ray Ellis on the Iowa 11, and Janakievski booted a 29-yard field goal, the 13th he has made in 14 tries this year.

5. Suess’ screen pass to Mosley hit Swift on the head and Ohio’s Marcus Marek intercepted it on the Iowa 36. Fullback Ric Volley scored from a yard out to cap a 36-yard drive in eight plays.

6. Suess fumbled to Ohio’s Marek on the Iowa 24, and the Bucks went the distance in three plays, Schlichter hitting Donley with a 33-yard TD pass.

7. Suess’ pass to Chappelle was intercepted by Guess on the Ohio 47.

8. Roby’s punt was deflected and rolled to the Iowa 37, but the half ended 27-0.

The third quarter was scoreless, but the Hawks proved they were equal-opportunity philanthropists by giving the ball away at the other end. First Mosley coughed up another fumble to Todd Bell. Then they embarked on a six-minute, 85-yard drive to the Buckeye two.

“It was a pass-run option play, and I thought Suess could have walked in to score,” said Fry, “but he threw an interception when his receiver was double-covered.”

The Bucks got their last TD when Gordy Bohannon’s pass was intercepted by Vince Skillings on the Iowa 34. Greg Castignola, taking over for Schlichter, led the winners to score in six plays, the last of which was Tim Spencer’s one-yard run. Janakievski kicked his fourth and final extra point, giving him 42 of 44 this year.

Gales threw the last interception — to Ohio’s Bob Murphy — just before the game ended, but Gales first helped Iowa escape a shutout. He hurled a long pass that Chappelle had to come back to catch on the five-yard line. The Buckeye covering him, Doyle Lewis, slipped on the artificial surface, and Chappelle sped around him to score easily. Roby kicked the point.

IOWA CITY –

The time bomb finally went off Saturday. But the explosion wasn’t big enough.

Iowa Coach Hayden Fry, who is fond of referring to his young football team as “a time bomb ready to go off,” watched his team’s offense come to life in the second half Saturday against Illinois at Kinnick Stadium, piling up 204 yards and 14 points after halftime.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough as the Hawkeyes lost their fourth straight game, 20-14, to the Fighting Illini.

The Illini, a team in a state of disarray prior to this season, now lead the Big Ten with a 3-0 mark (3-2-1 overall). Iowa, with a program that showed bright promise prior to the season, now finds itself 1-1 in the Big Ten (1-4 overall).

And while the Hawkeye offense finally began to produce in the second half — primarily via the passing combo of Phil Suess to Keith Chappelle — it only happened after Illinois had constructed a 20-0 lead. As a result of the offensive fireworks didn’t make Fry very happy. In fact, the distraught coach had a one-word label for the contest — “disaster.”

“We just played a very, very poor first half,” he said. “It was one of the worst first halves I’ve ever seen, especially from a quarterback standpoint. We just made all kinds of mental mistakes.

“We got everything straightened out at halftime and did a good job in the second half. But the first half mistakes lose the ballgame — that and the fumbled by Jeff Brown at the start of the second half.”

The Hawks had escaped from the horrendous first half, trailing by only 13-0, but the start of the second half all but put them away.

First, they were late coming out of the locker room and were assessed a 15-yard penalty prior to the kickoff. Suess was thrown for a seven-yard loss on the first play from scrimmage and the Hawks were penalized for holding on the second play. The third play was the biggest single disaster of the game.

Tailback Brown, the Big Ten’s leading rusher entering the game, charged off left tackle for a gain of two yards but as he was going down he fumbled the ball. It sailed into the waiting arms of cornerback Rick George, who dashed 13 yards into the end zone. Mike Bass’ extra point kick made it 20-0, Illinois.

“We had a big hole on the play,” said Fry, “but Jeff goes in there and there goes the ball again. And they’ve got it going the other way. We benched Jeff after that, trying to teach him a lesson. He wasn’t running tough anyway.”

Phil Blatcher replaced Brown and did a yeoman job the rest of the way, gaining 40 yards in 10 carries, but it was the aerial duo of Suess-to-Chappelle that eventually brought Iowa back.

Chappelle, who tied a school record with 12 catches and set another record with 191 yards receiving, finally got the Hawks on the board when he caught an 11-yard scoring pass from Suess with 6:08 to go in the third quarter. It capped a 12-play, 75-yard march which included a 28-yard pass from Suess to Nate Person and a 14-yard run by Blatcher.

During the next quarter-and-a-half of play, the Hawks continued to move the ball well offensively and they even started to get some help from the Illini. In six consecutive possessions, the visitors handed the ball to Iowa on two fumbles, an interception, a missed field goal and punts of 19 and 27 yards.

But it wasn’t until 2:48 remained in the game that the Hawks notched their second touchdown.

On one occasion, early in the fourth quarter, the Hawks were stopped on downs at the Illinois five-yard line when Suess’ pass to Chappelle fell incomplete in the end zone.

They were stopped again, at the Illinois 37, midway through the final quarter when a Suess pass went awry on fourth down. Illinois’ Wayne Strader fumbled it back to the Hawks on the next play, however, giving them possession at the Illinois 31.

One play later, the Hawks committed perhaps their most crucial error of the game. Suess hit Chappelle for a 35-yard gain down the middle but as Chappelle was being tackled at the two-yard line he lost control of the ball and it rolled into the end zone. Illinois’ Tony Scarcelli pounced on it there for a touchback, robbing the Hawks of an almost certain TD.

The Hawks’ prolific passing duo produced the second Iowa TD in the next possession as a 53-yard march was culminated by Chappelle’s diving catch in the end zone. The 14-yard play and Reggie Roby’s second extra point kick cut the Illinois lead to 20-14.

After recovering an attempted onside kick, the Illini failed to move in their next possession and punted to Iowa. The Hawks, however, were forced to initiate their final thrust from their own six-yard line.

Suess completed passes to Chappelle and Blatcher to move the ball out to the 19-yard line before a fourth down toss fell incomplete with 21 seconds left.

Illinois, although it only outgained Iowa 286-278 for the game, thoroughly dominated the first two quarters as the Hawks struggled to get any kind of offense going. Illini quarterback Dave Wilson, who finished with 211 yards passing, completed 13 of 21 for 159 yards in the first half, including a 22-yard TD pass to John Lopez with 5:11 remaining in the second quarter.

Bass had earlier kicked a 30-yard field goal in the first quarter and he added another three-pointer, from 34 yards out, just 49 seconds before halftime. The first field goal was set up by Luke Sewall’s recovery of another Brown fumble and the second capped an impressive 76-yard drive.

The Illini might have had a few more points in the first half but a 27-yard TD pass from Wilson to Strader was nullified by a holding penalty midway through the second quarter.

While the Illini were rolling up 204 yards in the first half, their defense was limiting the Hawks to 74. But first-year coach Mike White, whose team hosts Purdue next week, was somewhat disappointed by the fact that his team allowed Iowa to narrow the gap so much.

“I hadn’t been around a team that had more enthusiasm than our players did at halftime today,” said White. “We have gone through different stages as a football team this year and I’m just very glad we won.

“But this also taught us another lesson. You have to play 60 minutes to win a football game. We didn’t today and it nearly cost us the game. I was frightened to death there at the end of the game.”

In addition to the 211 yards passing by Wilson, the Illini also got surprisingly solid offensive outings from Strader and tight end Lee Boeke. Strader, who had rushed for just 21 yards coming into the game, rolled up 81 yards in 22 carries. Boeke, with one pass reception in five previous games, snared six passes for 97 yards.

Iowa’s most significant offensive stats were accumulated by Chappelle and Suess, who recovered from his slow start to complete 16 of 36 for 227 yards. Freshman Norm Granger was a bright spot on the special teams, producing kickoff returns of 55 and 29 yards.

The Hawks will now try to snap their losing streak next Saturday at Kinnick against winless Northwestern, which lost to Ohio State 63-0 Saturday. And Fry will no doubt be hoping for an even bigger explosion.

“We’re really down right now,” he said. “I don’t know what it is. I’ve got good people and good coaches but dadgummit, something is missing. We’ve gotta find out what it is and change it fast.”

CHAMPAIGN, ILL. –

Iowa Coach Hayden Fry, obviously a man who appreciates classic short stories, called it “an O. Henry finish.”

Illinois quarterback Lawrence McCullough, frustrated and heartbroken, called it “awfully good defense” when the Hawkeyes stopped him a yard short of the winning touchdown as the game ended.

The homecoming crowd of 51,044 called it a might even and exciting game as Iowa escaped with a 13-7 victory here Saturday.

Those with long memories called the finish a near replay of Iowa’s 22-17 win over Illinois in 1970 at Iowa City. In that one, the Illini quarterback — Mike Wells — also was stymied on the one-yard line as time expired.

Whatever you called it, Iowa has a two-game winning streak for the first time since the start of the 1977 season. Indeed, that was the last time Iowa also won three in a row: the 1976 finale and the first two in 1977.

The Hawks can match that by winning at Northwestern’s homecoming next Saturday. Iowa hasn’t won more than three in a row since 1961, the last time the school had a winning season (5-4), incidentally.

Despite a painful shoulder bruise, Dennis Mosley gained 126 yards in 29 rushes Saturday to give him 643 for the season, and fullback Dean McKillip scored Iowa’s only touchdown on a one-yard drive.

So once again the kicking foot of Reggie Roby was important. He booted two first-half field goals of 25 and 33 yards against a 15-knot northwest wind.

The Waterloo freshman attempted two other field goals. His 51-yarder was far short as the first half ended, and a 19-yarder with 5:49 to play was deflected by Illini Rick George. Roby made his one extra point try and punted four times for a 41.3 average, which included a 53-yard boomer far over the safety’s head against the wind.

“I was just trying to keep the ball low kicking against the wind,” Roby said modestly.

Illinois took a 7-6 lead into the intermission as McCullough passed beautifully to lead the home team on a 71-yard drive in the second quarter. His fourth completion in that drive was a nifty little four-yard flip to fullback Wayne Strader for the touchdown. Kirk Bostrom, who missed a 35-yard field goal earlier, booted the extra point.

Strader tied an Illinois record by catching 11 passes for 47 yards. He also gained 42 yards in eight carries.

The Illini had only two ball carriers, aside from the five times McCullough carried — or was forced to carry — from the quarterback spot. Calvin Thomas, shifted from the No. 1 fullback spot to No. 1 tailback, picked up 102 yards in 24 rushes.

Iowa took only two tailbacks on the trip. However, the coaches had prepared Louis Burke, No. 3 fullback, to run at tailback, too, if necessary. That was a worry in the first quarter after Mosley went to the bench with a sore shoulder, leaving the tailback job to Dwayne Williams.

“We weren’t worried,” winked Williams, second-year freshman from Bayone, N.J., who gained 40 yards in 7 carries. McKillip got 79 yards in 17 trips for his best yardage of the season.

Mosley returned in the second quarter and finished the game.

Iowa used three quarterbacks, but the passing attack this windy day was nothing to write home about.

Pete Gales completed one of four — a 12-yarder to Jeff Brown — in the first quarter. Phil Suess hit one of seven in the second period —a nine-yarder to Brad Reid.

Gordy Bohannan, the transfer from Glendale (Calif.) Junior College, directed the offense the second half. None of his four passes was complete, but Fry was steaming about one that was ruled incomplete. Bohannan hit his former Glendale teammate, Keith Chappelle, near the sideline, but a defensive back carried Chappelle out of bounds before he could touch a foot inside the line. Fry remonstrated with the officials, pointing out the rules say the pass must be ruled completed in such cases.

Iowa intercepted two Illinois passes. Mario Pace picked off one on the first play of the last quarter. The Hawks weren’t trusting their passing game at that point, and the ground looked inviting. So they ate nine minutes off the clock as they marched from the Iowa 20 to the Illinois two in 19 rushing plays.

One of them was a “busted” play. Bohannan was supposed to pull a quarterback keeper around the left side, but he ran right instead and was thrown for no gain at the Illinois two on third down. Iowa called timeout and decided to try for a clinching field goal, but it was blocked by George.

Iowa fans breathed easier after Iowa forced Illinois to punt with 4:21 to go. But Iowa’s offense stalled in the face of an aroused Illinois defense, and Roby kicked to Mike Martin on the Illinois 34 with 2:31 to go.

The wind at their backs, the Illini sailed down the field, but didn’t use their timeouts as well as they did McCullough’s accurate passes. They called their third and last one with 30 seconds left after Strader picked up a first down on the Iowa three.

McCullough’s pass to tight end Doug Cosen in the end zone was speared by Iowa’s Kent Ellis. He juggled the ball momentarily with one hand, but when he tried to grab it for the clinching interception, the ball squirted away and fell to the artificial turf incomplete.

McCullough faded to pass again, but decided to run. He bumped into his own offensive tackle, John Mulchrone, and was dragged down by several Hawks at the one.

Iowa players were slow in getting up from the pile, and Referee Bob Fallon ordered the clock stopped with 10 seconds left because of this delay. The Illini jumped into an offensive formation as he gave the clock winding signal. With the last seconds ebbing away, McCullough barked the signal, took the snap and stood up, apparently undecided whether to throw the ball out of bounds or try to run it for the goal.

There were some heroic Iowa players at that moment, but even those on the field didn’t know which ones grabbed McCullough and swept him back as the final horn sounded. Poor McCullough lay on the ground for nearly a minute as happy Hawkeyes leapt around in celebration a few feet away.

BLOOMINGTON, IND. –

It took more than a half for slender, 160-pound Jeff Brown to get going, but he finally put it all together to indicate he may be a successful replacement for graduated Dennis Mosley.

Brown managed only 33 yards on 13 carries in the first half, although the Hawkeyes jumped out to a 9-0 halftime lead, but he wound up with 176 net yards on 31 carries, including a sparkling 55-yard run to the Indiana four that iced the game for the Hawkeyes.

When it was over, Iowa had a 16-7 victory that erased memories of last year’s opener between the two clubs when Iowa saw a 26-3 halftime lead disappear in a 30-26 Hoosier victory.

That win propelled Lee Corso’s club to an 8-4 season capped by a 38-37 win over Brigham Young in the Holiday Bowl. And it probably cost Iowa a shot at a bowl trip.

This time it was Iowa that struck with lightning speed, scoring nine points in the last 1:14 of the first half, then using Brown’s 55-yard scamper to wrap up the verdict after Indiana had cut the margin to 9-7 in the fourth.

Brown’s Saturday performance left him with the seventh best rushing performance in Iowa history, one yard more than the 175 totaled by Dennis Green against Texas Christian University back in 1968.

It was a very quiet Indiana locker room that greeted the press after Saturday’s game before a near-record opening day crowd of 50,173.

But Corso was his usual bubbling self.

“Let’s face it, we just got beat,” said Lee.

“We have no excuses. We had our opportunities in the first half and didn’t capitalize on them. Iowa hurt us with those nine quick points just before halftime. Those points were certainly keys to the game. But that long run by Brown probably wrapped it up.

“He was really sneaky fast.

“But let’s face it, Iowa played an excellent football game. They have an outstanding defense, and they deserve a lot of credit. They overwhelmed us in spots.

“Anytime we lose I’m not happy with our performance, especially a home opener before a large crowd. But I thought our defense played well, especially when we held Iowa on a goal-line stand at the two.”

Iowa boss Hayden Fry was obviously pleased.

“It was a great victory. We’ve been waiting a year for the opportunity to get even for that opening loss a year ago.

“I thought we looked good. We played it close to the vest offensively and I think we upset Clifford’s timing (Indiana quarterback Tim Clifford), and I was pleased with Brown’s overall performance.

“He made mistakes early, but he grew up after a few words at halftime.”

The Hurrying Hoosiers, who have had the reputation of high-scoring striking power for the past couple of seasons, were outdone at their own game as the Hawks ended a string of four straight losses to Indiana and now hold a 31-26 edge in the Big Ten series.

This time it was Iowa that used lightning.

After pretty much a defensive first half when Indiana’s most serious threat reached the seven where a 24-yard fumble loss ended it, Iowa suddenly caught fire in the closing minutes.

Tracy Crocker from Cedar Rapids started it when he picked off a Clifford pass at the Iowa 41. Corso later said Iowa did “nothing that surprised us,” but on the seventh play after the interception the Hoosiers appeared to be surprised.

Iowa quarterback Phil Suess handed off to Brown on what appeared to be a dive at the Indiana 24. Brown pitched it back to Suess, who faded and caught Doug Dunham on a 24-yard scoring strike with 1:14 to go.

Reggie Roby missed the extra point try, but more than made up for it just over a minute later. And that might have surprised the Big Red Hoosiers, too.

“I think Indiana thought we would just run out the time when we got the ball back a few seconds later,” said Fry. “But we fooled them.”

With no time left on the clock, Roby booted a 44-yard field goal.

There were not many among the 50,000-plus fans who figured a 9-0 lead would hold up for the Hawks, but as it turned out, it would have.

But Indiana, which hasn’t been shut out in more than three seasons, made things exciting with a fourth-quarter drive that culminated on an 8-yard TD pass from Clifford to Nate Lunday.

That drive went 80 yards in just nine plays.

But then it was Iowa’s turn again. This time the Hawks wrapped it up with a drive of their own that used only eight plays to go 83. Dean McKillip, who had been turned back earlier on fourth and inches at the Indiana two, dived over for the score from the one.

The big play was the 55-yard run by Brown, who broke over the left side, raced to daylight and nearly eluded Indiana’s Dart Ramsey at the four.

It was a big day for Brown, who apparently has the job of replacing Mosley, the Big Ten’s leading ground-gainer a year ago. His 176 net yards were by far the most for any individual as Iowa wound up with a net of 247 yards on the ground and finished with 385 total yards to 341 for the Hoosiers.

Iowa, which faces another Big Red machine at the University of Nebraska next week, played nearly flawless ball for an opening game.

Iowa had only two penalties for 30 yards. One of them came on the first series of plays when Pat Dean was charged with roughing the punter.

Suess did well at quarterback, too, although he overthrew Lon Olejniczak on what looked like a certain TD play in the second half. Overall, he hit on 13 of 19 passes and had just one intercepted.

Indiana veteran Clifford, a 200-pounder, also performed well, cashing in on 15 of 33 passes for 205 yards. That despite the fact that Corso said Clifford was playing with an injury.

Corso, who now faces two straight road games before returning home against Duke, wasn’t too pleased that his Hoosiers had to open against a Big Ten foe. But he still had nothing but praise for the Hawks.

“I think, and hope, that Iowa has a fine football team,” said Lee. “They are certainly well coached. I’m really not discouraged. We’ll just have to put this behind us and get ready for Kentucky next week.”

IOWA CITY –

Iowa football coach Hayden Fry has something to say to the guy who wrote, “It’s not whether you won or lost, it’s how you played the game.”

Fry would change that to, “It’s not how you played the game, it’s whether you won or lost.”

Hayden’s Hawks continued to play surprisingly well Saturday, leading Nebraska 21-7 late in the third quarter. But they still lost 24-21 on Dean Sukup’s 30-yard field goal with 5:52 left.

The loss before 60,055 at Kinnick Stadium dropped the Hawks to 0-3. Sure, they may be the best winless college football team in America. They’ve battled down to the wire with No. 3-ranked Oklahoma and No. 7 Nebraska. THey’ve done just about everything — except win.

But Fry, largely critical of the Hawks’ showing in last week’s 21-6 loss at Oklahoma, couldn’t help but praise them after Saturday’s near-miss.

After all, before Saturday, Nebraska had clobbered six straight Big Ten teams by 69-17, 31-13, 45-13, 45-0, 54-0 and 49-7 margins over the last five seasons.

“This is a different situation from last week,” said Fry. “We didn’t perform very well in the second half at Oklahoma. In this game we did. We not only improved today, we looked like a football team for the first time.

“Our football team played with a great deal of courage, no question about it. We have improved with each ballgame, and we showed more intensity for a full ballgame than we did against Oklahoma or Indiana.”

An Iowa victory would have ranked alongside the greatest upsets in Hawkeye history. Especially after it was learned three days before the game that starting quarterback Phil Suess was sidelined with a kidney injury.

The Hawks couldn’t quite pull it off, of course, but the Cornhuskers were Big Red-faced for a long time.

And Fry said quarterback Pete Gales, who hadn’t played all year, “was outstanding. He played a super ballgame.”

Gales completed eight of his first 14 passes for 118 yards before Nebraska’s defense stiffened in the final 20 minutes. He finished with 10 completions in 25 attempts for 154 yards.

Gales directed Iowa to a 21-7 lead with 5:21 left in the third quarter. But Nebraska scored two touchdowns and a field goal in the final 17 minutes to raise its record to 2-0.

Iowa’s hard hitting and Nebraska’s stone fingers combined for six Husker fumbles, and five of them were recovered by Iowa and two of those led to Iowa touchdowns.

The Hawks’ two Nebraska-born defensive ends, Jim Molini of Norfolk and Bryan Skradis of Omaha, each forced a fumble. Molini also recovered two and totaled nine tackles. Skradis recovered one fumble and had 10 tackles.

Other outstanding Iowa defenders included right linebacker Todd Simonsen, who had 12 tackles and a fumble recovery; left linebacker Levin Weiss, 14 tackles (11 solos); right tackle John Harty, nine tackles and a forced fumble; and free safety Bobby Stoops, who had 10 tackles.

Skradis recovered an I.M. Hipp fumble at the Nebraska 14 early in the first quarter, leading to Iowa’s first score. Three plays later, fullback Dean McKillip went 2 yards for the first of his two touchdowns.

Waterloo freshman Reggie Roby, taking over both the placekicking and punting chores, kicked the extra-point to give Iowa a 7-0 lead with 11:51 left in the first quarter.

Iowa, which hasn’t allowed a first quarter point this year, kept that 7-0 lead until 2:12 remained in the first half. That’s when Nebraska quarterback Jeff Quinn dove 1 yard for a score.

Quinn needed three tries to get the final yard, capping a drive in which the Huskers in which the Huskers needed 10 plays to travel 38 yards.

After the 7-7 deadlock at halftime, McKillip scored again, capping a 12-play, 87-yard drive on Iowa’s first possession of the second half.

Key plays during the drive were a 26-yard burst off right tackle by Dennis Mosley, Gales’ passes of 16 and 14 yards to Keith Chappelle and Mike Brady (his first catch since 1977), and a pass interference call on Nebraska at the four.

Moments after Iowa had taken a 14-7 lead, the ever-present Molini caused a Hager fumble and left tackle Mark Mahmens recovered at Nebraska’s 47.

It took just two passes from Gales to put Iowa in the end zone. His first strike was to Nate Person for 18 yards. Then Chappelle scored his first major college touchdown, beating safety Russell Gary on a 29-yard toss from Gales.

Roby’s kick gave Iowa a 21-7 lead with 5:21 left in the third quarter. But after that Iowa gained only 44 yards in 16 plays and Nebraska scored 17 points in its next three possessions.

The Huskers answered Iowa’s third TD with an eight-play, 61-yard drive, Hager scoring on a 4-yard keeper with 2:02 left in the third quarter.

Then Iowa couldn’t muster a first down, and Roby got off his only poor punt of the day, a 20-yarder which gave Nebraska possession 1 yard shy of the midfield stripe.

Other than that 20-yarder, Roby averaged 40.3 per punt. He also boomed three of his four kickoffs into or out of the end zone.

Following Roby’s only poor punt, however, Nebraska drove 51 yards in 10 plays, tying the score on Craig Johnson’s 5-yard run and Sukup’s placement with 11:02 left in the game. Nebraska converted on three third-down situations during the drive.

Nebraska’s game-winning march started when Iowa’s Brad Reid fumbled after catching a 12-yard pass from Gales at the Iowa 42.

“That wasn’t like Brad,” said Fry. “He never drops the football.”

But the officials said he did. And Nebraska moved to Iowa’s 13, where Sukup booted the game winner.

IOWA CITY –

Ohio State’s football players certainly impressed Hayden Fry with the way they brushed aside his Hawkeyes 41-7 en route to the annual Big Ten title showdown with Michigan next Saturday.

“You were treated to watching a real fine football team out there today,” the Iowa coach said after watching his Hawks get a measly 147 yards total offense against the Buckeyes, rated No. 6 nationally.

“Ohio State has all the weapons to go to a bowl game and possibly win it. We hung in there for a while, but they capitalized on our mistakes — every one of them, it seemed — and their defense completely dominated us.”

Was Fry ignoring the fact this same Ohio State defense coughed up 42 points and 621 yards passing in a 49-42 escape from Illinois pass master Dave Wilson just a week earlier?

“Mike White (Illinois’ coach) apologized to me earlier this week for awakening Ohio State’s defense,” Fry said. “I believe we’re catching folks when they’re at their best.

“They certainly outquicked us. They have super people. They play a bowl game every year, and they recruit well all the time. Their second unit was outstanding also.”

Fry paid tribute to Art Schlicter and Cal Murray, Ohio State’s top passer and runner, respectively. Murray, already leading the Big Ten in rushing, gained 183 yards Saturday, more than Iowa’s whole team got in passing and rushing.

“I knew Murray was a good runner, but he surprised me today,” Fry said. “We missed a lot of tackles on him, sure, but I’d rather give credit to him. He runs harder than I though, especially considering he weighs only about 185 pounds. He complements Schlichter’s passing, and they both did a heck of a job against us.”

A crowd of 59,890 — many of whom began leaving Kinnick Stadium at the third quarter on this 40-degree day — decided Kevin Ellis provided some of Iowa’s few bright spots. Kevin intercepted the only one of Schlicter’s passes that was stolen, and he overtook the flying Murray on another occasion, stripping the ball away from him.

“Schlichter is really tougher to defend than Purdue’s Mark Herrmann,” said Kevin. “Herrmann is a great passer, but he stays in the pocket. He’s not going to run, and his blockers protect him real well.

“But Schlichter is dangerous on the run, too. When our guys flushed him out of the pocket that time on third down, he merely ran for the first down.

“On my interception, Doug Donley (Ohio State’s top receiver) was running a post-flag pattern, and Schlicter was chased out of the pocket. I just got in front of Donley, and on my runback (42 yards), I got a real good block from my brother, Kent.

“When I caught Murray, I just said to myself, ‘You’re not going to get away this time,’ and I went over the top of him from behind. He’s a good runner, but he got the ball knocked loose.”

Schlichter completed his first nine passes and wound up hitting 13 of 18 for 195 yards and two touchdowns — both in the first quarter as the Buckeyes struck for 21 points in the opening 10 minutes.

He hit Gary Williams, who legged it down the left sideline for 39 yards with 4 1/2 minutes gone. After the Bucks got a freebie after an Iowa fumble on Tim Spencer’s one-yard run, Murray took a little screen pass from Schlichter and zigzagged 23 yards to the end zone on a remarkable bit of running.

That should have been enough to make the Hawks brace themselves for another of those blowouts — like 57-0 at Nebraska or 58-13 at Purdue. But the offense gathered itself after a futile first quarter and got Iowa’s only touchdown on Pete Gales’ 18-yard pass to Keith Chappelle.

Fry noted that Gales “didn’t have a good day at all,” and the statistics supported that. Trying to throw long bombs instead of shorter passes, he hit only 9 of 30 for 93 yards and had four intercepted — two by Ray Ellis and one each by Bob Murphy and Rod Gorley.

Iowa’s defense did recover after the disastrous first quarter and Ohio State was limited to a 32-yard field goal by Vlade Janakievski in the second period. The Bucks didn’t score in the third quarter, but Janakievski opened the final period by kicking a 33-yarder.

Janakievski, a senior who was born in Yugoslavia before migrating to Columbus 11 yards ago, was perfect on all five of his extra point kicks Saturday. That makes 45 of 45 this season. He was short on his first field goal try, and his season mark there is 14 of 20.

Chappelle caught five passes for 66 yards before limping out of the game in the final minutes with a pulled groin muscle.

Ranked fourth nationally and second in the Big Ten, Chappelle needs five catches in next week’s finale at Michigan State to equal the school record of 59, set by Karl Noonan in 1964. Noonan also has the record for most yards, 933, and Chappelle now has 889.

The victory, Ohio State’s 16th straight over Iowa, puts Ohio State up against Michigan next Saturday with a 7-0 conference record. If the Bucks win or tie, they will go to the Rose Bowl, as they have a better overall record than Michigan (9-1 vs. 8-2).

Ohio State kept its top offensive unit in action until after the score hit 34-7 on Spencer’s second short TD run with 9:47 left in the fourth quarter. Kelvin Lindsey, a sub tailback, got the final one with 3:25 to go on a one-yard plunge.

The Hawks’ top rusher was fullback Dean McKillip, one of 20 seniors to play their home finale. He netted 25 yards in six carries. Gales gained 65 yards, thanks mainly to an exciting 31-yard sprint, but he wound up with an exact zero after being sacked several times for 65 yards in losses.

Ohio State’s defense even curtailed Iowa’s kickoff returners. J.C. Love-Jordan and Norman Granger each returned three, and they averaged only about 20 yards.

Andrew Tippett was the first Hawkeye to sack Schlichter, and he wound up with seven solo tackles and an assist. Three of Tippett’s tackles were for 22 yards in losses. Pat Dean got eight solo tackles and two assists, and two of his sacks were for 10 yards.

Tracy Crocker, figured lost for the season when he dislocated an elbow against Wisconsin two weeks ago, not only returned to action but got six solo tackles, as did each of the Ellis twins.

IOWA CITY –

It was a game that was important… with a capital I.

You guessed it was important when you looked at the expression on Hayden Fry’s face. And you knew it was important when you listened to Donnie Duncan talk.

Duncan’s Iowa State Cyclones reclaimed “the state championship” of Iowa college football Saturday afternoon with a nail-biting 10-7 victory over Iowa before a record crowd of 60,145 at Kinnick Stadium. And afterward Duncan offered a bit of insight into exactly how important his team’s victory was to him.

“Just before the game today I told my players that I felt this game today might be about the most important thing in my life,” said the ISU coach. “I began feeling that way last year about this time, but I didn’t say anything about that to my players until we came out on the field here today.”

The Cyclones, now 3-0, absorbed a 30-14 trouncing at the hands of the Hawkeyes in the annual grudge match last season and as a result, were more than anxious to come out on top this time.

“This was a game we were pointing for,” added Duncan.

Yet, with less than a minute to play the Hawkeyes had an opportunity to win the game. Showing their only offensive spark of the second half, they drove 58 yards to the Iowa State nine-yard line before running out of downs.

On fourth down an seven yards to go at the nine, Fry disdained the field goal which would have tied the game and went instead for the victory.

“The tie didn’t enter my mind at all,” said a distraught Fry, whose team is now 1-2. “If we could have tied and won the world championship we would have done it. But it would have cut the heart out of my ballclub to go for the tie there.”

Instead, reserve quarterback Pete Gales’ desperation pass fell incomplete in the end zone with 51 seconds remaining, giving the ball to the Cyclones, who had no trouble running out the clock.

“We just did not execute at the end of the game,” said Fry. “That’s what kills me. We had so many things open and didn’t take advantage of them.”

Among other things, Fry said that tailback Jeff Brown was wide open on one of the final crucial plays but Gales failed to spot him and threw to someone else instead.

Gales was in the game at the finish because starting quarterback Phil Suess suffered a shoulder injury late in the first half. Neither man was very effective throwing the ball as Gales completed two of 11 for 10 yards and Suess was 3-for-10 for 42 yards.

Both of Gales’ completions came on Iowa’s closing drive. The Hawks, who had the ball for just eight plays in the third quarter, had just one first down in the second half when they took possession at their own 42-yard line after a short punt by ISU’s Rich Miller. They controlled the ball for the next five minutes, however, with the running of Gales and Brown doing most of the damage.

Dean McKillip ran for three yards and a first down to get the ball to the 12-yard line with less than two minutes remaining. Gales then tried two consecutive quarterback draws, netting three yards. On third down, he missed connections with Keith Chappelle and then on the crucial fourth down, he dropped back looking for Chappelle again. A heavy rush by the Cyclones forced him to scramble to his right and he threw on the run, the ball falling incomplete.

That final stab was one of only four times that the Hawkeyes crossed into ISU territory during the contest. They drove to the ISU 19-yard line the first time they had the ball before strong safety John Arnaud surged through to nail Brown for a seven-yard loss in a fourth-and-one situation.

They moved to the ISU 46 before being forced to punt later in the first quarter and then scored their only points of the game in the second quarter following an interception by free safety Bobby Stoops.

Stoops’ theft gave the Hawks the ball at midfield and they punched it across from there in just three plays. Brown, who rushed for 143 yards in 32 carries, broke three tackles on a 31-yard scamper on the first play and one play later Suess fired a 20-yard touchdown pass to Doug Dunham. Reggie Roby’s extra-point kick knotted the score at 7-7.

The Cyclones’ touchdown, which came early in the second quarter, was also set up by an interception. Senior cornerback Larry Crawford picked off a Suess pass in ISU territory and returned it 49 yards to the Iowa 12. Two plays later, ISU quarterback John Quinn found split end Jim Knuth wide open cutting across the middle and hit him for the touchdown. Alex Giffords added the extra point.

Giffords, who missed three field goals in the game, capped the scoring in the third quarter with a 49-yard field goal.

Fry, who watched his team come out on the short end of a 57-0 score at Nebraska a week ago, seemed every bit as disturbed following this one.

“We made a jillion mistakes,” he noted. “We had opportunity after opportunity but fouled it up every time.

“We had tremendous defense at times and we even had tremendous offense at times. We just couldn’t capitalize. It just wasn’t our day.”

Among the mistakes were three interceptions (two by Gales and one by Suess) and three fumbled kicks — one each by freshman Eddie Phillips, Phil Blatcher and Tracy Crocker. Only one of the interceptions did any damage and the Hawks retained possession on all of the fumbles, but it was still enough to jar that normally unshakeable Fry confidence.

“We’ve certainly got a lot of games left and we’ve still got a chance for a winning season but we’re gonna have to play a lot better football than we did today,” he said.

The game was a costly one for both teams from an injury standpoint. ISU lost former Benton Community star John Less for the season with a knee injury and Iowa defensive end Bryan Skradis also may need knee surgery.

Suess’ injury (a bruised right shoulder) probably isn’t serious enough to keep him out of action for more than a week or so. Others who were hurt and may miss some playing time in the future were Iowa center Jay Hilgenberg (twisted ankle), ISU defensive tackle Bruce Reimers (strained knee) and ISU defensive back Joe Brown (bruised leg).

Brown’s 143-yard effort was the highlight of an otherwise lackluster effort by the Iowa offense. The 152-pound sophomore now has 370 yards in three games for the Hawks, 319 more than any other Hawk ball carrier.

Dwayne Crutchfield was the workhorse of the ISU backfield, carrying 24 times for 84 yards.

The crowd of 60,145 was the second largest in Iowa history, the largest for a non-conference game and the largest for a home opener.

LAFAYETTE, IND. –

Iowa’s Hayden Fry joined the chorus of those singing songs of praise to Purdue’s Mark Herrmann as the greatest passer in college football history.

Voila! It turned out Fry — and all the 68,775 present in Ross-Ade Stadium Saturday — were in the wrong place, watching the wrong passer.

As superb as Herrmann was in hummin’ the football in Purdue’s 58-13 rout of the Hawkeyes, he once again was surpassed by the way Illinois’ Dave Wilson winged it in a 49-42 loss at Ohio State.

Herrmann completed 26 of 34 passes for 439 yards, breaking the Big Ten record of 425 yards Wilson set Oct. 18 when Purdue defeated the Illini 45-20. Indeed, Coach Jim Young admitted he put Herrmann back in the game late in the third quarter so he could break the conference mark.

They reckoned not with Wilson, whose eligibility has been certified by the Illinois Supreme Court in defiance of Big Ten edict. Wilson was completing 43 of 69 passes for an incredible 621 yards Saturday.

“That guy (Wilson) seems to be haunting me,” said Herrmann. “Actually, I can’t care that much about records. I had a good day today, and the main thing is we’re still in the Big Ten title race.”

The Boilermakers stayed tied with Ohio State and Michigan at 6-0, and they play at Michigan next Saturday. Purdue and Ohio State don’t meet, but Michigan and Ohio State finish the season together Nov. 22.

Iowa sank to fifth place with 3-3 (3-6 overall).

Of course, if Wilson eventually is declared ineligible by the Big Ten, his passing marks — as well as all games Illinois won with him in the lineup — probably will be erased.

If Wilson is indeed better than Herrmann, please don’t bother telling the Hawks.

The 6-4 senior from Carmel, Ind., was far too much for Iowa’s injury-ridden, outsped and outmanneuvered defense. The Hawks never came up with an interception, and they sacked Herrmann only once, for three yards on a play in which he lost a fumble, Purdue’s only turnover on this 55-degree day.

Most of the fans — some left this one-sided game early in the fourth quarter — saw Iowa give up the most points since a 63-7 lacing by Michigan in 1971.

Yes, it was one-sided, but even so, Pete Gales broke the Iowa school record for passing yards. Pistol Pete, operating some of the time from the shotgun formation — taking a seven-yard center snap — hit 23 of 46 passes for 321 yards.

It was a shotgun duel, as Herrmann also threw from that set frequently. Purdue obviously used it better. The 57-point total was Purdue’s highest since a 62-7 squashing of Boston U. in 1947. Purdue beat Indiana and Illinois by bigger scores, but that was before the Big Ten was organized in 1896.

“I don’t know how it looked from where you were located,” Fry told reporters, “but I thought it was the greatest exhibition of passing and catching and protecting the passer in the history of college football.

“I’ve coached some great passers — including Chuck Hixon, whose NCAA records Mark Herrmann broke last week — but I’ve never seen a quarterback with Herrmann’s poise, his fluid delivery, his gracefulness and his perfect accuracy.

“Purdue also had great receiving, and great running with the ball after it was caught.

“Yes, Herrmann certainly gets my vote for the Heisman Trophy, going away!”

Herrmann did get magnificent support from his three top receivers. Tight end Dave Young, the nation’s No. 2 receiver going into the contest, caught eight passes for 143 yards and two touchdowns. He set a Big Ten record for the most career receptions. He has 163, shattering the mark of 159 set by Illinois’ John Wright.

Steve Bryant, fleet and elusive flanker who is a California junior college transfer, caught 7 for 150 yards. Bart Burrell, Herrmann’s prep teammate at Carmel, hooked 6 for 110.

Jim Smith caught only four, but one was a 9-yarder for the game’s first touchdown. Smith also was the game’s top rusher, just in case you had forgotten that Big Ten teams still ran from scrimmage. He had a modest 64 yards in 21 trips.

Guess who led Iowa on the ground. No, none of the regular running backs. It was Gales. He netted 50 yards on 13 carries. One was a 34-yard sprint, helping overcome 35 yards in sack losses.

Best of the rest was J.C. Love-Jordan with 14 yards in 4 tries. The Hawks got only 86 yards on the ground, Purdue 131.

Iowa’s passing helped Keith Chappelle move up among the NCAA leaders, as he caught 6 of Gales’ pitches for 173 yards. That would have broken the school record, except that Chappelle already had done so with 191 yards against Illinois four weeks ago. One of Chappelle’s grabs came on a 72-yard play for Iowa’s second TD.

That wasn’t even the longest scoring play of the day. Purdue’s Bill Kay intercepted Gales’ pass in the third quarter and ran it back 75 yards to make the score 44-7.

Rich Anderson, an Indiana native who was an All-America placekicker at Ellsworth (Iowa) J.C. last year, also set a Big Ten record for field goals in one season. He booted 3 in 4 attempts and now has 14, topping the old mark of 13 set by Michigan State’s Hans Nielsen in 1977.

Anderson has made 15 of 18 field goal tries this season. His seven perfect extra points gave him 31 of 32 so far.

Iowa got plenty of practice at returning kickoffs Saturday, and the Hawks already had the best average in the Big Ten: 27.7. Saturday Love-Jordan returned 5 for 145 yards and “Stormin’ Norman” Granger took 3 back for 118 yards.

The Hawkeyes held their own with the Boilers for most of the first half. Then Iowa began fumbling and making other unaffordable mistakes, and soon Iowa’s badly crippled personnel began to break down under the pressure of Herrmann’s passing show.

Purdue took the opening kickoff and went 80 yards in seven plays. Four of them were runs that totaled four yards. Three of them were passes that totaled 76 yards, including Herrmann’s pinpoint dart to a wide-open Smith.

But the Hawks had plenty of scrap and soon tied the score. It was abetted when Purdue roughed punter Lon Olejniczak, giving Iowa a first down on the Purdue 32. Operating from the shotgun, Gales scored on a four-yard cutback at left end. Ole kicked the point.

After the first of Anderson’s field goals, Iowa established a first down on the Purdue 11-yard line and seemed destined to take the lead, or at least tie it. But fullback Dean McKillip fumbled a short snap and was downed on the 10 when he had a big hole ahead.

Then, on third down, Gales lost the first of Iowa’s five fumbles and Purdue began expanding its 10-7 lead into vast proportions.

IOWA CITY –

If your baseball team ever has totaled more hits than the opponent but lost the game on a couple home runs, you know how Iowa’s football team felt Saturday.

Arizona’s scoring plays were not gigantic, but a safety and Brett Weber’s 37-yard field goal made it seem so as the Wildcats bewildered Iowa by the unusual score of 5-3 before 59,950 fans at Kinnick Stadium.

In the end, it was the Hawkeyes’ inability to come up with a long ball, the clutch hit, a game-breaker. Iowa drove from its 5-yard line to Arizona’s 31 on its last possession, but Reggie Roby’s 48-yard field goal try missed by inches to the left with 2:28 remaining.

It was the second straight Saturday on which Iowa couldn’t put the finishing touches on a rallying drive. Last week, Iowa State staved off Iowa’s bid at the 9-yard line with 51 seconds left to preserve a 10-7 win.

“It’s like going to a funeral for two consecutive weekends,” Iowa Coach Hayden Fry said. “After going the length of the field, we just didn’t have the execution to put it away.

“This kind of loss hurts more than the ones like we had at Nebraska (57-0). They hurt more because you have to be honest with yourself and confess that you made mistakes.

“I told our kids that I’m not a mystic, and I’m not Jesus Christ. This type of thing can gut a team if it’s not handled correctly. We just have to get behind the plow and get after it. Whatever it takes to get up again, we have to find it and do it.”

Arizona’s fifth consecutive victory over Iowa pushed its record to 2-1. The Hawks, who host Illinois Saturday, dropped to 1-3 with their third straight loss.

A combination of penalties, fumbles and blocked kicks cost Iowa, each time when it seemed the Hawks were on the verge of putting points on the scoreboard.

Teams are not supposed to lose when they dominate statistics the way Iowa did. The Hawks led Arizona in the following categories.

First Downs, 20-7.

Yards passing, 241-59.

Total yards, 387-179.

Plays, 73-52.

Time of possession, 34:08 to 25:52.

The loss also overshadowed Iowa’s fine defensive effort. Arizona had 92 yards total offense the first half, and in the second half was limited to 48 running and 39 passing.

There were several impressive offensive performances, as well: Phil Suess’ 241 yards passing on 20 of 35 completions; tailback Jeff Brown’s third 100-yard game, 24 carries for 113; Keith Chappelle’s eight pass receptions for 106 yards, and Nate Person’s four catches for 98.

“I’ve been in a lot of positions in the last five years and I’ve found that a win is a win, no matter how you get it,” Arizona Coach Larry Smith said.

“Our defense bent, but it didn’t break. The main objective is to keep points off the board, but we really would have liked to have a team make less yardage than that against us.”

The Hawks now have scored only 26 points in four games and managed only one touchdown in the last 12 quarters.

“Since the Indiana game (a 16-7 Iowa win), I don’t know what’s happened,” Suess said. “I guess our attitude when we get inside the 30 is like putting a golf ball into a hole for the first time. It just seems like when we get that far, we have one or two busts.”

Arizona’s kicking game and specialty units served as its best defense in the first half, as the Wildcats continually forced Iowa into bad field position and mistakes.

Iowa’s first-half frustrations began on Play One, as tailback Jeff Brown fumbled after being hit by Gary Gibson and Reggie Ware recovered for Arizona at Iowa’s 30.

Arizona failed to move, but punter Barry Kramer angled a punt out at the Iowa 7. On Iowa’s third play, the center snap from Dave Oakes, who was filling in for regular Jay Hilgenberg, missed quarterback Phil Suess’ hands. The fall flew in the air before Suess recovered at the one-yard line.

With Roby in punt formation in the end zone, standing much closer than he normally would have been, Ware stormed in and blocked the kick for an Arizona safety.

Field position didn’t get much better for Iowa, as Kramer twice punted the ball out of bounds at the Hawkeye one. Iowa’s best field position in the first half was at its 28.

Meanwhile, Arizona started four of its six first-half possession in Iowa territory. It was a credit to Iowa’s defense in limiting the Wildcats to Weber’s field goal with 7:31 left in the half.

Iowa entered Arizona territory twice in the first half. Suess and Person connected on a 43-yard pass to the Wildcat 23 with 4:29 left in the half, but Suess fumbled on the next play and Arizona’s Mike Robinson recovered.

The other time was on the Hawks’ final possession before halftime. Iowa drove from its 21 to the Arizona 24, but Ware blocked Roby’s 42-yard field goal attempt.

“At halftime, I told the team that we were going to play the second half like it was 0-0 (despite being down 5-0),” Fry said. “We didn’t want to change anything except eliminate the mistakes.”

Iowa moved into Arizona ground on four of its five second-half possessions.

The Hawks advanced to Arizona’s 43 before punting on its first possession. They went to the Wildcat 38 before a holding penalty moved them back to their 38.

With 14:51 remaining, Suess guided Iowa from its 20 to Arizona’s 19 before Roby connected on his 36-yard field goal. The 12-play drive was highlighted by a 15-yard pass from Suess to Chappelle, Suess’ 15-yard run and a pass interference call on Arizona.

Iowa had third down and two yards to go at the Arizona 18, but Kevin Hardcastle sacked Suess for a one-yard loss.

The final Iowa drive began at its five after Jeff Brown was found guilty of a fair catch violation. Still, Suess connected with Chappelle for 28 yards and Person for 36 to put Iowa at Arizona’s 30. But the offense could move no closer, and Roby narrowly missed the field goal.

Iowa’s defense had several heroes. Leading the tackle chart were linebacker Mel Cole and nose guard Pat Dean with nine apiece, linebacker Todd Simonsen and tackle John Harty with seven each.

LINCOLN, NEB. –

Unpack.

That was the one-word message Saturday for Iowa football fans who had been talking about a Hawkeye postseason bowl game.

Yes, Nebraska’s unbelievably perfect Big Red machine threw a 57-0 monkey wrench at the Hawkeyes Saturday, and it may have dealt a severe setback to Coach Hayden Fry’s rebuilding program.

Nebraska’s 107th consecutive sellout crowd of 76,029 could scarcely believe one college team could be that superior to another.

Iowa has had only five worse defeats in 92 seasons of football.

This was the biggest avalanche since an 83-21 embarrassment by Ohio State in 1950. The Hawkeye team of 1974 fave up more points in a 60-21 loss to Michigan State in the 1974 closer, but the margin wasn’t as great.

Fry was asked if such a drubbing might shatter Iowa’s morale with the Iowa State game coming up next Saturday at Iowa City.

“It will take a lot of leadership on the part of the players and coaches,” he replied gravely, “because we’ll just have to regroup.

“We really got blown out of the tub today, and that has often happened during my second year at a school. This can happen to a rebuilding program. It’s happened to me before.”

Nebraska, rated sixth nationally — among college teams; not the NFL — used 85 players on an afternoon of blustery, changeable winds and 90-degree heat.

Beating teams by whopping margins is not new for Big Red. Let’s see: 57-0 over New Mexico State last year… 63-21 over Kansas, 69-17 over Indiana and 56-10 over Hawaii in 1978… 68-3 over Hawaii in 1976.

But this was an Iowa team that had gained fresh respect with a 16-7 upset at Indiana a week earlier. It was a team that had carried a 21-7 lead over Nebraska with 17 minutes to go in the last year’s game before being nosed out 24-21.

“Well, maybe this will bring a lot of our fans down to earth,” reasoned Fry.

“We lost to a tremendous football team. Coach Tom Osborne and his team can be proud. In 30 years of coaching I don’t think I have seen a team play a better game. Nebraska could have played with anyone in the nation today and done a good job.”

The Huskers certainly did everything right. On the third play after taking the opening kickoff, “Marvelous Jarvis” Redwine shot through an incredibly large hole up the middle, shook off a jersey-tearing tackle by Tracy Crocker and sprinted 69 yards to score.

From then on the Cornhuskers shucked Iowa like corn. Or, as Fry put it, “They picked us like chickens.”

Nebraska outgained Iowa in net rushing yardage 456 to 44. Iowa averaged less than 1.5 yards a run, Nebraska 5.8.

It was billed as a personal duel between the nation’s top two rushers. Redwine, 203-pound senior from Inglewood, Calif., gained 179 yards last week in a 55-9 romp over Utah, and this time he picked up 153 yards in only 12 trips.

Iowa’s 155-pound soph, Jeff Brown, came in with 176 yards in his opener. But he was no more a match for Redwine than his mates were for the Huskers in general. He was restricted to 51 yards in 15 tries by the ubiquitous Nebraska defense.

It was bad enough that Iowa got run over by one of the nation’s superb steamrollers, but the Hawks added some self-inflicted wounds that made the rout a massacre.

Iowa could have limped out of Memorial Stadium with a 49-0 licking. That was the score with 2:22 to go when the Hawks finally staunched Nebraska’s reserves a yard short of the goal.

One the next play, however, sub quarterback Pete Gales rolled out and was promptly rolled for a safety by Jack Lonowski.

That still wasn’t the coup de grace. It was delivered by Nebraska’s fourth-string quarterback, Bruce Mathison, on an 11-yard scamper for the final TD with 27 seconds left.

Aha! The first hint of a Nebraska weakness surfaced. Eddie Neal, one of three Huskers who kicked extra points and kickoffs Saturday, didn’t allow enough for the gale that blew dust clouds from the northwest and his extra-point kick was wide to the left.

Iowa made shallow penetrations into Nebraska territory a couple of times later, but the only scoring threat by the visitors came after Redwine had scored with 13:43 to go in the first quarter. Iowa actually forced Nebraska to punt — the first of two all afternoon.

Phil Suess didn’t connect on his first two passes, but then he hit Keith Chappelle for 11 and Mike Hufford made a leaping grab for 18 more. Iowa had a first down on the Husker 26.

Brown slashed through right guard, but he had the ball stripped from him and Nebraska’s Jim Williams recovered it on the 11. That was the high-water mark for Iowa.

Split end Todd Brown caught two touchdown passes, and Davenport’s Roger Craig scored two on lightning runs. In addition to Redwine, Husker TDs were scored by wingback Tim McCrady, second-string QB Mark Mauer and fourth-string QB Mathison, as follows:

First quarter — 1. Redwine set the tone with his 69-yard dash with 13:43 to go. 2. Quinn passed 15 yards to Brown in the right corner of the end zone with five seconds left. Neil, a left-footed soccer-style kicker who uses no more than one step of approach (even on kickoffs), made both extra points, 14-0.

Second quarter — 3. McCrady took a six-yard pass from Quinn with 12:47 to go. 4. Craig got the ball for the first time and plunged five yards to score, 8:35 left. 5. Quinn hit Brown, this time on a 13-yard TD pass, 2:45 left. Kevin Seibel, three of whose kickoffs sailed perfectly through the uprights and into the stands, booted all three extra points.

Third quarter — 6. Craig high-dived two yards for his second TD. Again Seibel kicked.

Fourth quarter — 7. Mauer scored on his five-yarder and barefoot Lynn Schoening booted the point. 8. After Gales was tackled for the two-pointer, Mathison danced 11 for the final TD, followed by Neils’ unsuccessful kick.

IOWA CITY –

It may have been the “Shoot-out of the Tall Texans” at the Kinnick Corral here Saturday, but the deciding factors were the speeding legs of Dennis Mosley and the booming foot of Reggie Roby.

Iowa also used a hard-hitting defense to restrict a crippled Iowa State team to 162 yards of total offense in a resounding 30-14 Hawkeye victory that ended — as usual — with the wild-eyed zealots of the winning team ripping down the goal posts.

This time exultant loyalists among the overflow crowd of 60,100 carried away souvenir splinters, as Iowa officials had prudently substituted wooden goal posts for the iron “slingshots” that cost $3,000 each.

Iowa Coach Hayden Fry seemed more relieved at having his latest resurrection project finally bear the fruits of victory than relishing a win over arch-rival Iowa State, coached by Donnie Duncan. Both newcomers to Iowa hail from east Texas —Fry from Eastland and Duncan from Celeste.

“It’s a giant step,” said Fry, perhaps feeling a bit like astronaut Neil Armstrong when the latter became the first man to walk on the moon.

“This has been a long time coming. We finally played four quarters — a full 60 minutes.”

Mosley, slender senior from Youngstown, Ohio, broke the school record by carrying 39 times against a Cyclone defense that had held fourth-rated Texas to a 17-9 win the previous week.

Mose scored three touchdowns and netted 229 yards, and would have 19 yards more — plus another TD — except for a clipping penalty in the fourth quarter.

Roby, freshman from Waterloo East, punted four times for an average of 46.8 yards. He also booted a 44-yard field goal for Iowa’s final score and converted on three of four extra points. His kickoffs included one that carried about 80 yards on the fly — right between the doomed goal posts.

The Cyclones, rated only slight favorites despite their 31-0 rout of Iowa a year ago, came into the game without their top tailback to Gillis, was one of several more Cyclones injured in this head-knocker. Gillis was sidelined when the score was 7-7. He had scored ISU’s first touchdown on a 1-yard high dive.

Iowa State got off to an unfortunate start when Duncan chose to kick instead of receive after the Cyclones won the toss.

“I was surprised Iowa was able to dominate us on the ground the way they did,” Duncan explained. “We elected to kick off because I wanted to take advantage of the wind, and I thought our defense could hold them.”

Fry and his staff, who came to Iowa promising to “come out of Chute One throwing the ball,” guessed correctly that Iowa State was braced to stop the pass.

“We accepted it as a challenge to run the ball today,” Fry said. “We didn’t think Iowa State expected us to run that much. What’s more, we were scared to death of Iowa State’s offense with those big gaps, and we figured the best way was to keep the ball away from them.”

The Hawks promptly demonstrated their game plan by marching 80 yards in 12 plays. Oh, not quite all of them were marches, as Pete Gales attempted two passes and completed them to Doug Dunham for gains of five and six yards.

But so expert was the Hawks’ execution that only twice on that march did they have to resort to a third-down play. The first of Mosley’s three TDs came on a burst over left guard.

Fry accepted the blame for interceptions that helped Iowa State score both of its touchdowns. The first came when Iowa got the ball after snubbing an ISU drive on fourth down on the Iowa 23.

Phil Suess, out of the hospital after recovering from a kidney injury that caused him to miss the Nebraska game, launched a pass that Jeff Stallworth intercepted on the Iowa 49. Mack got his longest gain of the day — 13 yards — on the first play, and 13 plays later he scored from the one. Alex Giffords, who is perfect on extra points and field goals this year, tied the score at 7-7.

The teams exchanged fumbles in the middle of the second quarter. Chris Boskey, one of the Cyclones injured later, recovered Dean McKillip’s fumble, and Iowa’s Bobby Stoops scooped up Mack’s bobble on the next play.

The Hawks went the 22 yards in five tries, the last of which was Gales’ 9-yard strike to Mosley. He caught it while going into the end zone in reverse gear. The 14-7 score stood until 8:48 remained in the third period.

Iowa partisans, remembering the second-half failures of the last three weeks, were singing no victory paeans when Mosley got his third TD of the warm, sunny afternoon. The Hawks took the second-half kickoff and went 69 yards (well, 74 counting a penalty) in nine plays. This time Mosley darted 19 yards down the right sideline, then 18 on the next play to score.

Hawkeye doubts grew stronger in a few minutes, as Gales threw a pass that was tipped, then intercepted by John Less, outstanding linebacker from Van Horne. Big John — 6-3, 229 — rambled 26 yards to score as a teammate blocked out Mosley, the only Hawk with any chance.

Less was the game’s top defensive player as he was credited with 12 solo tackles and seven assists.

After Iowa failed on fourth down at the ISU 34, the game became a punting duel between Roby and ISU’s Rich Miller. But the momentum seemed to be Iowa’s, especially after Joel Jenson, Shamus McDonald and Boskey were injured.

Iowa went 79 yards in only eight plays for the clincher. Mosley’s longest run of the day started on the Iowa 36. He circled the right end and sped down the sideline. Teammate Jeff Brown clipped ISU’s Clint Loy on the 19, and it was a needless infraction, as Mosley already was cutting back to go all the way.

Even though Mose was deprived of a fourth TD, he was credited with a 45-yard gain. Three plays later, McKillip barreled over right guard and churned 27 yards for Iowa’s final TD.

Roby, who missed the kick after the last touchdown, soon atoned for it by drilling a 44-yard field goal with 4:33 left.

EAST LANSING, MICH. –

Someone who shared in the preseason optimism surrounding the Iowa football program and then missed the first 10 games might have thought he was watching a team on its way to the Rose Bowl.

The Iowa Hawkeyes, displaying a defense that was nothing short of awesome and an offense that was something more than efficient, rolled to a startlingly simple 41-0 rout of Michigan State before a crowd of 55,123 in the season finale for both teams Saturday.

The victory left Iowa with a 4-4 conference record (4-7 overall) and a fourth-place finish in the Big Ten, and it also left wide receiver Keith Chappelle with virtually every school and conference receiving record.

“We needed that,” sighed Hawkeye coach Hayden Fry in a postgame press conference. “I don’t have to summarize our season for you. It was a season of injuries, mistakes and a very tough schedule.

“It was really gratifying to see our team put it all together and play great defense, and then see our offense take advantage of every opportunity inside the 20-yard line. It was really good to see. The winter will be a lot warmer because of it.”

Michigan State coach Frank “Muddy” Waters had a much different view of the contest.

“You saw it — rotten, lousy, flat,” muttered Waters, whose team finished at 3-8 (2-6 in the Big Ten). “It was about the worst game I ever saw. We were scared to death it would happen because we knew Iowa is an awesome defensive team. It just came to be. They could stop us on everything we attempted to do. Iowa did a great job against us.”

Although the Hawks’ offense — spearheaded by Chappelle and quarterback Pete Gales — scored more points in the first half (27) than it had in any game this season, it was the Iowa defense which inflicted most of the devastation.

The Hawks held MSU to 26 net yards on the ground in 42 attempts, nailed Spartan ballcarriers behind the line of scrimmage 13 times, and very nearly prevented star halfback Steve Smith from becoming the school’s all-time leading rusher.

Smith entered the game needing just six yards to supplant Eric Allen as MSU’s career leader but he didn’t make it until the fourth quarter. A late 18-yard run helped him finish with 27 yards in 14 carries.

With Andrew Tippett, John Harty and Brad Webb leading the way, the Iowa defensive line sacked MSU quarterbacks 10 times for 71 yards in losses.

“Getting in there was a little bit easier today,” admitted Harty, a senior who is scheduled to appear in at least two postseason all-star games. “That was kind of our game plan. I mainly wanted to try to get in there in his (the quarterback’s) face and let him know I was there.”

But the defense, for once, wasn’t the only thing Iowa had going for it. The offense produced points the first four times it had the ball and showed the quick-striking power it has lacked this season.

In fact, the Hawks consumed a total of just seven minutes on their five touchdown drives.

They opened with a pair of Reggie Roby field goals — a 39-yarder which capped a 48-yard march and a 48-yarder which culminated a 24-yard excursion. The second was the longest field goal of Roby’s college career and was set up when the defense forced MSU to punt out of its own end zone.

Then came the parade of quick touchdowns:

l Freshman J.C. Love-Jordan circled left end for 12 yards on a Statue of Liberty play on fourth-and-four with 1:03 to go in the first quarter. A 50-yard Gales-to-Chappelle pass initiated the march. The drive: 68 yards, five plays in one minute, 28 seconds.

l Dean McKillip plunged one yard to score with 13:56 to go in the second quarter following a Bobby Stoops interception. Drive: 15 yards, three plays in 53 seconds.

l Gales threw 22 yards to Lon Olejniczak with 1:30 left in the first half with a 39-yard pass interference penalty helping set the stage. Drive: 61 yards, two plays in 14 seconds.

l Gales fired 11 yards to Chappelle with 5:11 remaining in the game. The TD was set up by a 39-yard pass to Nate Person and a 30-yard interference call. Drive: 80 yards, three plays in 35 seconds.

l Gales hit Person with a 15-yard pass on fourth down with 2:30 remaining. Big plays on the drive included a 27-yard run by Dwayne Williams and a 38-yard pass to Chappelle. Drive: 89 yards, 11 plays in 3:54.

Iowa threw 14 passes in the fourth quarter and that, combined with the late touchdown, left Fry open to criticism that he “poured it on.” But Waters resisted the temptation to make such an accusation.

Fry said he explained to Waters after the game that he had his team continue to pass in order to add to Chappelle’s records.

Chappelle snared 10 passes for 148 yards, giving him season totals of 64 and 1,037 —both Hawkeye single-season marks. He also set a Big Ten record (along with Purdue’s Dave Young) of 51 receptions in conference play and set the league standard with 881 yards.

He did all that despite a pulled groin muscle which prevented him from practicing all week. He had ice on the injury right up to game time and wore a special sonar device during the contest to alleviate the pain.

Gales, who left immediately after the game to attend the funeral of his sister, also had a fine day, completing 17 of 32 passes for 249 yards and three touchdowns.

Love-Jordan, making his second start, added 62 yards in 13 rushes.

Despite the efforts of the Iowa offense, however, the biggest excitement of the second half was provided by a rambunctious pack of MSU fans.

The fans flooded onto the field and tore down the south goal post with about three minutes remaining, and Iowa scored its final touchdown at the other end a few seconds later.

Shortly thereafter the same group of fans — looking very much like an accelerated version of Iowa’s “swarm” — charged the length of the field to get the other goal post. Before they got there, however, stadium police stole their fun by knocking down the goal post themselves.

There were few other things to smile about for MSU fans. Ray Stachowicz, the nation’s leading punter entering the game, provided a few bright spots by averaging 47.6 on nine kicks, including a 69 yarder.

Reserve quarterback Bryan Clark accumulated 165 yards passing after relieving starter John Leister, who suffered a bruised knee.

EVANSTON, ILL. –

Iowa became a homecoming-wrecker for the second straight Saturday by staging a “Mo and Bo Show.”

The 58-6 whipping administered to Northwestern was so bad that even Ted Giannoulas, the San Diego Chicken hired to draw fans with his cavortings, couldn’t have been blamed for thinking “How do I get out of this chicken outfit?”

The Wildcat fans among the 27,224 weren’t the only ones bitter at the disaster.

Rick Venturi, whose young Northwestern team has won only one and tied one in his 17 games as head coach here, was so angry after his most lopsided loss that he stalked to the dressing room without shaking hands with Iowa’s Hayden Fry.

Dennis Mosley, the Big Ten’s leading rusher, skipped 55 yards the first time he touched the ball and wound up with 160 in 21 carries. Mo also scored two touchdowns on one-yard plunges.

Gordy Bohannon, given his first start at quarterback, also ran for two TDs, and he passed for two others in the first half as the point-hungry Hawks rang up a 35-0 lead. They got 28 points in the second quarter alone, thriving on Northwestern turnovers.

Bo completed 7 of 11 passes for 101 yards, but Fry declined to say which of his three quarterbacks will start next Saturday in Iowa’s own homecoming game against arch-rival Minnesota.

One of Bo’s TD passes was a 12-yarder to No. 2 fullback Louis Burke. The longest Iowa scoring strike of the day was Bo’s 44-yard pass to his former Cal Poly and Glendale Junior College teammate, Keith Chappelle.

Northwestern surpassed that with Mike Kerrigan’s 69-yarder to Steve Bogan for the only Wildcat score after the count had reached 49-0.

Phil Suess hit 3 of 4 passes for 42 yards, one of them a 27-yard strike to fullback Dean McKillip for Iowa’s sixth TD. Pete Gales completed only one of five passes, but it was a two-yarder to Doug Dunham for the final score of the day with 2:03 to play.

That was also the straw that broke the camel’s back for Venturi. Witnesses said he hurled his clipboard down, then gestured and shouted angrily toward the Iowa bench.

“I looked for him (Venturi) after the game, and walked across the field,” said Fry with obvious irritation when asked why the customary postgame handshake didn’t take place. “I’m not going to tell you what several people told me he (Venturi) said after the game. You’ll have to ask him about that.”

The 52-point spread was Iowa’s fattest since a 53-0 rout of Kansas State in 1959, and Iowa hasn’t scored more than 58 points since the 61-35 sacking of Washington State in 1969.

It was marred by injury to three key Iowa players. The game was held up for at least 10 worrisome minutes in the third quarter while tackle John Harty was carefully lifted onto a stretcher and taken by ambulance to the hospital. Harty, who made two solo tackles and six assists, was able to return to Iowa City with his neck in a cast after X-rays showed no broken bones.

Jeff Davis, No. 2 tight end from Riverside, stayed in Evanston’s General Hospital Saturday night for observation. He was helped out of the game in the second half with an apparent leg ailment. He even returned to action. However, after the game he collapsed while leaving the dressing room and doctors tentatively diagnosed his problem as a concussion.

Bobby Stoops, No. 1 free safety, suffered an ankle injury on the same play on which Harty was hurt. His playing status is in doubt.

The theme of the Northwestern homecoming was “People Who Need Purple,” referring to the school’s traditional color, and Iowa needed plenty of Purple mistakes to turn this into a scoring orgy.

Northwestern, which gained respect in a 16-7 loss to unbeaten Ohio State a week earlier, self-destructed by losing four fumbles in the first half. The Hawks got recoveries by Harty, Bryan Skradis, Leven Weiss and Gene Holtorf, and the offense transformed the last three of them into second-quarter touchdowns.

The Wildcats quit fumbling but turned to having passes intercepted. Iowa’s Kevin Ellis stole two aerials in the last six minutes of the first half. His twin, Kent, got into the act by intercepting one near the end of the third period.

Lon Olejniczak, the versatile freshman from Decorah, made Iowa’s final steal with 3 1/2 minutes left. He also knocked down one pass as he saw collegiate action for the first time.

Iowa rolled up 509 yards of offense, 364 of it on the ground and 145 in the air. Northwestern, when it wasn’t coughing up the ball, showed lots of offense on passes, screens and draw plays, but netted only 320 yards overall.

Again the booming foot of Waterloo East’s Reggie Roby came in handy. He made a 27-yard field goal, converted on 7 of 8 extra point kicks and averaged 45 yards on four punts, one of which carried 51 yards, aided by a brisk northwest wind.

The cutest play of the day came with 6:18 to go in the second period. With the ball on Northwestern’s one-yard line, Mosley took the ball but was grabbed almost immediately by Northwestern’s line. He turned and flipped the ball backward. Bohannon took it on the bounce and raced around end for a TD.

Mosley now has 803 yards for the season and 1,667 for his four-year career. The school records are 937 for one season (Eddie Podolak, 1968) and 1,927 for a career (Levi Mitchell, 1969-70-71).

This marked the first time since 1964 that Iowa has won three games in a row during one season, although the Hawks won the 1976 closer and the first two in 1977. It evened their season record at 3-3, and that means that Fry’s 18-year head coaching mark also is at .500 — 92-92-4.

Iowa football coach Hayden Fry wasn’t exactly pleased Saturday when an Iowa sportswriter said, “Your team played a good game today.”

“I just told my football team that that’s what’s wrong with our ballclub,” said Fry. “We get our — kicked and get complimented. If I see one guy with a smile on his face I’m gonna bust him right in the mouth.”

Oklahoma Coach Barry Switzer wasn’t much happier, even though his third-ranked Sooners beat Iowa 21-6 before 71,397 at Owen Field. Reason is that Oklahoma was favored by anywhere from four to five touchdowns.

“Offensively, we just didn’t play well at all,” said Switzer. “We didn’t execute at all.”

What the Sooners did do was fumble seven times, losing five of them. But while Oklahoma couldn’t hang onto the football, Iowa couldn’t kick it. Hawk punters Dave Holsclaw and Scott Schilling averaged only 29.4 yards on eight kicks. Schilling missed an extra-point kick and a 34-yard field goal try.

“It was the sorriest kicking game in the world,” said Fry. “I have no idea how our defense did what it did today with the poor field position our kicking gave them.

“I’ll guarantee you there will be some new faces next week. When you can’t make an extra point kick you don’t deserve to win. And when you miss a field goal from a chip shot range, it’s ridiculous.”

Iowa, now 0-2, played on even terms with the season-opening Sooners in the first half. It would have been 7-7 at intermission if Schilling had converted the extra point; or 10-7 Iowa if he had been on target with the 34-yard field goal.

But Oklahoma outgained Iowa 252-109 yards in the final half, despite losing four fumbles.

“Obviously, we don’t have any depth,” said Fry. “There’s a big drop-off from our first team to our second team. The heat (70 degrees) and the humidity plus Oklahoma’s power and size eventually wore us down.”

Iowa quarterback Phil Suess, who completed 13 of 19 passes for 139 yards, was sacked nine times in the final half after being nailed behind scrimmage just once in the first two quarters. All told, the Sooners’ quick defense caught Iowans behind the line 13 times for losses totaling 59 yards.

“Offensively,” said Fry. “I didn’t see a helluva lot of courage in the second half. Oklahoma isn’t a blitzing team. But they blitzed because we just didn’t block them. They blitzed half the time in the second half and we did a real poor job of picking them up. We worked on it in practice. We just didn’t execute.”

Iowa’s offense did perform well, however, during its third possession. Passing from Suess and running from Dennis Mosley, who netted 79 yards in 22 carries, keyed the Hawks as they marched 75 yards in 10 plays to take a 6-0 lead with 2:30 left in the first quarter.

Iowa never faced a third down situation during what was to be its only scoring drive. Suess passed for 45 yards and Mosley ran for 21, as the Hawks actually marched 80 yards, thanks to an illegal procedure penalty.

Early in the second quarter, Cedric Shaw blocked an Oklahoma punt, giving the Hawks possession at the Sooners 43. But six downs later Schilling missed the 34-yard attempt.

Oklahoma then marched 80 yards in 10 plays, picking up 51 of those yards on passes from J.C. Watts and Kelly Phelps, who drove the Sooners the final 51 yards after Watts was temporarily sidelined with an injury.

Billy Sims, the returning Heisman Trophy winner, scored the TD from a yard out with 3:17 left in the half. John Boge’s kick put Oklahoma ahead 7-6.

Sims scored again with 13:08 left in the game, on a three-yard run which capped a seven-play, 54-yard march. But Sims didn’t have one of his great days, finishing with 106 yards on 23 carries.

The game’s leading rusher, Mosley and Sims, enjoyed opposite success in each half. Mosley gained 74 yards in 16 carries in the opening half but netted only five yards in six tries thereafter. Sims rushed 11 times for 70 yards in the second half after picking up only 36 yards in 11 first-half carries.

Oklahoma clinched the victory by marching 56 yards to score on a one-yard keeper by Watts with 3:36 remaining.

The Sooners rushed for 269 yards, but they needed 61 attempts. So their average run netted only 4.4 yards, far below last year’s average of 6.5.

Unable to run with their usual authority, the Sooners looked to the air, completing 11 of 18 passes for 183 yards.

While Iowa’s Fry was disappointed with his teams 29.6 punting average, Oklahoma’s was far worse at 17.0 — but the Sooners only had to punt twice.

Other than Mosley, no other Iowa back netted over 20 yards. The Hawks’ top pass receivers were Brad Reid, who caught five for 52 yards; Mosley, who latched onto three for 41; and Jim Swift, with three receptions for 38 yards.

Oklahoma’s top catchers were tight end Forrest Valora, who caught five for 95 yards, and split end Steve Rhodes, who gained 60 yards on three receptions.

Oklahoma was held to seven points in the first half two times last year: In a 17-14 loss at Nebraska and a 28-7 victory at Colorado.

While Fry said he was disappointed with his offense and kicking game, he did praise the Iowa defense. “They didn’t give up,” he said. “They played their hearts out. The majority of the fumbles Oklahoma had were knocked loose, and that’s a compliment to the defense.”

Oklahoma’s Switzer kept his No. 1 offensive unit in the game until the final seconds had ticked away. The Sooners, leading 21-6, even went for a first-and-10 on fourth down with 48 seconds remaining.

“I can’t believe Barry was till running Sims with less than a minute to go and his team ahead by two touchdowns,” said Fry. “I feel he was running him just to get him yardage, and that’s awful dangerous to do with a Heisman Trophy winner. I’d rather our guys lay down and let him score six than to see him get hurt.”

Fry also wanted to add to his earlier comments.

“Don’t get me wrong,” he said. “I’m proud of our football team. I’ve seen improvement, and they work their tails off. But they’ve got to grow up to win.”

IOWA CITY –

You probably could have called it a “tailor-made” victory.

Tailor-made to revive confidence in a struggling team.

Tailor-made to keep alive Iowa’s chances for a long-awaited winning season.

And tailor-made to bring back smiles to the faces of a few Hawkeye football fans, not to mention Iowa Coach Hayden Fry.

Fry’s football team — a loser in four of its previous five games — patched together an offensive line, did a few alterations on its offensive plan, let out a pressing defense and proceeded to sew up a surprisingly easy 22-13 victory over Wisconsin before a crowd of 59,995 at Kinnick Stadium Saturday.

The victory raised the Hawks’ Big Ten record to 3-2 (3-5 overall) and left Fry smiling… at least for a few minutes.

“It’s good to win one,” noted Fry, “but sad to see so many fellas injured.”

Iowa entered the game with about two dozen players on the shelf with injuries and left the game with at least a half-dozen more wounded, including tailbacks Eddie Phillips and Jeff Brown, defensive backs Tracy Crocker and Lou King and offensive tackle Raul Ibanez.

But Fry and his troops couldn’t help but take pride in the way some of the replacements performed — notably quarterback Pete Gales.

Gales, subbing for Phil Suess who is out for the season, threw for 161 yards and one touchdown and added a new dimension to the Iowa offense — a running quarterback.

“We were extremely pleased with the way Pete played,” said Fry. “He’s started one game and won it so he’s batting 1.000.”

It was Gales who spearheaded a first-half assault in which the Hawks rolled up 266 yards and constructed a commanding 19-7 lead. The offense floundered in the second half but the first-half explosion was more than enough to produce a victory, particularly with the way the Hawk defense throttled Wisconsin.

The Hawks nailed Badger ballcarriers for a total of 71 yards in losses with defensive end Brad Webb trapping runners behind the line five times all by himself. Webb, fellow end Andre Tippett, and tackles Mark Bortz, Jim Pekar and Clay Uhlenhake frolicked in the Badger backfield most of the afternoon, and actually produced on of the three Hawkeye touchdowns in the process.

With little more than two minutes gone in the second quarter, Wisconsin quarterback John Josten dropped back to pass. Tippett crashed through from his left end position, stripped Josten of the ball and a wild scramble resulted in Bortz pouncing on the ball in the end zone for his first collegiate touchdown. Lon Olejniczak’s extra point kick put the Iowa lead at 13-7 and moments later, Gales added a big chunk of insurance.

On the first play following a Wisconsin punt, the junior from Patterson, N.J. fired a 54-yard scoring pass to Keith Chappelle to make it 19-7.

Olejniczak added a 20-yard field goal in the third quarter and Wisconsin finally countered with an inconsequential TD with 18 seconds left in the game, reserve quarterback Jess Cole throwing 13 yards to Craig Frederick for the score.

While the second half was dominated by the defenses, the first half — particularly the first quarter — featured a bevy of long gains.

Iowa freshman J.C. Love-Jordan set the trend on the opening kickoff as he brought it back 57 yards to the Wisconsin 43-yard line. From there, it took the Hawks just five plays to score. Brown covered the final 24 yards, ducking off right tackle and then cutting back against the grain to score his first touchdown of the season. Roby’s extra point attempt was wide.

A Wisconsin freshman, flanker Thad McFadden, topped Love-Jordan’s effort on the ensuing kickoff, carting it 76 yards to the Iowa 18. The Badgers proceeded to squander one of many first-half scoring opportunities, though, as Wendell Gladem missed a 39-yard field goal attempt moments later.

The Badgers got the go-ahead touchdown later in the first quarter as linebacker Kyle Borland took a well-hidden snap from center on a fake punt and dashed 52 yards to the Iowa 14. Fullback Dave Mohapp carried it across two plays later and Mark Doran’s PAT kick put the Badgers on top, 7-6.

Wisconsin’s other big chance came with 3:10 remaining in the second quarter when cornerback Von Mansfield made a spectacular interception of a Gales pass and made an even more spectacular runback, carrying it 50 yards to the seven-yard line.

Webb sacked Josten for a 13-yard loss, however, and split end Tim Stracka dropped a pass in the end zone on third down. Doran then missed a 37-yard field goal try.

The Hawks came close to scoring again just before halftime as Gales launched a long pass downfield to Chappelle, who made a diving catch at the back of the end zone. The officials ruled, however, that he was out of the end zone when he caught the ball.

Chappelle, who entered the game tied for the national lead in receiving, caught just two passes but they were good for 92 yards.

“We did what we had to to win,” commented Fry. “Even our defense scored, which is something they hadn’t done for us in past games.”

Fry was especially complimentary of the play of Gales.

“Pete’s a very quiet, intelligent young man,” said Fry. “When he became the No. 1 quarterback this week, he really took the bull by the horns. He was over every day watching films between classes. He had an exceptional week in practice and he really got the rest of the team perked up, he got the emotion going in the other guys.”

Wisconsin Coach Dave McClain pointed to breakdowns by his team’s offensive line and defense as crucial factors in the outcome.

“Defensively, I’m not sure what happened,” he said. “They (the Hawkeyes) had that long kickoff return and then a couple of long passes. We tried to take care of the changes that needed to be made at halftime, but we let Iowa get too far out in front.

“The pass rush has been bothering us for as many games as we’ve played this year,” he added.

Wisconsin, now 1-4 in the Big Ten and 2-6 overall, hosts Michigan next Saturday while Iowa must travel to play Purdue.

MINNEAPOLIS –

Iowa’s final, frustrating football farewell in Minnesota’s 56-year-old Memorial Stadium was such a morale-shattering blow that the Hawkeyes didn’t bother leaving the field in their familiar “bee swarm” formation.

The Gophers’ 24-6 margin may not sound that devastating, but Coach Hayden Fry admitted he had never directed a team that wasted as many opportunities as Iowa did in the first half.

“We just didn’t run and block hard,” Fry said “and Minnesota whipped us up front. Yes, they defeated us at the line of scrimmage, and in the second half they did what they needed to do to pull it out.”

Not only did the Hawks blow offensive opportunities, but before the game was over they were being penalized so much that it seemed to be more of a contest between Iowa and the officials than between two football teams.

“The referees didn’t control the game,” said John Harty, defensive tackle who limped out of action in the first half with an ankle injury. “It was the worst officiating I have seen since I became associated with football.”

Iowa was still behind only 14-6 midway through the final quarter when a Hawk was called for a personal foul after an 11-yard run by Gopher fullback Garry White to the Iowa seven.

Kent Ellis, one of Iowa’s six captains, admitted he was the one who picked up the official’s yellow flag and threw it over the end zone. Iowa was penalized half the distance to the goal for each infraction, and then Marion Barber high-dived the final two yards for his third touchdown.

“Yeah, I tossed the flag,” Ellis admitted sheepishly. “I guess I had seen it enough by then.”

A little later, after freshman Jim Gallery had kicked a 42-yard field goal to completed the scoring, Iowa again was penalized half the distance to the goal for unsportsmanlike conduct. This time, according to information announced in the press box, it was against Iowa offensive tackle Raul Ibanez for “improper language.”

Iowa had the ball inside Minnesota’s 41-yard line six times in the first half — five times inside the 20 — but came away with only two field goals out of five attempts. Reggie Roby hit a 32-yarder, but then missed from 35 yards against the wind, and from 37 and 23 yards with the strong west wind.

“I just had trouble concentrating,” said Roby. “I don’t know what the reason was. He (Coach Fry) didn’t let me punt today, and I thought my punting had been improving.”

Decorah’s Lon Olejniczak, who averaged 43.7 yards on three punts, took over the field goal kicking after Roby hit only one of four. Ole booted a 27-yarder with 1:31 to go in the half, but the Hawks trailed 7-6.

Minnesota, which won they Floyd of Rosedale pig trophy for the third straight year, had the ball in Iowa’s territory only once in the first half, but the Gophers took full advantage.

Phil Suess, who came out of the game with his right arm in a sling (strained shoulder) and his left hand (the passing one) bruised or strained, took the Hawks to the Minnesota 41 right after receiving the opening kickoff.

But Minnesota’s Mike Robb threw starting tailback Phil Blatcher for a nine-yard loss, and then Suess and Blatcher fumbled away the ball back on the Iowa 42 while attempting the Statue of Liberty play that proved so successful a week ago.

The Gophers went to score in four plays. The big one was a short from Tim Salem, son of Gopher Coach Joe Salem, that Barber took in full stride and carried 27 yards until he stepped out on the one.

Barber high-dived into the end zone on the next play, and he landed on his head in a fashion that almost ended his afternoon. He was knocked cold and went to the Minnesota dressing room to be treated before returning to action.

Barber didn’t run with his old enthusiasm until later in the third quarter. The Gophers set up their second touchdown on Salem’s pass to tight end Randy Sonnenfeld that gained 34 yards to the Iowa five. Barber lunged for four and then put another high-diving act for the second of his three TDs.

Gallery, a freshman from Morton, Minn., kicked all three extra points to give him 19 of 19 this season. His final one hit the left upright but bounced on through. Roby’s final field goal attempt struck the same upright but bounced back no good. It was that kind of day for the Hawks.

The Hawks came away with their most pitiful rushing figure of the season. Because Suess was sacked nine times for 39 yards in losses (he wound up with a net of minus 28 for the day), Iowa gained only 24 yards net on the ground. Even in the 57-0 rout at Nebraska, Iowa got 44 yards.

Blatcher lost seven yards on six attempts but caught three passes for 30. Iowa’s rushing leader was Jeff Brown, who had 26 yards in seven carries. Brown also caught six passes — most of them screens late in the game — for 56 yards.

Suess completed 16 of 32 passes for 178 yards and he now has thrown 129 consecutive passes (64 complete) without an interception.

Keith Chappelle, the nation’s No. 3 receiver going into this game, caught five passes for 59 yards.

Salem’s passing was just good enough to compliment the Gopher rushing came of Barber and fullback Garry White. He hit 7 of 19 for 114 yards, but the Hawks intercepted three of them. Tracy Crocker intercepted one and recovered one of the two fumbles the Gophers lost. Todd Simonsen and Kevin Ellis also stole Salem passes, and Paul Postler recovered the other Minnesota fumble.

IOWA CITY –

It wasn’t a masterpiece, Coach Hayden Fry admitted, and the time bomb that had been ticking in Iowa’s football arsenal all season made only a modest explosion against a foe that has lost 16 straight games.

Indeed, the Hawkeyes reaped only two points in the second half, but their 25-3 victory over a feckless Northwestern team did allow 59,990 homecoming fans to breathe a sigh of relief because a four-game losing streak was broken.

A few zealots were inspired to do even more than that. This group surged onto the field as the game ended and tore down the north goal post, but more sensible fans in Kinnick Stadium booed the brief demonstration.

Phil Blatcher, junior from New Orleans, greeted his promotion to the first-team running back spot by zipping for 148 yards in 19 carries.

Jeff Brown, who went into the game as the Big Ten’s rushing leader with an average of 102.4 yards a game, chipped in with 83 yards on only six carries.

Fry again praised his defense for holding another opponent without a touchdown. He noted Northwestern got only 168 yards. This included a mere 76 yards rushing because the Hawks sacked the Wildcat quarterback for 40 yards in losses.

The big news in the Hawks’ struggle to regain a viable offense came at the fullback spot. Dean McKillip, back to 100 percent after limping through several games with an ankle injury, careened into Northwestern’s outmatched defense for 92 yards in 17 charges.

McKillip also scored two touchdowns, making him Iowa’s scoring leader with 18 points in six games. He took Phil Suess’ perfect swing pass for the final six yards with 5 1/2 minutes gone on this windy, partly sunny day.

Iowa fans might have torn down the goal posts then, as that was the first time all season the Hawks had scored in the first quarter.

Four minutes later the Hawks struck again. This time Reggie Roby, whose kicking load was diminished somewhat in an attempt to take pressure off him, booted a 27-yard field goal. It was his third FG in seven tries this season.

McKillip was just tuning up. He scored his second touchdown on the one-yard dive in the second quarter after Brown had set it up with a 65-yard sprint off the old Statue of Liberty play. Roby kicked both extra points.

The Hawkeyes were their own worst enemies on many occasions. They were penalized 9 times for 124 yards.

Indeed, Northwestern might never have scored if it hadn’t been for three Iowa penalties in rapid sequence. The Wildcats took the ball on downs at their own 39-yard line after the officials disallowed Keith Chappelle’s remarkable catch of Suess’ fourth-down pass.

The Iowa fans thundered a protest, agreeing with Fry that a Northwestern player had prevented Chappelle from coming down in bounds by sweeping him over the line.

On the third play, the Hawks were socked 15 yards for a personal foul. Three plays later an Iowa offside gave Northwestern another first down. Two snaps after that, Iowa’s Mel Cole stopped Northwestern’s fleet frosh, Tracy Parsons, for a one-yard gain but was penalized half the distance (9 yards) to the 10 for grabbing his face mask.

After Dave Mishler plunged to the five, Iowa’s defense became aroused. Andre Tippett sacked quarterback Mike Kerrigan for a two-yard loss, and Mark Bortz nailed him for a five-yard setback. After a third-down pass recouped eight yards, Jay Anderson kicked a 22-yard field goal.

Iowa’s third and final touchdown was the produce of Suess’ accurate left arm and good catching by three receivers. First Tracy Crocker returned Mishler’s quick kick four yards to the Northwestern 36.

Alternating his passing with rushing plays, Suess hit Chappelle for 11 yards, Nate Person for 11 and then Blatcher for the final seven. This time Roby’s extra-point kick was blown off to the left.

That’s the way the half ended — 23-3. And that’s the way the game might have ended had not Iowa’s defense achieved another milestone.

Well, the Hawkeyes were convinced they had scored another touchdown after a 71-yard march in the fourth quarter. McKillip accepted a handoff from Suess and took off on one of his high dives from the one-yard line.

Somewhere in flight he was hijacked by a Northwestern tackler and the ball was jarred loose. The Wildcats’ Chris Hinton recovered it on the two-yard line. The Hawkeyes remonstrated with the officials, claiming McKillip had possession when he passed over the goal line.

The officials ruled it was Northwestern’s ball. On third down, Iowa right end Brad Webb raced through blockers and nailed Kerrigan in the end zone for a safety.

After that it was mostly exercise for Iowa’s reserves. One of them, Stormin’ Norman Granger, returned the ensuing punt for 45 yards to the Northwestern 32-yard line. But J.C. Love-Jordan fumbled the ball away on the next play.

Northwestern, a team that hasn’t won since a 27-22 win over Wyoming in the second game of 1979, played the entire game without a fumble and one interception — Tippett’s deft grab of Kerrigan’s pass in the fourth quarter. Iowa had five bobbles and lost two of them, but Suess played his third straight game without an interception.

Pete Gales took over for Suess after the safety, and Fry tried to give some of his highly publicized crew of running backs a chance. Granger, Love-Jordan and Eddie Phillips all got chances in the final minutes.

Cole led Iowa’s tacklers with six solo tackles and four assists. Bortz and Webb shared the sacking lead, each grabbing three ball carriers for 12 yards in losses.

ANN ARBOR, MICH. –

Before the current college football season began, many Iowa fans no doubt hoped their team would have a winning season.

But, those fans really underestimated “Hayden’s Heroes.”

Make no mistake about it, the Iowa Hawkeyes have arrive… not just as a team with a winning record, but as a full-blown powerhouse in the world of Big Ten football.

Any last doubters were almost certainly swayed Saturday as Coach Hayden Fry’s Hawks recorded perhaps their biggest victory in the last 20 years, stifling traditional heavyweight Michigan, 9-7, before a sardined-in crowd of 105,951 at Michigan Stadium.

The crowd, which was the largest ever to see an Iowa football game and the third largest in Michigan history, also included representatives from six different bowl games, and they no doubt returned to their individual areas of the country very impressed.

Iowa used a conservative ball-control offense, a big-play defense and the talented foot of freshman Tom Nichol to record a victory over a team ranked among the top half-dozen in the nation for the third time this season.

The win also moved the Hawks into undisputed possession of first place in the Big Ten as Wisconsin lost to Michigan State, 33-14. Iowa is now 3-0 in league play (5-1 overall) while Wisconsin is 3-1 and Ohio State is 2-1.

“Man, that was one great football game,” exclaimed an ecstatic Fry in a postgame press conference. “I thought I fouled up a jillion times by playing it too close to the vest. But we put a lot of faith in our defense.

“Nobody expected us to win this football game except those guys over there in the next room. Nobody’s heard of Iowa football for 20 years.”

The Hawkeyes stunned both Nebraska and UCLA in nonconference games earlier in the season when those clubs were ranked No. 6 in the nation in both wire service polls. So where were the Wolverines ranked? Well, they were fifth in both polls, but Fry didn’t hesitate to point out that they were sixth in the Sports Illustrated rankings.

But this victory was much, much sweeter than the conquests of UCLA and Nebraska, according to Fry. Perhaps it was because this one came on the road. Perhaps it was because this one counted in the league standings. Or perhaps it was because the Hawks had to scramble back from a halftime deficit to win this one.

Iowa trailed by a single point before Nichol’s third field goal of the game — a 30-yarder with 2:40 to go in the third quarter — gave the Hawks a 9-7 cushion.

The field goal came at the end of a 5 1/2 minute, 67-yard drive following an interception by Iowa’s Mel Cole in the end zone.

Seventeen minutes and 40 seconds later, the score was still 9-7 as the Hawks chewed up much of the intervening time with a methodical, one-first-down-at-a-time approach. Under the guidance of senior quarterback Gordy Bohannon, the visitors had possession of the ball for almost 14 minutes more than Michigan over the course of the game.

“That was our game plan — to hold the ball,” added Fry. “We stuck to our guns. I’m kind of proud of ol’ John Hayden. I really wanted to go back and throw the bomb but we stuck to the game plan.”

And of course the defense, which has ranked at the top of the Big Ten most of the season, did its job again. There were three crucial points in the second half when the Hawks rose up to stop the Wolverines. Cole’s interception on a deflected pass with 8:19 to go in the third quarter was the first. A fourth-down stop by tackle Mark Bortz on flanker Anthony Carter early in the fourth quarter was the second. And, an Andre Tippett-influenced incomplete pass with 31 seconds left was the third, marking the end of the Wolverines’ hopes.

After that, Bohannon fell on the ball twice to run out the clock.

The Hawks took a 3-0 lead in their first possession of the game with the help of a fumbled punt. Dave Strobel jumped on Evan Cooper’s fumble at the Michigan 38-yard line and a 25-yard completion from Bohannon to Ivory Webb moved Iowa to the 11. The drive stalled at the four and Nichol came in to kick a 20-yard field goal.

Nichol got another field goal, from 36 yards out, later in the first quarter, capping a 57-yard march.

“My kicking was pretty shaky all week long,” admitted Nichol, “with a new holder and a new center and everything. They had a really good rush on us today, too, but we did OK.”

Michigan jumped in front, 7-6, on a 17-yard touchdown pass from Steve Smith to Carter with 6:30 to go in the second quarter. The 68-yard drive was helped by a personal foul penalty against Iowa.

“One of our key mistakes was giving up that touchdown to Carter,” said Fry. “However, I knew they were going to call that play before they even ran it and even though we defensed against it properly, they still were able to score. That’s just a tribute to Carter’s ability as a receiver.”

Carter caught five passes for 91 yards in the contest but the Wolverines completed just one other pass all day. Smith was the home squad’s leading rusher with 60 yards while tailback Butch Woolfolk was held under 100 yards for the first time all season. He netted 56 in 14 carries.

Norm Granger led a balanced Hawkeye ground attack with 44 yards. Bohannon rushed for 34 yards and also completed 10 of 19 passes for 127 yards.

The Hawks did sustain a few injuries in the contest, however, as both halfback Eddie Phillips and offensive tackle Bruce Kittle came up with leg ailments.

“I don’t know about the injuries,” said Fry. “Right now they’re all happy. Some of ‘em won’t be able to get out of bed tomorrow but they’re happy now.”

Fry also hinted that he feels the Hawkeyes’ future can be even brighter than their immediate past.

“I don’t want to hurt Michigan’s feelings, but we can play better than that,” he said. “I guess we’ve gotten to the point where we can make some mistakes and still beat the biggies.”

IOWA CITY –

So, who needs Duane Gunn?

Indiana’s Hoosiers may have the “fastest Gunn in the west” at wide receiver, but Iowa’s Hawkeyes have the slickest in Dave Moritz.

Moritz, who could probably catch a pass in his sleep, put Indiana’s Hoosiers to bed Saturday in a 49-3 rout at Kinnick Stadium.

A frustrated basketball player at St. Rita High School in Chicago, Moritz etched his name in University of Iowa football lore by catching 11 passes for a school record 192 yards and two touchdowns to spark the 17-ranked Hawkeyes before a Parent’s Day crowd of 66,055.

How sharp was Moritz?

l With is 192 yards (a yard more than Keith Chappelle had against Illinois in 1980), the 6-foot, 185 pound senior boosted his career receiving yards to a record 1,775. That surpassed the old mark of 1,642 set by Al Bream from 1966-68.

l Moritz’s 11 receptions left him tied for third for most catches in a single game. His two TDs (a 20-yarder from quarterback Chuck Long and a 11-yarder from Tom Grogan) left him two shy of the season TD reception record (6).

Moritz’s success overshadowed all-Big Ten receiver Gunn’s four catches for 56 yards as the Hawkeyes (6-2 and 4-2 in the Big Ten) manhandled Indiana (3-5 and 2-4).

Iowa rolled up 658 yards total offense, 409 through the air, and supported things with a swarming defense that held the Hoosiers to 231 yards (52 on the ground).

The Iowa rushing attack enjoyed its second best effort of the year at 249 yards. Eddie Phillips and Owen Gill combined for three touchdowns and 172 yards. Phillips had 93 yards in 12 attempts. Gill had 29 yards in 14 carries for two touchdowns.

The overall Iowa performance obviously pleased Holiday, Peach, Hall of Fame, Florida Citrus and Liberty bowl representatives in the press box.

Moritz was a humble hero afterward.

“I’m glad we won,” he said. “I didn’t think we’d ever get it (the record) today. I thought we’d run the ball today. But, I’m happy as hell. I can’t like about that.”

Moritz, who was timed in 4.6 and 4.7 seconds in the 40-yard dash by pro scouts recently, said football wasn’t originally in his plans.

“I tried out for football my junior year. I rode the wood for a year and played my senior year. I wanted to be a basketball player, but things didn’t go too well.”

Iowa Coach Hayden Fry praised Moritz, adding, “It was really wonderful for him to set the record today. He felt the whole world was on his shoulders last week (1 16-13 loss to Michigan) because he was the one the official threw the flag on when he was trying to run a pass route.”

Moritz dazzled the Hoosiers but officials blinded the Hawkeyes with yellow flags. Iowa was penalized 16 times for 135 times, 10 shy of the Kinnick Stadium record by Notre Dame in 1952.

“We must have had 150 to 200 yards in penalties,” Fry said. When informed it was 135 and not a record, Fry replied, “If I’d have known, we could have run another play… I’m sure the officials would have accommodated us.”

Nobody had an explanation for the penalties, except offensive right tackle Joe Levelis.

“The penalties today… it got a little ridiculous,” he said. “Maybe the refs feel sorry about the other team.” The Hoosiers, whose only offensive punch was a 41-yard field goal by Doug Smith with 6:19 to go in the first half, were penalized three times for 35 yards.

Iowa’s offense made up for its penalties with another sparkling effort from Long, now 38 yards short of the all-time school passing mark of 3,738 yards by Gary Snook. Long completed 16 of 25 passes for 233 yards and one TD, and ran 11 yards for another score. It was his seventh 200-plus yard game of the year and eighth of his career.

Reserve quarterbacks Grogan and Cornelius Robertson were also heard from with a scoring pass apiece. Grogan filled in for Long with 14:14 left to play. His 11-yard toss to Moritz with 3:03 remaining was the record-setting combination.

Robertson’s 10-yard TD pass to walk-on Scott Helverson with no time remaining gave Indiana Coach Sam Wyche reason to be upset. Robertson passed six times in the final 47 seconds, leading a scoring drive of 60 yards and calling time out with three seconds left.

“No, I won’t forget this one,” Wyche said, smoldering. “I think it was a crummy thing. Didn’t you?”

Fry, whose team built a 28-3 halftime advantage and coasted after that, defended Robertson and Grogan’s late passing.

“I’ve got guys like Cornelius Robertson and Tom Grogan and people that work out every day and never get the chance to play,” Fry said. “Both of those quarterbacks would like an opportunity to play pro ball. And, the only way they are going to have a chance is to have a film where we can show the pro scouts their ability.”

Fry said he didn’t call time out to set up the last touchdown.

“I wasn’t trying to run up the score,” he said. “They’re passers. That’s their skill and that’s what they did. I didn’t call timeout, that was Cornelius. Cornelius practices every day just like he’s going to start. And, this is one of the few times in two years he’s had a chance to play.”

The Hawkeyes scored on their first three possessions to settle things early. Gill capped a six-play, 45-yard drive with a 16-yard run with 11:02 remaining in the quarter. Moritz then capped an 85-yard march, hauling in his first scoring pass to make it 14-0. He snared the 20-yarder from Long in the right corner of the end zone with 6:10 on the clock.

The third consecutive score was set up when tackle Paul Hufford recovered an Orlando Brown fumble on the Hoosiers’ 37-yard line. The bobble was forced by a leaping Devon Mitchell. Long rolled round left end for the final 11 yards.

IOWA CITY –

Northwestern’s hapless Wildcats perhaps weren’t the only ones hit by “catastrophe” in Iowa’s 61-21 homecoming romp Saturday.

Certainly the record book took a thrashing as the Hawkeyes rolled up an all-time Big Ten record of 713 yards in total offense and kicker Tommy Nichol became the highest scorer in the school’s history.

The health of Iowa’s team also suffered. Coach Hayden Fry set his jaw grimly and was shaking his head with worry about injuries, particularly to his defensive line.

Both of the Mount Vernon Huffords — defensive tackle Paul and tight end Mike — went out with knee injuries, and Fry revealed Dave Alexander, No. 2 nose guard, had knee surgery last week after a practice injury.

“The doctors are running tests on the knees of both Huffords to see if they were just strained or if they will need to be scoped (arthroscopic surgery),” Fry said.

“It’s just unbelievable how many of our players are taped up, and I’m proud of them. Football has got to be meaningful for players to go out and play when they’re banked up like that.”

The battered Hawkeyes are hosts next Saturday to Purdue (1-3-1), which gave Ohio State a tough battle (33-22) at Columbus Saturday.

A 19th straight sellout crowd — 66,125 this time — watched an explosive offensive show in high glee but worried about the defense as the Hawkeyes (4-1) joined Ohio State in staying on the heels of Illinois and Michigan in the Big Ten race.

Iowa’s offensive line gave Chuck Long much more time to pass than in last week’s 33-0 disaster at Illinois, and the Hawkeye junior responded by setting school and stadium records for passing and total offense.

Five of Iowa’s eight touchdowns came by air, and Long launched the first three of them. He hit Lon Olejniczak with an 18-yarder in the first quarter, flipped a 19-yarder to Dave Moritz in the third and then fired one to Ronnie Harmon late in the third period that was a classic.

The Hawks had third down and 25 yards to go on their own 40. Long, who was sacked five times, barely got a pass away to Harmon on a crossing pattern at the Northwestern 35. Harmon scorned a first down and immediately began hunting faraway daylight.

The talented sophomore from Laurelton, N.Y., zigzagged to the left sideline before turning the corner. Then he evaded several would-be tacklers in the race down the sideline. The Wildcats hemmed him in at the five, but a final burst carried Harmon past them and he barely lurched over the goal to complete the 60-yard perfecto.

Harmon and Moritz each caught five passes for 122 and 114 yards, respectively, while Olejniczak, Eddie Phillips and Bill Broghamer each nailed three.

Long also scored Iowa’s first touchdown on a one-yard sneak after the Hawks took the opening kickoff and went 74 yards in 14 plays — plus a pass interference call against the ‘Cats.

Long retired after three quarters with the score 48-14. His 420 yards passing (23 of 33) and 398 yards of total offense constituted school and stadium marks. Three other quarterbacks played, and two of them threw scoring strikes.

Tom Grogan, the faithful fifth-year senior, hooked up with fleet frosh Robert Smith to set a Kinnick Stadium record midway through the fourth quarter. The play covered 86 yards, missing Iowa’s own school record by a yard. Smith took the ball in full stride at midfield and outraced all pursuit.

Then it was Cornelius Robertson’s turn. The little senior fired a 15-yard strike to Scott Helverson for the final Iowa TD. Mark Vlasic, the 6-6 frosh who red-shirted last year, got to take the final two snaps — both winding up in handoffs to Treye Jackson for gains of nine and two yards.

“I hate to see a team lose that badly,” sighed Fry, “but I’m not about to tell my walk-ons and reserves to let up.”

How about Denny Green, the former Iowa halfback star (1968-69-70) who brought his Wildcats to Hawkeye homecoming for the second straight year (it was 45-7 in 1982)?

“Run up the score?” repeated Green. “I never worry about that. If the game were over, then we should have left the field. No, I never worry about that sort of thing. Iowa was playing, and so were we.”

Northwestern certainly didn’t quit. The Wildcats, who had scored only 10 points in four previous games (all in a 10-8 win over Indiana), got their first score after Iowa took a 17-0 lead on Nichol’s first field goal, a 45-yarder.

Quarterback Sandy Schwab danced away from would-be sackers and legged it the final nine yards. After Iowa’s lead grew to 41-7 in the third quarter, halfback Ricky Edwards, who caught 11 passes for 108 yards, ran five yards around left end for the second TD.

Then, with 46 seconds left, sub QB Steve Burton threw a six-yard pass to Jon Harvey for No. 3. John Duvic kicked all three points.

Iowa’s Nichol kicked seven successful points before missing his final one. He had a 32-yard field goal in addition to the 45-yarder, then was short on a 54-yarder in the third period.

Those 13 points tied an Iowa record for one-game kicking and gave Nichol 138 in 2 1/2 seasons, shattering the Iowa scoring record of 126 set by Oelwein’s Dusty Rice 30 years ago.

Nichol had to punt only once (for 42 yards) as Iowa scored on every drive except those that ended in a missed field goal, on downs and a fumble after a completed pass to Smith.

The Hawkeyes yielded 21 points and 304 yards in passing, but they held the losers to a net of 27 yards in rushing.

Mike Stoops, Ken Sims and Steve Brown (soph walk-on from Sergeant Bluff) intercepted Schwab passes, and sub linebacker George Davis (frosh linebacker from West Des Moines Dowling) led Iowa with nine tackles and three assists.

Eddie Phillips added two second-quarter touchdowns for Iowa, scampering three and eight yards. He was the Hawkeyes’ top rusher with 61 yards on 13 carries.

IOWA CITY –

Start packing!

California here they come! Pasadena or bust! Rose Bowl, how sweet it is! How do we get tickets?

Or, as coach Hayden Fry said, “How ’bout those Hawks? Yaaa-hooo!”

Who would have guessed it three months ago? Or two months ago after the Hawkeyes were upset at Iowa State? Or a month ago when Iowa lost two straight, to Minnesota and Illinois?

Or even a few hours ago when an incredible two-game Big Ten parlay had to come home Saturday? But Iowa’s 36-7 triumph coupled with Ohio State’s 14-9 upset of Michigan turned the Rose Bowl key.

It’s true, no matter what the odds were, and Jan. 1 the Hawkeyes will be playing Washington’s Huskies before 103,000 people in Pasadena’s Rose Bowl with most of the world watching on television.

Yes, Iowa’s Cinderella team that was picked by nobody to win the Big Ten, Saturday finished in a title tie with Ohio State, which ironically earned little but the right to play Navy in the Liberty Bowl at Memphis.

The Hawks will play a Washington team that earned its third Rose Bowl berth in the last five seasons. The Huskies, coached by Don James, beat Michigan 27-20 Jan. 1, 1978, and last New Year’s Day lost a 23-6 decision to Michigan.

“I think Iowa will be a great team to represent the Big Ten in the Rose Bowl,” said Muddy Waters, the Michigan State coach who was a gallant and generous loser.

“I don’t care who we play in the Rose Bowl,” said an ecstatic Fry, who came into the interview room carrying a long-stemmed rose and wearing a Rose Bowl patch stuck on his forehead. “Shoot a monkey, I’d go out to Pasadena tomorrow if they’d let me, but I guess our team will probably go out Dec. 22 or 23.

“Yes, we finally came of age, and I’m ready to admit this is a pretty good football team.

“About all our team has accomplished since the game ended — besides hug each other — was to give thanks to the good Lord, who certainly smiled on us today. We’re the chosen people. I’m no preacher, but I want to thank the Lord for giving me the privilege of being associated with this group of fine young men.”

Fry was asked if he really expected Ohio State to upend Michigan.

“Hey, apparently there were a lot of folks listening to that game on their radios in the stands,” the coach replied. “We could hear our crowd roar every once in a while, but I didn’t know if all the drunks had got together or what.

“I finally got hold of a man with a radio. He said the score was 14-9, but he was so uptight he couldn’t even tell me who was ahead. So I asked him how much time was left, and he said about a minute. I asked who had the ball, and he said, ‘The team that’s ahead.’

“Well, I believe that Art Schlicter (Ohio State QB) when he said they were going to beat Michigan, and heard on that last touchdown he wasn’t to be denied. But Schlichter also said Ohio State was going to the Rose Bowl, and I didn’t believe that.

“I guess you can tell Mr. (Bo) Schembechler (Michigan coach) that there was another game in the Big Ten today. I read my team what he said about it coming down to the same old story of Michigan and Ohio State being the Big Two and fighting for the Rose Bowl again.”

Fry passed out praise to his team, his staff, the long-suffering Iowa fans, even the news media. As soon as all the Hawks were dressed, he broke his three-year policy by letting reporters invade the Hawkeye dressing room to interview everyone at will.

The press never saw so many roses. The dressing room looked like a gangster’s funeral. Almost every Hawkeye had at least one long-stemmed rose. Somebody bought ‘em by the gross.

“Yes, I got the game ball,” smiled Phil Blatcher, the explosive tailback who gained a whopping 247 yards in 27 carries as the Hawks piled up almost 400 yards net on the ground.

“That’s the game ball over there in my locker, along with the roses,” said the shy senior from New Orleans. “Eddie Phillips gave the ball to me. He presented it, and everybody said it was mine.

“I had no idea of how many yards I had. Hmm, 247. No, I never gained that many in a game before, not even in high school. All I knew was I was awful cold and my feet were freezing.

“Yes, I took myself out in the first half. I got hit and I didn’t feel it, so I figured it was time to get out of there.”

The Iowa fans didn’t seem to mind the cold. After Iowa had assembled its 36-7 lead with 2:49 to play, rambunctious celebrants began gathering in both end zones.

It’s the custom of the cheerleaders to do as many push-ups as the Hawkeyes have points after each score. So literally hundreds of fans got into the prone position and did push-ups right with ‘em. Greatest thing for mass physical education in years!

The scamps couldn’t wait until the game ended, even though booed by more mature fans. With two minutes left, a few put a serious list to the south goal post by grabbing the crossbar.

As the final minute ticked away, first the south goal post was bent asunder, and then the north one. With 12 seconds left, a horde of loyalists charged out onto the field, engulfing the players. The officials looked nervously at the final seconds on the clock, then wisely tucked their caps under the arms and hustled to their dressing room.

It was a scene that hadn’t taken place in Iowa’s Kinnick Stadium since coach Forest Evashevski’s Hawks did it in both the 1956 and ‘58 seasons.

The players finally escaped from the clutches of their admirers and reached the locker room. Still the fans milled around, replaying the game, reliving the thrill of experiencing a “double-header” — watching Iowa in person and listening to Michigan’s downfall on radio.

A few fans admitted they were crying with happiness. At the northeast corner of the stadium, a man had fallen and his friends used their bodies as shields to keep him from being trampled. The air carried strong whiffs of alcohol. Outside the stadium a young man threw up with great, heaving sobs.

The sober ones talked of “Hayden’s Heroes,” and there were many.

One had to be Tracy Crocker, the tough senior cornerback from Cedar Rapids Kennedy. It was his interception that turned the tide when Michigan State, trailing 16-7, was striking toward another touchdown early in the third quarter.

Bryan Clark, Michigan State’s quarterback, had led the Spartans to Iowa’s six-yard line. Although Fry claimed his confidence in his team never wavered, many felt something slipping when the Rose Bowl was so close at hand.

Clark hurled a pass into the end zone, intended for Daryl Turner, but Crocker snatched the ball and ran it out to the Iowa 16. The Hawks immediately marched down and got a field goal — the first of two by freshman Tom Nichol — and suddenly the gates were open to California.

“Michigan State had been hurting us with timing patterns all along,” Crocker explained. “Clark would throw when his receivers weren’t even turned around because they were counting on knowing when the pass would be there.

“I read this one right, and the ball came right to me. When an interception happens, the credit should go to 10 other guys, because that’s the end result of good defense. We’re not the type of team that big-play an opponent to death, so we have to keep doing our jobs until we get a break.”

Crocker admitted he was feeling like wearing a goat’s horns instead of a halo a few minutes earlier. He was charged with hitting MSU’s Ted Jones after a line plunge was over, and Iowa was penalized 15 yards.

“Yes, that was stupid of me,” he admitted. “But No. 21 (Jones) had been hitting us all along, and later he got kicked out for it. But I shouldn’t have hit back.

“Then, a couple of plays later Clark completed that 30-yard pass on us. You can put the blame on whichever one of us you want to, but Bobby Stoops and I messed up on our coverage, and he (re
ceiver Otis Grant) got behind us. Yes, I was feeling like a goat when that interception came along.”

That was Crocker’s first pass theft of the year. The Hawks stole two others — both by Lou King, who tied immortal Nile Kinnick’s school record for a season with eight.

The Hawks made their first big break of the game on another theft, but it was ruled a fumble recovery and runback instead of an interception. Doesn’t matter, they count, too.

Michigan State, playing without its two leading rushers — halfbacks Aaron Roberts and Lance Hawkins stayed home because of injuries — coughed up the ball on its very first play.

Clark threw a pass to tight end Al Kimichik in right flat. Strong safety Bobby Stoops popped Kimichik so hard the ball zipped away like a melon seed. End Andre Tippett came up with it and was credited with an eight-yard return.

The Hawks scored on two nine-yard bolts by Blatcher, and only 1:01 had ticked away.

The defense treated the offense to another score midway in the first quarter. Wellman’s James Erb knifed through and blocked Ralf Mojsiejenko’s punt, and the ball bounced clear through the end zone for a safety.

Now it was the offense’s turn. Glenn “Lightning” Buggs returned the kickoff after the safety 29 yards, and the Hawks went the 54 yards in 12 plays. Biggest gains were Eddie Phillips’ nine-yard run and his 12-yard gain on a pass from Gordie Bohannon. Phillips plowed over for the final yards, 16-0 after Nichol’s kick.

The second quarter was scoreless until the Spartans got their only points with 1:20 to go. Reggie Roby, who averaged “only” 40.5 yards on two punts, kicked 44 yards, but Iowa was penalized to its own 44 for a personal foul. Showing respect for Iowa’s rushing defense, Clark passed one yard to James Hodo for the touchdown. Denmark’s Morten Andersen kicked the point, giving him a perfect 28 for his senior season.

This happened after the Hawks and their fans knew about Ohio State’s victory.

“I told our guys at the half to forget all the stuff about bowls and start playing just as if our score was 0-0,” said Fry.

The Hawks didn’t get the hang of it again, though, until after Crocker’s theft stymied the Spartans. Then Nichol kicked his 26-yard field goal. Later he got a 23-yarder.

Blatcher’s devastating runs — his longest was 46 yards — behind merciless blocking blew the game open. When Blatcher tired, Phillips came in. He got 76 yards with 16 his longest. Blatcher got two TDs, Phillips one.

Bohannon, who picked up 39 yards mostly on the shotgun draw, completed 8 of 16 passes before turning the quarterback job over to Pete Gales. The latter completed the scoring by hurling a nine-yard pass to Vince Campbell.

The statistics credit Mark Bortz and Bobby Stoops with tackle highs: Bortz with 10 and Stoops with seven solos.

MADISON, WIS. –

In a corner of the Wisconsin wrestling room, where Hayden Fry held his postgame press conference Saturday, there’s a small but not insignificant sign.

It says something to the effect that in life, someone must be the hammer and someone must be the anvil.

Fry’s Iowa Hawkeyes had just finished playing hammer. The Wisconsin Badgers were the anvil. And the end product was a 34-14 pounding before a crowd of 78,105 at Camp Randall Stadium.

Ignore that final score, by the way. The 15th-ranked Hawkeyes, now 7-2 overall and 5-2 in the Big Ten, had nine bowl scouts drooling and about 10,000 of their own fans swooning as they thoroughly dominated the Badgers for most of the game. They held a 34-0 lead in the third quarter before Wisconsin rang up a pair of meaningless touchdowns in the final period.

“We wanted to jump on ‘em right off the bat and we did,” said Fry in his wrestling room gathering.

“I think anytime you get that far ahead of a Big Ten team, regardless of who it is, you’re surprised.”

Fry wasn’t the only one who was astonished at the ease with which the Hawks dispatched the Badgers.

“I think we expected a little bit more out of Wisconsin,” said Iowa quarterback Chuck Long. “I thought it was gonna be a close game all the way through. They had played some good teams pretty tough.”

Long was the chief blacksmith in the pounding as he broke six school records with single-season and career achievements, and tied another by completing his first 11 pass attempts.

He finished with 16 completions in 21 attempts for 231 yards and four touchdowns. Other key cogs in the attack were running back Eddie Phillips with 162 yards in 31 carries and split end Dave Moritz with 95 yards on seven pass receptions.

Long led the Hawks on a methodical, relentless and often improvisational first-half assault as they scored four of the first five times they had the football.

In fact, when they scored to make it 27-0 with 6:45 remaining in the second quarter, they had outgained the bewildered Badgers, 281-49, and outdone them in first downs, 15-2.

“It was the worst combination of everything,” moaned Badger Coach Dave McClain. “We did not move the ball and we did not stop them.”

The TD parade went like this:

l First possession: The Hawks moved 80 yards in 10 plays with Phillips doing most of the work. He accounted for 53 yards on the drive and lunged the final two into the end zone. 7-0.

l Second possession: They went 59 yards on a drive which included a 23-yard pass from Long to Moritz and ended with a strange 12-yard hookup from Long to Ronnie Harmon. The Wisconsin pass rush chased Long out of the pocket to the right sideline but he doubled back, racing almost all the way across the field before spotting Harmon just inside the 10-yard line. Harmon snared the bullet, wheeled back to the right and also covered almost the full width of the field before diving into the corner of the end zone. 14-0.

l Third possession: A textbook 88-yard, 11-play march was highlighted by another bit of Hawkeye resourcefulness. On third-and-11, it looked like Long would be sacked for a loss. But with three Badger defenders hanging from his hips, he rifled a pass over fullback Norm Granger’s head. Granger leaped high in the air, snared the ball with one hand, spun away from a defender and gained 13 yards. Four plays later, Long threw five yards to Moritz in the end zone. 21-0.

l Fourth possession: The Hawks were finally stopped but it was sunshine, not the Badgers, that did it. Long, after tying his own school record with 11 straight completions, lofted a perfect pass to Moritz about 25 yards downfield. The senior split end lost the ball in the bright sun, however, and it slithered through his fingers. Tom Nichol punted the ball away.

l Fifth possession: The Hawks moved 75 yards in five plays, netting 38 yards when Wisconsin’s Averick Walker tackled Harmon for a pass interference penalty. Long fired a 20-yard strike to tight end Jon Hayes for the TD. 27-0.

In the third quarter, Long threw six yards to the other tight end, Mike Hufford, for the final TD and then retired to the bench.

While the Iowa offense was hammering out points, the defense was perplexing and vexing Wisconsin quarterback Randy Wright. Wright eventually collected 325 yards with 25 completions in a school-record 54 attempts, but he was just 6-for-21 in the first half.

The Hawks extended their streak to eight straight quarters without allowing a TD before giving two up in the fourth quarter.

“I’m telling you we played some super defense,” noted Fry. “Wisconsin got 27 points in the first three quarters against Ohio State last week and as you know, Ohio State has a tough defense.

“I think we completely baffled Wisconsin offensively with our defensive disguising and camouflaging of coverages.”

That’s not the only bit of deception utilized by the wily Iowa coach. Fry admitted he had running back Owen Gill suited up and in the game for one play purely as a decoy, just to give the Badgers something to think about. Gill had not recovered from a hamstring injury suffered last week against Indiana.

That put the ballcarrying burden on Phillips, whose 162 yards were his second-best total ever and whose 31 carries left him on the brink of exhaustion. He said Wisconsin was the most physical team the Hawks have played all season.

“I was on my way to the bus to go to sleep,” he said after being coaxed into the interview room.

“I knew Owen wasn’t gonna play and I thought I’d just have to take up the slack.”

Fry, however, said he expects Gill to be healthy for next Saturday’s game at Michigan State. Wisconsin, now 5-4 overall and 3-4 in the Big Ten, will visit Purdue next week.

The Badgers didn’t come out of Saturday’s bruising battle in very good shape. Starting running backs Joe Armentrout and Gary Ellerson were carted away and linebacker Jim Melka, an all-Big Ten candidate, broke his arm.

The whole thing didn’t seem to faze the Badger fans, however, who invariably do more singing and smiling and swilling after (and during) a tough loss than any other fans around. Saturday they were the happiest anvils in the Big Ten.

“The fans here are as crazy, if not crazier, than ours,” commented Mike Hufford with a roll of the eyes. “They party a lot better, I think.”

CHAMPAIGN, ILL. –

One more week… at least.

That’s how much longer University of Iowa football fans will have to wait to see if their team can toss aside the burden of 19 consecutive losing seasons.

At least one more week.

The Hawks missed out on another opportunity to clinch that long-coveted winning season Saturday as they stumbled to a 24-7 loss to Illinois before 66,877 fans at Memorial Stadium.

The victory left Coach Hayden Fry and his squad far removed from the lofty heights of two weeks ago. At that point in the season, after a 9-7 upset of Michigan, Iowa was 5-1, alone at the top of the Big Ten standings and ranked as high as sixth in one wire service poll.

Following a 12-10 loss to Minnesota and Saturday’s mistake-filled setback, the Hawks are 5-3, in fifth place in the Big Ten, and are sure to disappear from the top 20 in this week’s polls. And that winning season, once an apparent certainty, is no longer so certain.

“We’ve got to back off a minute and take a look at how we got those five victories,” philosophized Fry in a postgame press conference. “I didn’t see any mistakes out there that can’t be corrected. But we’re going to have to work hard.”

As in the loss to Minnesota a week ago, the offense was clearly the goat for Iowa, although this time it wasn’t a case of no production. It was a case of misproduction. The Hawks turned the ball over to the opposition six times and actually played a bigger role in scoring points for the Illini than the vaunted Illini attack.

A second-quarter fumble in the end zone by Iowa quarterback Pete Gales handed the Illini their first touchdown and an interception thrown by the Hawks’ other QB, Gordy Bohannon, in the third quarter set up the crowning TD.

Oh, the Hawkeye offense did manage to outgain the high-powered Illinois attack 354-307 and out-first downed it 18-15. And there was also a magnificent 96-yard scoring drive by Iowa at the end of the first half, and an impressive 7 1/2 minute march in the fourth period. But, otherwise Iowa’s offense was mere putty in the palms of a sky-high Illini defense.

“Let’s say it the way it is,” said Illinois Coach Mike White. “Since I’ve been here that was the best defensive game we’ve had. The game was a defensive game. Our defense controlled the game, they played their hearts out.”

Fry, who blasted the offense for its performance in the Minnesota loss, admitted it laid another egg Saturday.

“We made an awful lot of mistakes,” he said. “Illinois played a very good defensive game but it seemed like at the critical times, we made a lot of mistakes. Our pass protection broke down and we fumbled the ball a lot. We just didn’t execute when we had a chance to.”

While the offense played giveaway, the Iowa defense gave a creditable, if not spectacular account of itself. It held Illinois quarterback Tony Eason to 263 yards on 22 of 34 passing, snapping his streak of consecutive 300-yard games. It also stopped a string of 10 straight 300-yard passing games for Illinois in Big Ten play.

“But, it’s pretty hard to say anything good after a game like this,” added Fry. “I’m sure at times they (the defense) did an excellent job. But at other times, we didn’t have containment, we let him (Eason) scramble around and throw the ball.”

Actually the game had a harmless enough start from an Iowa standpoint. The Hawks emerged from the first quarter behind by a score of only 3-0. Illinois had spliced a 15-yard personal foul penalty on Iowa’s Andre Tippett with a 41-yard Eason-to-Miguel DeOliver pass into a drive which ended with a 27-yard field goal by Mike Bass.

But there were omens. Twice in the period, Illinois’ Mike Martin had gotten open behind the Iowa defense. Once he dropped the pass on the other occasion Eason overthrew him.

It was the Illini defense which eventually upped the score to 10-0. Illinois punter Chris Sigourney punted to the Hawks early in the second quarter and after Iowa’s Jeff Brown decided not to field the ball, it rolled dead at the two-yard line. Two plays later, Gales dropped back to pass from his own end zone and was engulfed in a blitz by the Illini’s outside linebackers.

One linebacker, Ron Ferrari, popped Gales, jarring the ball loose and the other linebacker, Pete Burgard, jumped on it in the end zone for the game’s first TD. Bass’ extra point kick made it 10-0.

A few plays later, Gales got the Hawks in trouble again. Throwing into tight man-to-man coverage, he was intercepted by Charles Armstead at the Illinois 19-yard line.

On the sixth play of the ensuing drive, Eason finally found success with the deep pass. Junior Oliver Williams outran Iowa’s Lou King and Bobby Stoops, and Eason threw a perfect strike for a 56-yard scoring play.

“They faked the reverse and then threw the ball over us,” lamented Fry. “That’s the first time that’s happened to us all year.”

The Hawks, with Bohannon replacing Gales at quarterback, began to reverse the momentum late in the quarter. They took possession with little more than two minutes left before halftime and maneuvered 96 yards in nine plays, using just 1:07 on the clock. Bohannon threw 12 yards to Brown for the touchdown and Tom Nichol’s conversion kick made it 17-7.

“At the end of the first half there, it looked like we’d really found ourselves,” said Fry. “Then we got down there again in the second half and couldn’t get the ball in the end zone.”

The third quarter turned out to be little more than a succession of mistakes with the final mistake of the period — a Bohannon interception — being the one that hurt the Hawks most.

The senior quarterback appeared to have speedster Charlie Jones wide open down the middle but Bohannon’s throw was nowhere close to Jones. It was, however, close to Illinois’ Dennis Bishop, who intercepted and raced to the six-yard line before being pushed out of bounds.

Moments later, on the first play of the fourth quarter, Eason launched a four-yard scoring pass to Williams and Bass’ PAT made it 24-7.

The Hawks, not ready to fold, marched right back, holding the ball for the next 7 1/2 minutes, thanks to a drive sustaining 15-yard penalty on Illinois. But the march ended at the Illinois eight as Gales dropped back, was blindsided by blitzing cornerback Rick George and coughed up the ball. Mark Butkus recovered for Illinois.

Gales, who had re-entered the game when Bohannon was knocked woozy, also punctuated the Hawks’ final gasp with 1:52 to go as he again was blindsided, again fumbled and the Illini again recovered.

Gales said he didn’t see the tackler coming on any of the three plays in which he fumbled.

“On the first occasion (Burgard’s TD), there was a mix-up in our blocking scheme,” he explained. “On the second one they were in a stunt which we did not pick up.”

The Hawks will take another shot at a winning season next Saturday when they host Purdue, a team they have not beaten since 1960.

“We aren’t gonna fold our tent,” said Brown, who caught seven passes for 80 yards. “We aren’t gonna give in. We’ve got a good team here — one of the best Iowa teams anybody’s ever seen. We’ve just gotta bounce back.”

MADISON, WIS. –

Now it’s the Big Three and the Little Seven.

For lo these many years, the Big Ten championship has boiled down to the season finale between Michigan and Ohio State.

Now along comes Iowa.

The Hawkeyes, who only a week ago snapped an ugly string of 20 consecutive non-winning seasons, knocked off conference co-leader Wisconsin, 17-7, Saturday before an ABC-TV regional audience and 78,731 fans in Camp Randall Stadium.

Consequently, the Big Ten race boils down to three teams: Michigan at 6-2, and Iowa and Ohio State at 5-2. In the regular-season finals Saturday, Iowa hosts Michigan State and Michigan entertains Ohio State.

Michigan can wrap up the outright title by defeating Ohio State. But if Iowa tops Michigan State and Ohio State defeats Michigan, the Hawks will be Rose Bowl-bound.

With a 7-3 overall record, though, Iowa already appears to have assured itself of a place in the sun for bowling season. Saturday’s game was seen by seven bowl representatives: Sun, Fiesta, Peach, Liberty, Tangerine, Holiday and Garden State.

Iowa Coach Hayden Fry was mobbed by about 50 newsmen after the game but mostly downplayed the possible ramifications of the win.

“This was a tremendous win for the Hawkeyes,” he said. “But at Iowa, any team you beat is a great victory. Let’s just say this one got the attention of some folks around the country who play football later in the season.”

Fry, who on occasion has scolded the media for premature bowl talk, was asked if it might now be appropriate to mention postseason games.

“No, no,” he said. “Now you guys know we have another game left. I’m still trying to educate our guys (in the media) back home about that stuff.”

In this craziest of seasons in college football, Wisconsin’s loss marked the seventh straight week the Big Ten leader or co-leader had been defeated. Considering the circumstances and the stakes, the Hawkeye triumph ranked right up there with previous victories over Nebraska, UCLA, Michigan and Purdue.

Ironically, in each of those five wins (including Saturday’s), the Iowa defense surrendered just seven points. And it was just as important this time that the Hawkeye defenders rose to the occasion.

On the strength of a Tom Nichol field goal and a pair of Phil Blatcher touchdowns, Iowa stormed to a 17-0 lead with 7:26 left in the first half.

At that point, the Hawkeyes had outgained Wisconsin 182-14 in total yards and allowed the Badgers but one first down. Iowa finished the half with a huge advantage in total yards, 206-29.

The tables turned in the second half, but it wasn’t reflected on the scoreboard. Wisconsin outgained Iowa in the final two periods, 212-27, as the Hawks failed to make a first down.

But the important statistic was that Wisconsin scored only once, on Jess Cole’s 52-yard pass to Thad McFadden with 2:28 remaining.

Wisconsin, 6-4 overall and 5-3 in the Big Ten, was forced to the air in the second half and 181 of its second-half yardage were by the pass. The Badgers, second behind Michigan in Big Ten rushing yards, were limited to 43 yards rushing on 36 attempts by an Iowa defense that is No. 9 in the nation in rushing defense and No. 11 in total defense.

“In every big game this year, our defense has only given up seven points,” Fry said. “You know, our defense just may be one of the better ones in the country.

“It wasn’t pretty in the second half, but we were playing to win. Perhaps we got a little conservative. But we just wanted to win, we didn’t care if we looked good doing it.”

It was far from a pretty game for two clubs chasing the conference title. There were a total of eight turnovers, five by Wisconsin, and Iowa was whistled for a season-high 14 penalties totaling 101 yards.

Five of the turnovers came in the first quarter alone, but Iowa came away with the upper hand.

After Wisconsin failed to capitalize on a Kyle Borland interception at the Badger 44, Iowa sustained its best drive of the day. The Hawkeyes moved 53 yards in 10 plays before Nichol kicked a 35-yard field goal with 6:48 left in the first quarter.

“If we could just get a field goal, I knew it would help quiet the crowd just like we did against Michigan,” Fry said. “That’s what we wanted and that’s what happened.”

The Hawks utilized the shotgun on 16 of their 57 plays, and several came in the first scoring drive. Quarterback Gordy Bohannon completed five-of-six passes during the series for 40 of the 53 yards.

Then the two clubs traded turnovers for the next four minutes. Wisconsin’s Dave Levenick intercepted Bohannon’s pass at the Iowa 47, the Hawks’ Jim Frazier picked off a Cole pass three plays later, Levenick scooped up a Blatcher fumble two plays later, then Iowa’s Bobby Stoops stripped Chucky Davis of the ball and recovered.

Stoops’ play set the stage for Iowa’s first touchdown. On the first snap of the second quarter, Bohannon hit Dave Moritz with a 57-yard pass play to the Badger three. Two plays later, Blatcher dove over right guard and Nichol kicked the extra point to put Iowa in front 10-0 with 13:50 left in the half.

At the 10:47 mark, Iowa defensive end Brad Webb stripped Marvin Neal of the ball at the Wisconsin 31 and nose guard Pat Dean recovered.

Two Bohannon passes to Ivory Webb, sandwiched around a Wisconsin offside penalty, netted 17 yards. Eddie Phillips ran for six yards on the next three plays. Blatcher, Iowa’s top rusher with 49 yards, then scored on third down from the two with 7:26 left in the half.

Meanwhile, Wisconsin had trouble establishing an offense and Iowa’s defense and kicking game made the Badger plight seem all the worse. Reggie Roby, the nation’s leading punter, averaged 53.7 yards on seven kicks and one of Nichol’s two punts went out of bounds inside the Badger 15.

Wisconsin’s offense finally got untracked late in the third quarter. The Badgers held the ball for three minutes, earned four first downs and moved to the Iowa 23 but failed to score. On third-and-10 at the 23, Lou King and Andre Tippett combined to throw Chucky Davis for a 19-yard loss.

Midway through the fourth period, Wisconsin made its most serious threat. Cole completed four passes — including an 18-yard screen to Dave Mohapp and 22-yarder to tight end Jeff Nault — that gave the Badgers a first down just outside the Iowa 10.

But the Iowa defense was unbreakable. Mark Bortz sacked Cole for a five-yard loss on first down and Iowa linebacker Mel Cole knocked down a pass by his namesake on second.

After an offside penalty on Iowa, Hawkeye linebacker James Erb made a brilliant deflection on a third-down pass to Craig Fredrick. On fourth down, Cole tried to hit Nault in the end zone, but Bobby Stoops jarred the ball loose.

With Iowa unable to move, Roby uncorked a 63-yard punt and Wisconsin took possession at its 34. The Badgers gained a first down when the Hawkeyes were guilty of pass interference, then McFadden got loose from Lou King and hauled in the 52-yard touchdown pass.

Wisconsin entered with three of the Big Ten’s top 10 rushers. But John Williams (4th in the league) gained just five yards on six carries, Davis (6th) had 14 in 8 and Mohapp (10th) was the Badgers’ top rusher with 25 on seven tries.

IOWA CITY –

Same old stuff in the Big Ten. Still the Big Two and the Little Eight.

Michigan and Ohio State?

Don’t be silly. Wisconsin and Iowa lead the Big Ten with respective records of 3-0 and 2-0, only unbeaten marks in the conference.

While amazing Wisconsin added Ohio State to its humiliation list 24-21 Saturday, Iowa was entertaining 60,000 homecomers with a 42-28 victory over impudent Indiana in Kinnick Stadium.

The Big Two hit the road next week, and Iowa should find out if it really belongs in that category. The Hawks invade Michigan, while Wisconsin has an easier task at Michigan State.

Saturday’s game was entertaining?

“It must have been entertaining for the fans,” sighed Coach Hayden Fry, “but that kind of game is a nightmare for the coaches.”

Especially for the defensive coaches. The two teams rolled up 813 yards in total offense, with the humble Hoosiers (1-4 record) actually outgaining their hosts, who had led the Big Ten in all four defensive categories last week and ranked second nationally in total defense and pass defense.

Pass defense?

You’d never have guessed that, as a well-traveled quarterback named Babe Laufenberg and a Saturday-afternoon special named Duane Gunn drilled the Hawks with two long aerial touchdown strikes and helped roll up 327 yards in the air.

Iowa had earned its No. 15 ranking nationally mostly with an immovable defense, but this time the offense bailed out the defense by answering Indiana’s lightning with some electricity of its own.

Although Fry insisted he never felt secure until the final minute or two, the Hawks may have clinched it with a three-touchdown blitz in a four minute and 20-second stretch of the second quarter after Indiana had rallied to a 14-14 tie.

That started off with “Stormin’ Norman” Granger’s 99-yard kickoff return in which he broke a tackle, cut expertly behind a screen block near midfield and outran the last two Hoosiers. The stadium clock said it took him 16 seconds.

“How many fullbacks have you seen who can outrun everybody like that?” chuckled Fry.

Then, after Tracy Crocker recovered an Indiana fumble on the 24, Gordie Bohannon hurled a 21-yard strike right down the middle to Mike Hufford, the Mount Vernon junior tight end for the first of his two touchdowns.

The Hawks were on a roll, and this time the defense helped again. Safety Jim Frazier came flying through the air just as Hoosier tight end Bob Stephenson was about to pocket a high pass from Laufenberg. Frazier picked his pocket perfectly and legged it back 47 yards to the Indiana 13.

Again Bohannon flicked a picture-book pass to Hufford, who made a rolling catch in the end zone that popped open a cut near his left elbow. Touchdown? Nope. The officials said Iowa fullback Jeff Forte had moved too soon.

But four plays later Phil Blatcher high-dived over right guard for the touchdown. When freshman Tom Nichol kicked the point (he was six-for-six), Iowa had a 35-14 halftime lead.

“That flurry — the kickoff return, the fumble and the pass interception — put us out of the game,” admitted Lee Corso, Indiana’s colorful coach who may get a bill from Iowa for wearing out the SuperTurf with his endless pacing in front of the bench.

“But our guys showed us something. They didn’t quit. They hung in there. I was proud of our players today.”

Indiana may have had the fastest Gunn in the East, but the Hawkeyes came up with a zip-gun of their own, a secret weapon who scored on the team’s longest scrimmage play of the season.

Ever hear of a Hawkeye football player named Charles Jones?

Don’t worry. You’re not the only one. Charles Jones is — or was — an Iowa trackman. Last spring he finished a four-year career on Coach Ted Wheeler’s track team and figured his college athletic career was over.

But Fry talked him into coming out for football this fall.

“We have a surprise every game,” smiled the Iowa coach. “This week it was Charlie Jones. That was his first football play. We had worked all week with him, and we hoped he was ready.”

The Hawks had the ball on the Iowa 49, the score tied 7-7 with a minute left in the first quarter. Jones, who has run a 10.4 hundred, came in at tight end, and the pass pattern developed perfectly as he delayed momentarily, then was all alone on the right side.

Bohannon fed him the ball expertly; Jones clutched it tightly and sped 51 yards untouched.

“Corso will die when he sees the game films,” chortled Fry. “That’s the same play he beat us with two years ago (in the final minute, 30-26). He said he got the play from Notre Dame. I didn’t. I got it from a junior high school.”

The game was billed as the Irresistible Force vs. the Immovable Object, and the Force won the first round. Indiana zipped 84 yards in four plays after receiving the kickoff. Laufenberg hurled an amazing pass to Gunn, who got behind Lou King and took it in perfect stride for a 58-yard scoring play.

The Iowa homecomers were shocked, but the Hawks remained calm. They marched 82 yards in 11 rushing plays to tie the game on Granger’s second-effort surge on fourth down for the final two yards.

After the Hawks moved ahead 14-7 on the Bohannon-Jones exotic, the Hoosiers knotted the score again with an 80-yard drive with tailback John Roggerman driving the final yard.

In the previous drive, Indiana pulled an exotic of its own, with Chuck Razmic faking a fourth-down punt and passing to Chris Sigler for a first down.

The second half couldn’t match the first for offensive pyrotechnics. However, Indiana had another long strike left. Laufenberg, just before being flattened by an Iowa defender, hurled a long pass that Gunn caught after Crocker missed his interception try. Nobody could keep up with Gunn as he completed the 71-yard scoring play. Mike Greenstein kicked all four Hoosier points.

That sent Iowa’s offense into counterattack action. Bohannon passed 33 yards to Jeff Brown, scrambled for a gain of three, hit Brown again for a 30-yard pickup and then completed an 11-yard scoring pass to Hufford.

The Hawks had other changes to score. Indeed, they scored another touchdown that was negated by a penalty: Bohannon’s 11-yard scramble to the end zone, and that made four TDs erased by infractions in the last two games. Nichol also was short and to the right with a 42-yard field goal effort.

Then Indiana made the game’s final touchdown with 3:08 to go. Laufenberg, who survived more tackles than some quarterbacks take in a season, led the Hoosiers on that drive, which ended on Tim Hines’ two-yard run.

Reggie Roby lost four-tenths of a yard on his national-leading punt average. He booted four times for an average of 52.8, but that dropped his season average from 54.5 to 54.1. His longest was a 64-yard boomer Saturday.

Eddie Phillips didn’t ever reach the end zone, but he did give the Hawks a 101-yard rushing game on 19 carries. Hines was Indiana’s best with 57 yards in 13 tries.

Bohannon hit 8 of 14 passes with one interception for 185 yards. The strong-armed Laufenberg, tops in the Big Ten, completed 17 of 35 with four stolen for 297 yards. Gunn caught six of ‘em for 197 yards.

Iowa’s defensive unit may have been unusually generous, but the Hawks had their heroes. Lou King intercepted two times, Frazier and James Erb once each. Both times King tried to lateral to Frazier. The first time he made the mistake of flipping it forward. That’s a no-no. But the second time Frazier sprinted 28 yards before being downed.

Iowa’s Todd Simonsen was ejected for fighting, but the other starting linebacker, Mel Cole, led the Hawks in tackles with 7 solos and 5 assists. Indiana’s top defender was linebacker Craig Walls. He made the lone interception and had 16 tackles (including 6 assists).

ANN ARBOR, MICH. –

It’s back to the Big Two in the Big Ten.

Just when it looked as if Iowa was going to make the league picture a three-horse race, the Hawkeyes’ chances were fumbled away and virtually kicked out the window.

Owen Gill’s fumble at the Michigan 29-yard line with 1:30 remaining and Bob Bergeron’s line-drive, 45-yard field goal with eight seconds left rescued 10th-rated Michigan, 16-13, in a nationally televised football clash Saturday.

“We’ve been winning those close ones at Iowa — six last year (by a touchdown or less),” a crestfallen Coach Hayden Fry said. “Now, I guess they finally caught up with us.”

Replace Ohio State with Illinois and you have the new Big Two. Michigan’s victory set up a showdown Saturday with the Illini at Champaign. The two teams are tied for the Big Ten lead with 5-0 records, while Iowa, Ohio State and Wisconsin share third place at 3-2.

The crowd of 104,559 soggy fans in Michigan Stadium looked as gloomy as the weather in the final two minutes, as 12th-rated Iowa drove to what looked to be at least a winning field goal position.

Keith Hunter’s interception at the Iowa 49 with 4:33 remaining put the Hawks in prime field position to pull out a victory. Four plays later, Chuck Long’s underthrown pass was caught by Dave Moritz for 13 yards to the Michigan 31.

Tom Nichol, whose three field goals beat Michigan 9-7 here two years ago, had kicked a school-record 56-yard field goal in the first half and a 27-yarder in the fourth quarter. With ball possession and time on its side, Iowa appeared to have at least a tie salted away.

But on second-and-12 from the 33, Gill ran off right guard, was jarred by linebacker Carlton Rose and fumbled the ball away to Michigan’s Rodney Lyles.

“We’re going in for the winning field goal… I never dreamed we would lose the football,” Fry said softly, eyes downcast.

Gill deserved a better fate, as he led a decent Iowa running game against the nation’s No. 2 defense with 120 yards on 20 carries. Michigan outgained Iowa in total yards, 317-261, and 246-167 rushing.

“I’ve never been more disappointed,” Gill said. “The guy got a helmet right on the ball and jarred it loose. I was just hoping the defense could stop them after that.”

Michigan moved 43 yards in seven plays to the Iowa 28. The backbreaker for the Hawks was a screen pass from quarterback Steve Smith to tailback Rick Rogers with 23 seconds left.

Rogers, who rushed for 125 yards on 26 carries, picked up some blockers on the left side, cut across the grain and sped 24 yards. After an incomplete pass, Rogers ran seven yards on a draw play to set up the winning field goal.

“The other team was just eight seconds better,” Fry said. “You certainly have to give Michigan credit for moving the ball down into position for the field goal.

“Not too often is a coach proud in defeat, but I don’t believe I’ve ever been prouder than I was today. I really feel bad because our guys showed a lot of character and fight in the second half. They played with as much heart as any team I’ve been associated with.”

Bergeron, a walk-on senior from Fort Wayne, Ind., who missed a 53-yarder in the first half, lined up on the right hash mark. His kick into the drizzle was anything but classic, but it worked.

“I really wasn’t feeling anything at all, I was just concentrating on making the kick,” Bergeron said. “I consider myself good under pressure. I like pressure, as a matter of fact. I’ve been dreaming about this moment since I came here.”

Iowa trailed 6-3 at halftime, but rallied to tie the game early in the fourth quarter. The Hawkeyes scored 10 points in a span of 3:17 of the second half with the help of a fake field goal.

Iowa’s defense was on the field a long time in the first half, but allowed Michigan only two field goals. Bergeron connected from 37 yards after an 11-yard Nichol punt in the first quarter, and from 20 yards with 10:05 left in the half.

Paul Hufford, elected one of the game’s tri-captains, sat out last week with an injury but joined linebackers Erric Hedgeman and Larry Station and backs Mike Stoops and Devon Mitchell in an inspired defensive effort.

After 20 minutes, Michigan had outgained Iowa, 129-43. But on the Hawkeyes’ fourth possession, Fry went to the pass. Iowa advanced only 13 yards, but the series loosened up Michigan’s defense.

Don Bracken punted 53 yards to the Iowa 12, giving the Hawkeyes possession with 4:39 left in the half. Long’s passes of 19 yards to Dave Moritz and nine yards to Bill Broghamer, and runs of 15 and 14 yards by Gill, set up Nichol’s field goal.

The 56-yarder with 43 seconds left in the half broke Dave Holsclaw’s school record of 51 yards in 1977 against Michigan State.

Moritz caught a 22-yard pass from Long on third-and-21 on the third play of the second half. But two plays later, Mike Mallory intercepted Long’s pass to Ronnie Harmon at the Michigan 44.

Nine plays later, Rogers took a pitch around the right side, juked at Hunter at the corner and rolled four yards into the end zone. Bergeron’s kick gave Michigan a 13-3 lead with 5:56 left in the third.

Iowa responded with a 14-play, six minute drive after Robert Smith’s 28-yard kickoff return.

On fourth-and-goal from the Michigan three, Tom Grogan lined up to hold for a Nichol field goal. But he pulled away, rolled right and hit Lon Olejniczak in the back corner of the end zone for a touchdown. Nichol’s kick cut the lead to 13-10 with 14:48 left.

Iowa was in business again moments later, as Gerald White fumbled the kickoff and Iowa’s Joe Schuster recovered at the Michigan 19.

Long passed eight yards to Moritz and Norm Granger raced another eight to the Wolverine four. Gill swept left end to the two, but a holding penalty pushed Iowa back to the 12. Long was sacked back to the 16 on second down and the Hawkeyes eventually settled for Nichol’s 27-yard field goal with 11:31 remaining.

This was Long’s least productive game since a 61-yard passing performance last year against Minnesota. Long, who entered as the No. 2 passer nationally, completed 9-of-18 passes for 91 yards and was intercepted twice.

Moritz, however, was brilliant. He caught four passes for 61 yards, most of them in heavy traffic. Fullback Norm Granger complimented Gill’s running with 10 carries for 67 yards, all but seven in the second half.

Afterward, some of the dozen bowl scouts visited Fry in the cramped dressing room. If Iowa can rebound from the loss, beginning with Saturday’s home game against Indiana, the scouts may stick around.

IOWA CITY –

Hey, Hayden, maybe it’s time for other schools to lighten their football schedules by dropping Iowa.

Especially those coming to Kinnick Stadium while rated sixth or seventh in the nation.

It was UCLA’s turn to land in the Fry pan here Saturday, and a capacity crowd of 60,004 delirious fans whooped it up for a brutal Hawkeye defense that held the vaunted, versatile Bruins to 35 yards rushing — four in the second half — and scored a resounding 20-7 upset.

At least the rambunctious students waited until the game was over this time. Then they spilled onto the field, bent both goal posts to the ground and helped Iowa players carry Fry on their shoulders.

“We were completely dominated in every phase of the game by Iowa today,” said Terry Donahue, UCLA coach. “I don’t remember ever in my coaching career being as ineffective with the running game as today.

“When we ran up the middle they stacked us up. When we tried to go outside they ran us down. And when we went back to pass they sacked us.”

Wow! Seven sacks for 19 yards.

The Iowa offense wasn’t bad, either. With Gordie Bohannon filling in admirably after starting quarterback Pete Gales suffered a hand injury, the Hawks outgained the ruined Bruins 336 to 121 in total offense.

“I’ve never been happier in my life,” exulted Coach Hayden Fry, “and not just because this was my 100th coaching victory. How sweet it is!

“We were so embarrassed last week with our play at Iowa State, but our coaches and players put it all back together today. I never dreamed we could shut them down that much. The defense was just superb. I think we’d have shut them down if we hadn’t given them the ball on our 20-yard line with that fumble.

“This was bigger than Nebraska. This was No. 100 for old John Hayden, and the team gave me the game ball.”

There were some notes of sadness in the sweet symphony of success. Lon Olejniczak, outstanding wide receiver, punter and placekicker from Decorah, suffered a broken leg and will miss the rest of the season.

Fry said he hoped the Big Ten would grant Oleo, a junior, an extra season of eligibility to replace this one.

He said several other Hawks were injured — Gales and running back Eddie Phillips most notable — but refused to speculate on whether they would be ready when the Hawks open the Big Ten season at Northwestern next Saturday.

Iowa displayed a freshman who seemed admirably qualified to take over Olejniczak’s share of the kicking. Indeed, Tom Nichol of Green Bay, Wis., won the hearts of the home fans with the way he used his soccer style to boot two field goals in three tries, convert an extra point and kick off with at least one amazing result.

The Hawks also got a marvelous performance out of a bench-warming halfback. Phil Blatcher, often-injured senior who had gained only 34 yards in 13 carries previously this season, spurted for 113 yards in 26 trips Saturday after Phillips was hurt midway in the first quarter.

Gales got Iowa’s first touchdown on a 16-yard sprint off the option play. UCLA matched that on quarterback Tom Ramsey’s one-yard sneak with 10:47 left in the half.

The Hawks’ second touchdown was, appropriately enough, achieved by the defense alone. Dave “Fat Daddy” Browne, junior-college transfer who took over for ailing Jim Pekar at defensive right tackle, knocked the ball loose from Ramsey and Mark Bortz recovered for his second touchdown in two years.

That score was merely a bonus for the defense, as Nichol provided all the margin needed on a 35-yard field goal with 9:48 left in the third quarter, and a 43-yarder with 6:24 remaining in the fourth period.

“That Tom Nichol is phenomenal!” chuckled Fry. “He never gives up. After he missed that first field goal (a 50-yarder just before the half) by inches from way out in the pea patch, he told me he’d get the next one for sure.

“Then he pulled that strange kickoff. We weren’t trying to onside-kick, but Nichol hooked it low, and it hit a big UCLA lineman with our guys (Zane Corbin) recovering.”

Pat Dean, big senior nose guard, was the stickout on a bristling defense that overran the Bruins like a rolling ball of butcher knives. He had 10 solo tackles and two assists. Three of his stops were for seven yards in losses.

Browne had two sacks for a minus five yards, and Bryan Skradis and Andre Tippett also had a sack each.

Iowa’s passing produced only 57 yards. Gales hit three of six passes for 28 yards, and Bo four of 11 for 29 yards. Iowa still hasn’t passed for a touchdown this year.

But both Gales and Bo startled the UCLA defense with their running. Gales wound up with 28 yards on two scampers, and Bo was the No. 2 rusher with 72 yards in 13 tries. He had Iowa’s longest rush of the day, a 25-yarder that set up Nichols’ last field goal.

Reggie Roby added five-hundredths of a yard to his nation-leading punting average. He had averaged 54.09 in his first two games, and he boosted that to 54.14 Saturday. He had boots of 54, 45 and 64 yards. On another one he kicked out of bounds for 53 yards, but it was negated when UCLA was penalized for roughing him after he barely got the kick away.

The Hawkeye defense also came up with three pass interceptions. Bobby Stoops, Jim Erb and Lou King made the thefts.

IOWA CITY –

As Hayden Fry said, with his best rebel yell, WAAAAA-HOOOOOO!

Was it Iowa’s merciless defense or a newly revitalized Hawkeye offense that beat Purdue 33-7 Saturday an brought a slew of negative streaks and jinxes to a crashing end?

Hah! Don’t ask Purdue.

When you’re being cut up by a buzz saw, you don’t know which tooth hurt you the most.

Another howling, overflow crowd of 60,114 did’t much care, either, because the Iowa fans saluted both platoons equally as the Hawks clawed their way back into the Big Ten title picture and got more monkeys off their backs than seemed possible, such as:

l The Big Ten’s longest losing football streak of one school to another was halted at 20. Iowa hadn’t beaten Purdue since 1960.

l The nation’s longest string of non-winning football seasons was snubbed at 19. The Hawks, certain to finish no worse than 6-5 now, hadn’t finished above .500 since 1961, and now Rice holds the unpleasant honor with 17 straight non-winning campaigns.

l Iowa stopped a two-game losing streak, put its season record at 6-3, and is tied for third in the Big Ten with Ohio State at 4-2, both just a half-game behind Michigan and Wisconsin, which stand 5-2.

l It was the opening day of Iowa’s hunting season, so Fry appropriately equipped his Hawks with a new shotgun — a shotgun offense in which quarterback Gordie Bohannon dropped back six yards and took a direct snap from center.

Did it work? Waaa-hooo!

That ended the Hawks’ fourth drought. They had scored only two touchdowns in the last 13 quarters, but this time the new offense, plus determination by the offensive players, scored three touchdowns and two field goals, gladly allowing the defense the thrill of converting a blocked punt into the fourth TD of the day.

When the almost perfect football afternoon drew to a close — and both of the Kinnick Stadium goal posts miraculously went undamaged — news media members were surprised to hear Fry declare:

“That’s the greatest victory I’ve ever been associated with!”

What’s that, coach? Didn’t you say the same thing about Iowa’s previous victories this year over three teams — Nebraska, UCLA and Michigan — each ranked sixth nationally at the time?

“Yes, but at least we’ve got that streak of losing seasons off our back,” Fry continued. “Twenty years! That’s a long time.”

The Hawkeye coach came into the interview room wearing a plastic eyeshade that had four blinking red lights around its crown.

“Waaaaa-Hoooooo!” he exhaled. “Twenty cotton-pickin’ years, and we finally did it. We had a great opportunity to fold our tent for the season after last week, and we didn’t do it.”

Fry apologized for keeping the press waiting for an extra five minutes or so.

“We had a little celebration upstairs with a cake… I’m so happy I canceled our Sunday morning workout. That tickled the guys so much they’re probably dancin’ the hokey-pokey again.”

Fry and the Hawks had reason to celebrate. They had just limited Purdue, which had scored 33 points last week in a 45-33 loss to Ohio State, to seven points, and those came with 3:58 to go against Iowa reserves.

Purdue came in with the nation’s leading passer, Scott Campbell, and the nation’s top receiver, Steve Bryant. The Boilers didn’t penetrate Iowa’s 49-yard line until after the score was 23-0 midway in the second quarter.

Campbell did complete 21 of 41 passes, but the Hawks intercepted two, and they held the vaunted Bryant to a single reception, and that for only nine yards!

Asked if Iowa kept Bryant under control by putting two men on him, Purdue coach Jim Young replied, “No, they just played basic coverage and did a good job of defensing him, plus they put on a good pass rush, too.”

Young also told Fry something when they met for their postgame midfield handshake that delighted the Iowa coach.

“Coach Young was very complimentary and generous,” Fry said. “He said he had been coaching a long time, and he couldn’t believe we shut down his team like that. Then, as he was turning away, he asked me, ‘Where did you get that offense?’ I had to tell him, ‘Off the Purdue game films.’”

It’s true Purdue has had great success with the shotgun offense, but Fry noted it actually was started by Coach Ray Morrison of SMU “about 56 years ago when he used it against Knute Rockne of Notre Dame.”

The Hawks turned loose the shotgun as soon as Stormin’ Norman Granger had returned the opening kickoff 24 yards to the Iowa 30.

The touchdown deluge didn’t start then, however. Instead, Iowa ran into fourth down at the Purdue 25, so freshman Tom Nichol came in and booted a 42-yard field goal with less than two minutes gone.

But Purdue ran into an aroused Iowa defense at midfield and had to punt. The Boilers’ freshman punter, Matt Kinzer, shanked one 14 yards and the Hawkeye offense couldn’t wait to go again.

Bohannon hit Jeff Brown with a 26-yard pass, and Phil Blatcher rambled 21 yards to the Purdue 21. On third-and-goal, Dave Moritz caught Bo’s pass a yard short of the goal, then fumbled when tackled but recovered it.

Did the Hawks think about another field goal? Don’t be silly. They merely sent Blatcher flying over left guard for the touchdown.

Less than seven minutes of playing time later the Hawks got another. Big one in this drive was Bo’s 33-yard pass — off the shotgun, naturally — to Blatcher. With first down on the 12, Bohannon recoiled a bit off the shotgun, as if to pass, then dashed through the scattered defenders for his first touchdown of the season.

That made the score 17-0 with 1:48 to go in the first quarter, as Nichol converted both extra points.

Purdue still could make no headway offensively, so Kinzer went back to punt with the scrimmage line on Purdue’s 35. The snap from center was juggled momentarily, and linebacker Jim Erb beat several Hawkeye teammates to the meeting place. Erby blocked the kick, and senior Tracy Crocker won the honor of cuddling the ball in the end zone for his first Iowa score.

This time Nichol’s kick was wide, but the crowd was becoming convinced one point wouldn’t matter now.

The defense didn’t let up, however. When the Boilers finally pushed into Iowa territory and reached the 8-yard line, the Hawks dug in and held for downs. Indeed, Packy Webb added insult to injury by sacking Campbell for a 13-yard loss on fourth down.

Reggie Roby got off a 53-yard punt, an omen of things to come. Purdue coughed up the ball on Todd Simonsen’s interception and nine-yard return to the Purdue 23.

Bohannon pulled the quarterback draw for 16 yards, then called timeout with 10 seconds remaining. He huddled with Fry and the strategy board, and everyone — Purdue included — was sure the Hawks would try something new.

Back went Bo on the shotgun again, and again he shot up the middle, found a couple of blocks, spun away from a tackler and scored on a 7-yarder. Nichol was back in form again, 30-0 at the half.

It won’t take long to tell the story of the second-half scoring. Both teams had chances, but Iowa’s only points came on Nichol’s 48-yard field goal with three minutes gone in the third quarter. That was the longest of his freshman season. Later he missed on a 49-yard try.

Purdue pushed to Iowa’s seven-yard line later in the period, but the Hawks defended perfectly against Campbell’s three straight passes.

Early in the final quarter Purdue reached the Iowa three. But four plays later the Boilers surrendered the ball back at the four.

Third time was the charm for Purdue. Aided by a face mask penalty, the visitors took advantage of green spots among Iowa’s reserves and reached the one-yard line. The Boilers had lost several running backs with injuries, so sub Jeff Feulner lunged over to spoil the shutout. Tim C
lark converted on his 17th extra point kick of the season.

Lou King got his fifth interception of the season just before the half, and Webb, Crocker and Mel Cole led in tackles with eight each (counting solos and assists). Andre Tippett had two sacks for 12 yards, and Webb, Jim Pekar, Mark Bortz, Bryan Skradis and Straun Joseph each had one sack.

EVANSTON, ILL. –

Give Hayden Fry a break. If he could, he swears he would have prevented his Iowa football team’s 64-0 blitzkrieg of Northwestern from taking place Saturday afternoon.

But in the end, there was no way — excuse us — ol’ Hayden could “put his finger in the Dyche.”

On this day, at least, there was no danger of a “flat” Iowa performance. On this day, everything the Hawkeyes did turned to gold.

About the only thing flat now is Dyche Stadium, which Iowa leveled en route to its largest Big Ten shutout victory ever, and its best season start (3-1) since 1964. Northwestern, meanwhile, suffered its 24th consecutive defeat, and fourth straight this season.

To make matters worse for Northwestern Coach Denny Green, a former Hawkeye tailback, his team hasn’t scored in its last 10 quarters while being routed 134-0.

Iowa totaled 458 yards, while its nationally ranked defense held the Wildcats to 78, including six on the ground.

It was anybody’s guess how the 18th-ranked Hawkeyes would open here, considering its 23-12 road loss at Iowa State two weeks ago. But the guessing ended quickly.

The Hawkeyes blazed away with rapid fire efficiency, scoring a school record 30 points in the first 10 minutes of the opening quarter. And, they didn’t coast. Eight Iowa players crossed the goal line as Fry emptied his bench. Meanwhile, officials rushed to find what records were crashing around them and a crowd of 30,113 (the largest Dyche Stadium crowd since 1976) looked on.

But the lopsided victory left Fry anything but cheerful.

“I have mixed emotions about this game,” he said. “I was happy we won a Big Ten game and real happy we got our reserves a chance to play, but I’m also sad for two reasons.

“First of all, the score was so high and there was no way we could stop our guys after they got momentum. I don’t like games like that, and Northwestern doesn’t need that.

“And secondly, we had 12 new people injured. We’re real crippled up. Dave Oakes, our No. 1 center, is the most serious (high ankle sprain), and he may not be ready next week (at home against Indiana).”

Iowa’s rout resulted in a variety of records:

l The victory was the largest Big Ten victory since it defeated Northwestern 78-6 in 1913, and its biggest shutout margin since it blanked Indiana 56-0 the same year.

l Iowa’s win was the third largest victory ever in Dyche Stadium, and the largest since Ohio State won 63-0 almost a year ago to the day here.

l Freshman placekicker Tom Nichol, who did all of the Hawkeyes’ kicking except for national leader Reggie Roby’s 59-yard punt, tied team records for extra point attempts (9) and points made (8).

It was one of those days. But Northwestern’s Green says he’s seen worse.

“I have been in worse situations than that,” he said, referring to his former assistant’s post at Stanford when the Cardinals led 17-0 and then gave up 28 points in the final half to Southern California.

“We were beat by a fine football team. Iowa was more physical than us, and they are good enough to be in the top four or five in the conference. And, maybe they can crack one, two or three,” he said. “We have to develop the ability here to come back. We got to make everybody realize that the score was 0-0 at the start. And we have a lot of young guys who haven’t learned enough about lifting weights. They were getting beat badly out there.”

The Hawkeyes’ Glenn Buggs set the tempo on the opening kickoff, receiving on his 15-yard line and sprinting 77 yards before kicker Rick Salvino saved a touchdown with a diving tackle at the 18-yard line. From there, Eddie Phillips took over, ramming across the goal three plays later from 12 yards out. On Nichol’s following kickoff, Northwestern’s Jankeith Gatewood took a tremendous hit from Straun Joseph and fumbled into Nichol’s hands at the 43-yard line.

Iowa’s Norm Granger capped a five-play drive with a six-yard run to make it 14-0 two minutes later. The Wildcats finally mounted a short drive, but stalled only to have John Kidd’s punt blocked by Lou King. The ball sailed past the outstretched fingertips of defensive end Brad Webb out of the end zone for a safety. Jot down the score: 16-0.

Iowa came back two minutes later, with 6:39 left in the first period, as Phillips banged ahead around left end for a 16-yard scoring run. The explosion continued, as Wildcat quarterback Mike Kerrigan’s pass was picked off by Iowa defensive end Brad Webb, who trotted 29 yards untouched to score the first touchdown of his Iowa career with 4:43 left.

“I was just in the right place at the right time,” said Webb. “You know the whole day we wanted a shutout. That’s what helps a defense, and develops some pride. We all learned a lesson from Iowa State. And, Coach hoped we would, too.”

Fry substituted freely after that, allowing all but injured No. 1 quarterback Pete Gales to have a hand in the festivities. Gordy Bohannon started for Gales, completing nine of 16 passes for 167 yards and two touchdowns. What made the Iowa staff smile even more was that reserve quarterbacks Tom Grogan and Chuck Long also had ample playing time.

Gales suffered an abdominal muscle pull last week versus UCLA, Fry said, preventing him from running effectively. “We could have used Pet in an emergency situation, but we did the smartest thing in holding him back.”

And, there was a guy Fry calls “Baby Bull — freshman tailback Owen Gill, a burly 210-pounder from Brooklyn, N.Y., who sparkled brightly for the reserves. He rushed for a game-high 86 yards in nine attempts and one touchdown.

“They call me ‘Bull’ because I guess I’m hard to bring down,” said Gill. “Some of my friends kid me about coming to Iowa, but I know better. Things are getting pretty good around here.”

The Hawkeyes finished up its big day with Bohannon firing for a pair of TD’s in the third quarter, a 24-yard strike to Jeff Brown in the corner of the end zone, and a 26-yard pass to Dave Moritz. Nichol missed his only extra point attempt then, but Gill zipped for a 20-yard scoring run with 2:40 left in the quarter to give him another try.

Jot down the score: 50-0.

The Hawkeyes’ Buggs kept the No. 2 offense shining, scoring on a two-yard run with 6:58 left to play, and teammate Jeff Brown ignited a big Iowa turnout with a dazzling 74-yard punt return with 5:46 left.

Fry said later he will petition the Big Ten, asking that tailback J.C. Love-Jordan and fullback Marty Ball be allowed a red-shirt year. Center Oakes, mentioned above, will most likely be replaced by sophomore Joel Hilgenberg against Indiana, as Fry is now left with only one healthy center.

IOWA CITY –

P.T. Barnum didn’t have a thing to do with what went on down here Saturday. But he could have.

Even old P.T. wouldn’t have had enough show rings to handle the goings on of this day. There was a morning exhibition by the basketball team and another by the wrestlers, the sight of two marching bands, the presence of a national television network, an appearance by Gene Kelly, and the honoring of some heroes from yesteryear, the 1958 Iowa Hawkeyes.

Into this circus of celebration stepped the Ohio State Buckeyes, the nation’s third-ranked college football team: Strong, calm, methodical, and intent on proving what Barnum always said, that there’s a sucker born every minute.

Unfortunately, they turned out to be the suckers.

With a record 66,175 fans in attendance and several million more viewing on television, the Iowa Hawkeyes (the 1983 version) bounced back in the second half to defeat Ohio State for the first time in 21 years, 20-14, Saturday at Kinnick Stadium.

The crowning blow was a 73-yard touchdown pass from Chuck Long to Dave Moritz with 4:25 remaining in the game which upped the Iowa lead to 20-7. The Hawkeyes, faced with third down and six yards to go at their own 27-yard line, appeared likely to take the conservative route — run the ball up the middle to get the clock moving, then punt it away.

Instead, Long faked to a back, “suckering” in the defense, and threw long up the left sideline to Moritz, who was a step ahead of cornerback Shaun Gayle. The pass hit him in stride and Moritz, who’s supposed to be slow, zigzagged across the field and somehow outran the speedy Gayle to the goal line.

It was a gamble, to say the least.

“But everything turned out Hawkeye today,” beamed Iowa Coach Hayden Fry.

“This was a great, great victory.”

How great was it? Some observers whispered that it might be the biggest in Iowa football history. Fry stopped just short of that.

“It’s as great as any victory I’ve ever been associated with,” he said. “I won’t say it’s THE biggest, but it certainly is among the biggest in-season victories I’ve had. It’s not every day that you knock off the No. 3 team in the nation.”

For the record, it was the first time since 1962 that Iowa defeated Ohio State, snapping a string of 16 straight losses. It also broke the Buckeyes’ nine-game winning streak, dating back to the middle of last season.

The victory wasn’t quite sealed with Moritz’s TD, however. Ohio State quarterback Mike Tomczak, a clear-cut loser in his personal duel with Long, drove his team back down the field in the next two minutes, firing a four-yard TD pass to Vaughn Broadnax with 2:21 to go.

The extra point kick brought the Buckeyes to within six, 20-14, but Fred Bush covered the ensuing onside kick for Iowa. Long and company managed to run the clock down to :40 before handing it back to Ohio State on downs.

Tomczak threw incomplete twice, then had his next pass caught by Iowa defensive back Devon Mitchell. Mitchell, who had an interception in the final seconds against Penn State a week ago, danced out of bounds with 22 seconds left and everyone wearing black and gold heaved a sigh of relief.

Except for about 200 students who stormed the field and dismantled the north goal post in celebration.

Almost everyone pointed to the Long to Moritz bomb as the big play of the game.

“He (Long) really knocked us out with that long touchdown pass in the fourth quarter,” said Ohio State Coach Earle Bruce.

“They (the Buckeyes) had on what we call double lightning,” said Fry, explaining that that meant everyone but the water boy (and maybe Gayle) would be blitzing.

“It was just a matter of us getting protection for Chuck. Of course, I’m sure they thought we’d run the ball in that situation. I gambled, and it worked.”

Very little worked for the Hawks in the first half, however. They drove down the field to score on a 25-yard field goal by Tommy Nichol the first time they had the ball but after that it was pretty much a Buckeye half.

Ohio State took a 7-3 lead late in the first quarter as tailback Keith Byars ripped off a 46-yard gain, then scored seconds later on a one-yard dive over the top.

Byars rushed for 98 yards in the first half, but suffered a bruised knee late in the second quarter and did not return.

Fry presumably borrowed a whip and chair from one of Barnum’s lion trainers when talking to his Hawkeyes in the locker room at halftime.

They came out snarling in the third quarter. After a short Ohio State punt, they stampeded 50 yards in five plays with tight end Mike Hufford snaring a pass from Long in the end zone on the 16-yard touchdown play.

Hufford had a 16-yard reception earlier in the drive and had a career-high five catches for 74 yards.

The Buckeyes put together a drive of their own after that, moving to the Iowa 28 before running out of downs. Another Hufford, defensive tackle Paul, batted down Tomczak’s pass at the line on fourth down.

Long threw his first interception of the season on the Hawks’ next possession, Garcia Lane picking it off. But Mike Stoops intercepted for Iowa two plays later as Tomczak was harried by the rush of tackle George Little.

A bobbling catch by wingback Ronnie Harmon gained 27 yards a few seconds later, setting up Nichol’s second field goal, a 47-yarder with the wind.

That made it 13-7, which was the score until Long and Moritz hooked up late in the contest.

Long provided most of the Iowa offense, completing 16 of 26 passes for 276 yards. He also was the team’s leading rusher, collecting 35 yards in 13 carries.

The Hawks’ ground attack was silenced by the Ohio State defense as the trio of Owen Gill, Eddie Phillips and Norm Granger managed just 74 yards in 31 attempts.

Ohio State pounded out 212 yards on the ground but Tomczak, the nation’s leading passer entering the game, was the picture of frustration. He completed 13 of 34 for just 125 yards and had three intercepted.

“I’d hate to have to play against our defense,” confessed a sympathetic Long.

Fry admitted that he made use of the fact that Ohio State supporters have often complained they were prevented from going to the Rose Bowl twice because they didn’t play Iowa the last two years. The implication has been that the Buckeyes would have easily beaten the Hawks both years and Fry wielded the insult like a cattle prod.

“They’ve been hollering about not playing us,” smiled Fry. “They can play us every year now.

“I guess we weren’t just playing for this season out there. We were playing for the last two seasons, too.”

The Buckeyes, now 2-1 overall and 0-1 in the Big Ten, host Minnesota next Saturday. Iowa will take its 3-0 and 1-0 marks to Illinois.

The Hawks, ranked seventh in the nation this week, will undoubtedly take an even loftier national ranking to Champaign, too.

“We had some good national coverage today,” said Long. “I think some people are going to start looking for the Hawks now. Hopefully, we opened some eyes out there.”

AMES –

It wasn’t supposed to be that easy.

Sure the Iowa State Cyclones were favored to beat the Iowa Hawkeyes Saturday. But not by much. Opinions varied far and wide as to who would win the state’s most talked-about football fracas, but few thought it would be lopsided. Many might have thought it would be decided by a last-minute touchdown. Just about everybody thought it would be close.

Just about everybody was wrong.

Before it was over, Coach Donnie Duncan’s Cyclones took a game that is always a bit of a happening and turned it into a bit of a rout, rolling past the Hawkeyes 23-12 before a record crowd of 53,922 at Iowa State stadium.

A swarming ISU defense held the Hawkeyes to just 79 yards rushing while quarterback John Quinn, tailback Dwayne Crutchfield and placekicker Alex Giffords provided the offensive heroics.

Quinn completed six of eight passes for 106 yards (most of them coming in crucial situations), Crutchfield carried the ball 36 times for 147 yards, and Giffords connected on three field goals.

Oh, there was a last-minute touchdown — by Iowa. But it proved to be little more than a meaningless consolation prize. The outcome had been determined long before, and a swarm of exuberant ISU students had already dismantled one set of wooden goal posts in celebration.

“I’m thrilled past what I can tell you to be on the winning side in this game,” said a coke-soaked Duncan in his postgame interview. He explained that instead of pouring champagne over one another in celebration of victory, his players were showering one another with coke and in some cases, milk.

“This is the greatest moment of my life,” added Quinn, reflecting the magnitude of the contest. “I feel I played the best game of my life and the game meant everything. I wanted to go out a victor (in the traditional battle over Iowa.”

In another part of the same building, Iowa Coach Hayden Fry was summarizing his feelings.

“I thought Iowa State did a magnificent job, both offensively and defensively,” said Fry, whose team opened the season last week with a startling 10-7 upset of Nebraska. “We didn’t play very well.

“Everything we saw today from the sidelines was a compliment to Iowa State. They had no flaws.”

Well, not many anyway.

The Cyclones, unconvincing 17-13 winners over West Texas State in their opener a week ago, set the tone from the very beginning.

They held Iowa on three downs at the start of the contest and started to move immediately on offense. Crutchfield, who was limited to just 84 yards in ISU’s 10-7 victory over Iowa last season, crashed off tackle behind a splendid block by fullback Jerry Lorenzen and carried the ball 40 yards before being stopped. That was just the first play.

A few plays later, ISU lined up for an apparent 23-yard field goal attempt by Giffords, but Iowa was pulled offside, giving the Cyclones a first down at the four-yard line. Moments later —just 6 1/2 minutes into the game — Quinn carried the ball on a bootleg around right end and scampered eight yards to score. Giffords’ extra point made it 7-0.

“That first drive set the tempo,” said Duncan. “The crowd really rallied behind us as we made the drive.

“The crowd was a very strong and positive influence in this game. They played the game with us.”

The next time the Cyclones got the ball, they produced more points. A 27-yard punt return by Michael Wade gave them possession at their own 49 and a Quinn-to-Lorenzen pass moved them 26 yards closer. They eventually settled for a 48-yard field goal by Giffords, but a little more wind went out of the Hawkeyes’ sails.

The Cyclones upped the count to 17-0 with 6:11 to go in the second quarter as Crutchfield culminated a 72-yard march with a three-yard dash around left end. A roughing the punter penalty against Iowa early in the drive had given the Cyclones a second chance and a 44-yard pass from Quinn to tight end Dan Johnson provided much of the yardage in the drive.

Then the Hawkeyes finally started to move. A 33-yard pass from quarterback Pete Gales to sophomore Dave Moritz, a 13-yard scramble by Gales, and consecutive completions to Eddie Phillips, Mike Hufford and Lon Olejniczak moved the ball to the Iowa State one-yard line with one second to go in the half. Phillips plunged in from there but Olejniczak’s low extra point attempt was blocked by ISU’s Joe Brown, leaving the score at 17-6.

The Cyclones put six more points on the board after halftime on a pair of Giffords field goals — one from 40 yards out with 6:03 to go in the third quarter and one from 34 yards with 11:36 remaining in the game. The latter was set up by a 17-yard Quinn-to-Johnson pass and a 16-yard run by freshman Tommy Davis.

Iowa did manage to mount a few threats in the second half. Gales and Moritz hooked up on a 41-yard completion which put the Hawks in ISU territory but linebacker George Jessen ended that threat by sacking Gales on third down.

Another opportunity came when sophomore Norm Granger returned a kickoff 72 yards to the ISU 25 early in the fourth quarter. That threat died when the Hawks turned the ball over on downs at the 10-yard line.

“I thought we still had a chance after Granger’s kickoff return,” said Fry. “We had other opportunities and didn’t take advantage of them.”

The Hawks finally capitalized in the closing minutes as they marched 71 yards to score with the help of a pair of Cyclone penalties. Phil Blatcher, on his only carry of the afternoon, plunged the final yard for the touchdown with :53 showing on the clock.

The Iowa State fans had torn down the goal posts with 1:55 to go.

Duncan, in pinpointing the reasons for victory, pointed to his team’s emotional state, its defense, and its quarterback.

“I felt John Quinn did an excellent job of quarterbacking our football team,” he said. “He made some excellent decisions at the line of scrimmage. That pass to Dan Johnson (for 44 yards) was just perfect.

“I felt our defense played with great emotion and with a tremendous desire to excel today. The defense just played lights out.”

Middle linebacker Chris Washington, considered one of the Cyclones’ weak links, proved to be anything but Saturday as he was involved in a team-leading 11 tackles. Brown was also a standout, blocking an extra point and accounting for the only turnover of the game with a fourth-quarter interception.

On the other side, defensive end Andre Tippett showed why he’s being touted as a candidate for postseason honors as the Hawkeye defensive end sacked Quinn three times in the first half.

The victory was the second straight for the Cyclones against the Hawkeyes and their third in the last four years. Iowa still leads the overall series, 18-11.

Iowa faces another tough battle next week when it hosts ninth-ranked UCLA, a 31-13 winner over Wisconsin Saturday. Iowa State hosts Kent State, which topped Akron, 17-6.

IOWA CITY –

So you were wondering how Iowa would react after last year’s 57-0 drubbing at Nebraska?

Forget it.

You were apprehensive about the inexperience in Iowa’s offensive unit?

Forget it.

You were wondering how long Iowa’s defense could contain a Cornhusker running game that ranked No. 1 nationally last year?

Forget it.

The Incredible Cornhusker Conquest answered all those questions — and many more — Saturday as Iowa rocked the nation by knocking off seventh-ranked Nebraska, 10-7.

The Hawkeyes, efficient in their offensive game plan and absolutely unbreakable on defense, opened their season by giving 60,160 sun-soaked fans — an all-time record crowd for Kinnick Stadium — a treat they’ll not soon forget.

And you were wondering how a hungry Hawkeye fan reacts when his appetite is satisfied?

Forget it.

For example, it took a group of fans less than 30 seconds to ear down the North goal post when the final seconds had expired. Then they went to escort Coach Hayden Fry and his Conquerors to the tunnel leading to the dressing room.

As could be expected, Fry and some of his players could hardly contain their excitement when they met the media. For example

Fry — “At this minute, this is the greatest victory of my life. I’m getting to be an old man and I don’t want to hurt any of my other teams that pulled off some upsets. But while I’ve been at Iowa, this is far and away the greatest victory.

“If you stay with this game long enough, the worm is bound to turn. Don’t think we didn’t earn this one, either. We did it fair and square, plus we showed a lot of character.”

Running back Eddie Phillips — “I don’t think they (Nebraska) wanted it as much as we did.”

Defensive tackle Mark Bortz — “It’s a dream come true. A lot of people had doubts about our winning, but the coaching staff got us going. Everybody was relaxed and we just put it all together. I think the difference over last year was more mental than physical.”

Quarterback Pete Gales — “This is definitely the biggest thrill of my athletic life. It’s even more thrilling since my sister (Deborah) got married today in New Jersey, so this will be a good present for her.”

Iowa fans probably haven’t had cause to celebrate the defeat of a major power since a 7-6 triumph at Penn State in 1976, or maybe the 21-10 home-field whipping of UCLA in 1974.

Even so, Fry said he already “is scared to death” from thinking about next week’s game at Ames against Iowa State, which opened with a 17-13 win over West Texas State.

“I’m happy as hell, but keep in mind this is just one game,” said Fry, who will be seeking his 100th career victory Saturday.

“We’ve got to make sure and keep our heads screwed on tight. We can’t be high school Harrys and start rejoicing. We can’t be too high, but we’re damn sure not going to be low.”

Nebraska Coach Tom Osborne was gracious in his praise for Iowa, which held the Cornhuskers to their lowest scoring total since a 20-3 opening game loss to Alabama in 1978. Nebraska has been shut out just once in Osborne’s eight-year reign — 27-0 to Oklahoma in 1973.

“This is one of the hardest losses for us since I’ve been here,” said Osborne, who has a 75-21-2 record at Nebraska. “They outplayed us and out-coached us. Any time we lose a game it is my fault. If our players aren’t good enough, then I should have done a better job recruiting.

“If our players don’t perform well, then we should have done a better job of preparing them. I think we have better players overall than Iowa does… I think.”

This was a Nebraska team that averaged 378 yards rushing and 506 yards in total offense last year. Yet the swarming Iowa defenders allowed the Cornhuskers just 150 yards on the ground and 231 total, in addition to keeping them out of the end zone for the first 48 minutes.

And when was the last time a Nebraska team was outgained on the ground?

The Cornhuskers, who gave away just 88 rushing yards a game last year, yielded 174 to Iowa this time — including 94 by Phillips, sophomore running back from Chicago who also scored the Hawks’ only touchdown.

But the Hawkeye defenders had to leave their helmets strapped right up until the final minute. Indeed, Nebraska was well into Iowa territory on three of its last four possessions, but couldn’t cash in.

With 6:30 remaining, Kevin Seibel missed a potentially game-tying 37-yard field goal wide to the right.

The Huskers advanced to the Iowa 34 with 2:51 left, but Mark Mauer fumbled the snap from center Dave Rimington and Bortz recovered.

Nebraska got another opportunity when Iowa running back Phil Blatcher fumbled on third down at the Iowa 41 and Huserk cornerback Allen Lyday recovered. Iowa stopped the threat at the 39 with 1:25 left, though, on an incomplete pass.

Reggie Roby, who set a one-game punting record for Iowa with five boots for a 55.8 average, pinned Nebraska on a 53-yard kick with 55 seconds left. After Bortz sacked QB Nate Mason on first down, Lou King iced the outcome with an interception with: 39 showing.

Iowa, under the direction of senior quarterback Gales, scored on its first possession when Phillips plunged over the left side from two yards out with 9:16 showing. Lon Olejniczak, who remained perfect in extra points and field goals for his career, kicked the extra point to make it 7-0.

Phillips gained 34 yards in the 7-play 44-yard series. The Hawks had gained possession at the Cornhusker 44 when Lou King stormed in and partially blocked Grant Campbell’s punt.

Nebraska had to be stunned, or at least wondering, at that point. After all, Big Red outscored opponents 111-6 in the first quarter last year.

Iowa challenged moments later when Mel Cole’s tackle forced Roger Craig to fumbled and Bortz recovered at the Nebraska 24. However, Roby’s 42-yard field goal sailed wide to the right.

But Iowa got three more points on the scoreboard the next possession when Olejniczak booted a 35-yard field goal on the first play of the second quarter. Brad Webb’s interception put Iowa in position to score at the Nebraska 43.

Meanwhile, Nebraska and its much-publicized back — Davenport Central’s Craig — experienced all kinds of problems with Iowa’s inspired defense. It was a team effort in the truest sense, as 10 Hawkeye defenders had five tackles or more.

The Cornhuskers managed to penetrate Iowa territory only twice in the first half. The first drive failed when Seibel missed a 47-yard field goal with 1:38 left in the half.

Craig, who rushed for 769 yards and 15 touchdowns as a third-string I-back last year, was thwarted constantly in his bid to break free. He finished with 74 yards in 19 carries, but his longest run was only 13 yards.

Fullback Phil Bates had Nebraska’s longest gainer with a 22-yard run to the Iowa 24 in the fourth quarter.

Phillips, who inherited a starting assignment when first-string back J.C. Love-Jordan suffered an ankle injury, used 19 carries to gain 94 yards. His long run of 13 yards also was Iowa’s longest play.

Gales, who played most of the game, completed six of 10 passes for 34 yards. Olejniczak caught four for 34.

Nebraska’s chances of getting on the winning track don’t get any easier Saturday. The Cornhuskers entertain Florida State (2-0), which won at Lincoln last year, 18-14.

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA. –

About 84,628 football fans got their money’s worth here Saturday afternoon. And then some.

Oh sure, many of them no doubt went home pouting, frustrated that their Penn State Nittany Lions had gone down to a 42-34 defeat at the hands of the 13th-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes.

But they’d also seen a game that featured more twists and turns and thrills and offense (with a capital O) than almost any game anyone could remember.

“They’ll be talkin’ about this one for a long, long time,” said Iowa Coach Hayden Fry, who was almost whimsical after handing the defending national champions their third straight loss.

“This has gotta be one of the longest football games in history. And it’s probably one of the most exciting and best games ever played, too.”

Among other things, the game proved Iowa quarterback Chuck Long really can throw long, that Iowa’s offensive explosion against Iowa State last week was no fluke, that Penn State does indeed have an offense of its own, and that the Hawkeyes, heading into next week’s Big Ten clash with Ohio State, really do rate among the nation’s elite teams.

“We executed when we had to to win the game,” added Fry, “but it wasn’t pretty as far as our defense is concerned. They (the Lions) really executed against us. They picked us like chickens.”

The Iowa defense wasn’t the only one that went afowl, though.

“It was the poorest tackling by a team that I’ve ever been associated with,” said Penn State Coach Joe Paterno. “In a lot of ways it was a good football game. In spots we just didn’t make the plays we should make.”

You could play the numbers game with this one all day.

Iowa rolled up 587 yards, the sixth highest figure in its history, and probably will lead the nation this week in total offense (561 yards per game) and scoring (46.5 points per game).

Long set Iowa and Beaver Stadium records with his 345 yards passing. The 599 yards in the air by both teams and 1,079 total yards are also stadium standards. Add to that the 254 yards passing by Penn State’s Doug Strang, 131 yards rushing by Iowa’s Owen Gill, 104 yards by Lion freshman D.J. Dozier and 119 yards receiving by Hawkeye Dave Moritz, and you begin to get some idea of what kind of game it was.

Yet it was a trio of third-quarter fumble recoveries by the Iowa defense which ultimately turned the tied in the Hawks’ favor.

The Nittany Lions had a 28-21 lead and the football midway through the quarter when a Hawkeye gang tackle jarred loose the second of the fumbles from Dozier. Paul Hufford fell on it and the Hawks then turned to the tactic which played a major role in their last three touchdowns — the long (or Long) pass.

After Hufford’s recovery, Moritz beat Lion cornerback Mark Fruehan down the middle, making a lunging grab for a 46-yard gain. Long carried it into the end zone from five yards out and Tom Nichol’s extra-point kick made it 28-28.

In a turnaround typical of the day, Penn State charged back downfield, moving to the Iowa 21 before the defense put in another appearance.

Tackle George Little, a Pennsylvania native, roared into the backfield, leveled Strang and popped the ball onto the turf, where linebacker Mike Yacullo retrieved it.

Again the Hawks struck swiftly and efficiently. Long hit Gill up the right sideline for a 38-yard gain and Norm Granger split the Penn State defense on a perfectly executed trap play, juking out two defenders while going 23 yards for the go-ahead TD.

The Hawks produced one more bomb with about 8 1/2 minutes remaining in the game. On the first play after a Lion punt, Long fired to Ronnie Harmon streaking down the left side. Harmon leaped for the underthrown toss, snared it over the top of Fruehan, spun in the air, landed, and sprinted the last 35 yards into the end zone.

The 77-yard play was the longest Iowa pass completion since 1973.

“Their cornerbacks were playing real tight,” explained Long. “We kept looking for that play and looking for it all day and finally got it. Ronnie made a great catch.”

The Lions, down 42-28, still didn’t quit. Strang drove them 72 yards in nine plays with Skeeter Nichols scoring from seven yards out with 5:37 to go. Strang’s pass for the two-point conversion was dropped by normally reliable Kenny Jackson.

It turned out to be Penn State’s final gasp.

The first half had a comparable number of momentum shifts plus a little controversy. The way things started out, it looked like the Hawks might fare about as well against the Lions as the Christians of ancient Rome.

Long was called for intentional grounding on the very first play, backing Iowa up to its own four-yard line. Fry elected to use a quick kick on third down (Tom Grogan doing the booting) in an attempt to get out of the hole, but the Lions got the ball at the Iowa 33. Strang threw a nine-yard scoring pass to Dean DiMidio five plays later.

The Hawks didn’t bat an eye. They marched 80 yards back the other way, chewing up half that distance on an impromptu scrambling 40-yard completion to Moritz. Eddie Phillips plunged into the end zone from a yard out.

The Hawks stampeded 72 yards to make it 14-7 the next time they had the ball, Gill notching his fifth TD of the season on a four-yard run.

At one point early in the second quarter, the Hawks had accumulated 227 yards to 54 for the home squad.

But nothing stayed the same for very long in this game. After being pinned back at their own 11 by a punt, Penn State launched perhaps its best drive of the game, rolling 89 yards in 14 plays. Strang threw to a diving Jackson in the corner of the end zone for the score.

A controversial fumble by Long plus an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against Fry for protesting the call set up the third Penn State TD late in the half. Strang capped the 33-yard drive with a one-yard sneak, making it 21-14.

The Hawks opened the second half by recovering the first of the three fumbles. Long evaded a heavy rush to sling a sidearm 26-yard TD pass to Phillips moments later, creating a 21-21 deadlock.

Penn State bounced back with a 57-yard dash by Dozier, setting up an 18-yard Strang-to-Kevin Baugh TD pass which made it 28-21.

“Penn State just played a tremendous game,” said Fry, whose team will take an 0-2 record into its home opener against Ohio State.

“That just makes our victory that much more valuable because we beat a great team that played very well.”

AMES –

The Baby Bull almost knocked the diapers off the Baby Brigade.

Owen Gill actually outgrew the “Baby Bull” nickname pinned on him by Coach Hayden Fry two years ago as he tied an Iowa record by stampeding to four touchdowns in the 51-10 rout of Iowa State’s young team Saturday.

An all-time record crowd of 54,066 jammed Iowa State’s unnamed stadium, soaked by pre-game showers, to see the Hawkeyes demonstrate their right to the No. 16 national ranking in a contest televised in the Big Ten and Big Eight areas by ABC.

The contest ended a three-year drought to the Cyclones. It was Iowa’s first victory in Ames since 1920.

The Hawkeyes, coming off two 8-4 seasons climaxed by bowl games, had scored only 26 points against ISU the last three years, but this time they hit a point gusher. They had almost that many the first 21 minutes in amassing a 24-0 lead.

It was the most points scored — and the most lopsided margin — in the series the Hawkeyes now lead by a 19-12 margin. Iowa still trails ISU 3-4 in games played since the series was renewed in 1977.

“I’m happy. We were ready,” said Iowa’s Fry in two of the biggest understatements of the day. “We’ve waited a long time for this. We needed this to get things back to normal perspective.”

Told by the news media that Penn State, next Saturday’s opponent, was upset 14-3 by lightly-regarded Cincinnati, Fry cautioned, “Yes, but I keep remembering how we looked in our first two games (losses to Nebraska and ISU) last year.”

The jolt left Jim Criner, ISU’s new coach, with the worst defeat in his career as a head coach.

“Iowa is a good football team,” Criner said. “They demonstrated that today. They did everything well. I really don’t think there is a weakness on their team.

“We played about one-18th as well as we can. We showed up waiting for somebody else to do the job instead of taking the bull by the horns.”

The Cyclone coach was in no mood to refer to Gill’s “Baby Bull” moniker when he said that, but he might have. Gill started ahead of veteran Eddie Phillips and gained a whopping 136 yards in 16 carries. Phillips, who got 19 yards in four trips, played only briefly because of an injury.

Gill scored on runs of 31, two, one and two yards. He also caught a pass for nine yards.

Gill was named the “offensive player of the game” by ABC-TV, which also tabbed Lester Williams, junior linebacker from Cedar Rapids Jefferson, as the top defensive player. Each thus earned a $1,000 scholarship for his university.

Other Hawkeye touchdowns were registered by fullback Norm Granger on a 24-yard screen-pass play from Chuck Long; Long’s own two-yard run that proved Iowa does have a quarterback sneak in its offense; and a six-yard run by Treye Jackson, the fifth-team running back.

Got that? Yes, the fifth-team running back. Last year, when the Hawkeyes won six of their eight games by a touchdown or less, they rarely got deep into their reserve strength.

This time Gill, Phillips, Paul McCarty and Ronnie Harmon played at running back before the chance came for Jackson, former all-stater from Newton who sat out the 1981 season because of neck surgery. It was his first college touchdown.

Long had another superb day passing, but that has become almost commonplace for the unflappable junior from Wheaton, Ill. He completed 13 of 17 passes, and that’s much better even than his school-record 65 percent of last season.

Long chucked short and Long chucked long. His passes to seven different receivers gained 204 yards with no interceptions.

Dave Archer, his counterpart at Iowa State, kept Iowa’s defense worried on occasion by hitting 14 of 26 passes for 158 yards, but it was reserve Alan Hood who launched the Cyclones into their only touchdown of the day.

Iowa had a 51-3 lead going into the final minute of play, and most of the red-garbed Cyclone fans had long since retreated to tailgate post-mortems when Hood threw a strike to freshman Mike Posey. The latter took the ball in stride and raced to the end zone to complete the 65-yard scoring play.

Each side had a field goal. Marc Bachrodt, trying to make the Cyclone fans forget the departed Alex Giffords, kicked ISU’s 36-yarder after Iowa had a 24-0 lead in the second period.

Tommy Nichol, whose punting didn’t greatly impress Fry as a replacement for “all-world” Reggie Roby, made a 42-yard field goal (his longest last season was 43 yards) and missed a 34-yarder in the fourth quarter. Both were into the wind.

Nichol also tied the school record by kicking his first four extra points successfully. That equaled the mark of 42 straight set by Bob Prescott in 1956-7-8.

Then, poised to become the all-time record holder, his try for No. 43 in a row was no good as he slipped on the sopping artificial surface. He started a new record try by kicking his last two.

The Hawkeyes, although bristling at many positions with veterans, used several freshmen, and one of the most noticeable was Robert Smith, the fleet runner from Dallas.

Smith returned six punts for 97 yards, including a 32-yarder on his first attempt. He also caught one of Cornelius Robertson’s passes for 26 yards. Dave Strobel, senior defensive end, led Iowa’s defense with seven tackles — six solo and one assist. One of his tackles was for a 10-yard loss.

Dave Chambers recovered two fumbles and Larry Station one. Devon Mitchell, whose unforgettable tackle saved Iowa’s 24-20 victory at Indiana last year, got the game’s only interception, a diving snag of Archer’s deflected pass.

Harmon, a standout wide receiver as a frosh last season, was used in three different capacities Saturday. He caught two passes for 54 yards, one of them a fantastic leaping grab for 29 yards, he gained 19 yards in six running plays and he returned one kickoff for 19 yards.

His play Saturday ended speculation that he might sit out this season as a red-shirt, as he had threatened to do when practice began again rather than play wingback again. Players who participate in even one game cannot be red-shirted unless they are sidelined by injury in the first third of the campaign.

Fullback Jason Jacobs was ISU’s top gainer with a modest 29 yards in five rushes. Tailback Tommy Davis, who had been proud of his deeds against Iowa the previous two seasons, got only 15 yards in 13 rushes. That included a minus 12 in losses, most of it on one fumble.

The defeat ended Iowa State’s string of 16 successful home openers dating back to 1966 — the last eight in the present stadium.

IOWA CITY –

Welcome to the Top Ten.

Iowa’s football team, perched atop the Big Ten Conference and ranked No. 6 nationally after last week’s 9-7 upset at Michigan, received a rude reminder Saturday afternoon that being rated among the nation’s best is no bargain — not this year anyway.

Jim Gallery’s fourth field goal — a 27-yarder with 2:22 remaining — lifted Minnesota to a 12-10 triumph over Iowa before 60,000 fans in Kinnick Stadium and an ABC regional television audience.

Consequently, the 19-year-old monkey still is on Iowa’s back — at least for one more week. Iowa, now 5-2, could have clinched its first winning season since 1961, but Minnesota threw a wrench into those plans.

In addition, the Gophers threw up a caution flag to Iowa fans — and some media members — who had rosy visions of a Hawkeye bunch that had stormed to the school’s best start since 1960.

Be advised that there’s still a long way to go for Hayden’s Heroes in the topsy-turvy Big Ten.

Even though Iowa suffered its first loss in four Big Ten games, the Hawkeyes still are tied for first place with Ohio State. But after Saturday’s games, five other teams — Michigan, Illinois, Purdue, Wisconsin and Minnesota — sport 3-2 league records and are very much in the title picture.

Iowa Coach Hayden Fry was classy in defeat, which was especially difficult with so much at stake.

“I take all the responsibility as the coach,” Fry said. “I would have bet any amount of money that our players were ready to play, but we made a lot of mental mistakes.

“We prepared well, but we just didn’t execute. We mentally just didn’t have our heads in the game. I don’t have any sour grapes or alibis… we just blew it.

“We’ve got to get things back together next week (at Illinois) and get back on top of the mountain and win our sixth game. Our only objective right now is to win one more game so we can have a winning season.”

Minnesota (5-2) was well aware of the glossy things being said of Iowa, which had knocked off three No. 6 teams previously (Nebraska, UCLA and Michigan) but was unlucky with the AP’s No. 6 ranking this time.

“I want to thank all the Iowa writers,” Minnesota Coach Joe Salem said. “They were all writing about Iowa and the Rose Bowl this past week and not many were even mentioning Minnesota. We just sat quietly and by Thursday we knew our guys were ready to play.”

After a lackluster first half in which Iowa fell behind 9-0, the Hawks regained some emotion and stormed back to take a 10-9 lead after three quarters.

Tom Nichol climaxed Iowa’s first possession of the second half with a 34-yard field goal. The Hawks, moving with the wind, advanced to Minnesota’s 15 on the first play — a 35-yard pass from Gordy Bohannon to Dave Moritz, Iowa’s longest play of the day.

The Hawks moved swiftly on its next series, as well, driving 40 yards in just five plays to go ahead, 10-9. Phil Blatcher, who gained all but 12 of those yards, dove over right guard from two yards and Nichol kicked the point with 7:26 left in the third.

Iowa looked as if it might pad its lead a few minutes later, driving to the Minnesota 12 in nine plays. But Fry elected to go for a first down on fourth-and-two from the 12 and Blatcher, Iowa’s leading rusher with 79 yards on 20 carries, was thrown for a one-yard loss.

“Obviously we thought we could make it,” Fry said, “but we had a busted assignment.”

Right guard Ron Hallstrom admitted he was mistaken, saying, “I’m the one that missed the block, I feel real bad, but what can you do about it now?”

Salem pointed to that fourth down play as “the real key” to Minnesota’s win.

Iowa still had a couple excellent scoring opportunities thereafter, though:

l Mel Cole’s interception at the Minnesota 19 with 40 seconds left in the third quarter and Blatcher’s 14-yard run three plays later put Iowa at the Gopher four. But holding and procedure penalties moved the Hawks back and Nichol eventually hooked a 31-yard field goal try into the wind.

l With 12:30 left, defensive tackle Jim Pekar forced a Hohensee fumble and Cole recovered at the Gopher 13. But Blatcher was dropped for a two-yard loss and Bohannon was sacked for 13 before Nichol came up short on a 42-yard boot.

“We just didn’t perform up to standards,” said Bohannon, who completed just 6 of 17 passes for 88 yards. “We played in spurts, and you can’t do that and expect to contend for the conference title. We have the best fans in the world and we hurt them, but I promise we’ll be back.”

Minnesota’s final scoring drive began after a 33-yard Reggie Roby punt to the Gopher 40. Hohensee scrambled 15 yards around end, then five running plays set the stage for Gallery’s winning kick.

After a scoreless first quarter, Minnesota stormed to a 9-0 lead on Gallery field goals from 52, 31 and 33 yards. Meanwhile, Iowa was suffering from possibly its worst half of offense all season.

The Hawks were outgained 188-45 in the first half and managed only two first downs — the second coming on the final play of the half. After two quarters, Iowa had just 25 yards rushing and 20 yards passing.

Minnesota could have made it much worse in the first half, but the Iowa defense stiffened as the Gophers drew closer to the end zone.

Gallery’s 52-yarder with 14:50 left in the half was set up when Melvin Ferguson blocked Nichol’s punt and recovered at the Hawk 17.

A 29-yard punt into a 15 mph wind by Roby — his worst of the season — put Minnesota in position on its next possession at its 44-yard line.

Hohensee, who completed 16 of 28 for 171 yards, hit Nick Davidson for 35 yards on first down. Four plays later, Gallery booted a 31-yard field goal to make it 6-0 with 10:46 left in the half.

Iowa got its initial first down with 9:25 left in the second on a 10-yard pass from Bohannon to Blatcher. But the drive stalled and Roby punted just 29 yards again.

Iowa stopped Minnesota, but the Gophers’ got a break when Bob Stroup recovered a blocked punt and ran for a first down to the Iowa 42. Iowa’s Bill Bradley blocked Paul Blanchard’s boot, but the Hawks made no move to recover the ball.

Three plays later, Hohensee hit Chester Cooper for what appeared to be a 42-yard touchdown pass, but the Gophers were whistled for a personal foul.

Although Minnesota failed to score on that possession, Gallery put three more points on the board with 13 seconds left in the half. Hohensee passed 14 yards to Ron Weckbacker and 25 more to Cooper as the Gophers moved from their 41 to Iowa’s 17 just under two minutes.