Tuesdays with Torbee

Living as I do on a bluff perched above the Mississippi River at the easternmost tip of the state of Iowa I can practically see Illinois from my backyard.

Illinois fans are a bit harder to spot over here. For one thing, we are twice as close to Iowa City as Champaign so many Quad Cities area residents of the Land of Lincoln send their kids and dollars to the University of Iowa. For another, Illini football fans are notorious bandwagon jumpers, so the heinous orange and blue jackets and hats tend to only come out when their team is halfway decent.

Illinois head coach Brett Bielema is from nearby Prophetstown – and was self-aware enough to choose Iowa over Illinois as a high school prep, though coaching stops at rivals Wisconsin and now Illinois have taken the bloom off the rose if not the Tigerhawk tattoo off his calf.

Familiarity breeds contempt and thus my ire towards Illinois is greater than most Hawkeye fans, who aren’t exposed to the Illini menace as regularly as those of us in the far east are. The Illini are halfway decent this year, coming into the match-up with Iowa a mere game from bowl eligibility, which is quite an accomplishment in Chambana.

Thus, last Saturday I was hoping for a good old-fashioned pasting. A mollywhopping. A beat down of epic proportions.

Instead, another Iowa game broke out. We’ve all seen this one before: long stretches of ineffective offense bashing into a metaphorical wall, massive punts and just a smattering of explosive plays that keep it interesting until the Hawkeyes make that ONE BIG PLAY and holds on for dear life through the play of stout defense, sending fans home relieved but drained.

In retrospect, this was a most-fitting way to end the Hawkeyes home schedule. And while a sound thrashing of Illinois would have felt good, there is a certain beauty in winning “Iowa style.” As frustrating and nail biting as these games are for Iowa fans, imagine the angst of cheering for one of Iowa’s opponents. Is any team more capable of gifting false hope to its opponents then cruelly pulling it away at the last second than the Hawkeyes? Letting Illinois fans have hope then crushing their spirit is almost better than a whistle-to-whistle demolition.

Also fitting was the two-point margin of victory Saturday. On Iowa’s first drive, the fans around me in section 109 booed and grumbled when the punting unit came out on fourth and one from the Iowa 47. I told the grumpy guy next to me it was the right call – pin them down early and let the defense go to work.

Sure enough, on the Illini’s ensuing possession, Reggie Love II was stuffed for a two-yard loss on the first play and on the third – following an incomplete pass – panicked Illinois quarterback John Paddock was sacked in the end zone, nearly coughing up a touchdown, leading to a safety. A safety that would provide the winning margin in Iowa’s 15-13 victory.

We’ve been saying it for weeks, but hopefully it is really starting to sink in: this is Iowa’s formula for winning football games in 2023 so as fans, you may as well learn to love it.

Too frequently, fans myopically focus on the exploits of their team only and subscribe wins or losses primarily based on the performance of their favorite players, forgetting that the opponent has as much (and sometimes more) input. Therefore, I think it’s important to note that after his end zone fiasco, Paddock played an excellent game against the best defense he’ll see this season. He remained poised and confident and the team around him committed very few procedural or other penalties you can usually count on the Kinnick crowd forcing. Kudos to Bielema and the Illini for being prepared and handling both the environment and the Iowa defense’s stellar play.

Likewise, we have heaped plenty of (well-deserved) criticism on the Iowa offense over the course of this campaign, but despite the low point output, last week may have been the best it’s looked overall all season. At least it looked like a functioning offense most of the day, even on plays that didn’t work perfectly. There was some rhythm and sense to the play calling and the offensive line had one of its most complete performances to date. Embattled and soon-to-be-departed Brian Ferentz deserved the postgame praise he received.

Finally, it is nice to see a little bit of edge and rancor in this series again. There were a lot of folks in blue and orange in Kinnick last weekend, and they had their dander up a bit. Nothing got out of hand, but some good-old-fashioned regional animosity is one of the great things about college football. I like it.

Speaking of regional rancor and animosity, it isn’t hard to gin it up against Nebraska. An entire fan base full of Uncle Ricos will bring it out in you.

Sure, Iowa has already wrapped up a Big 10 West Division championship and doesn’t need to beat the Huskers to earn a trip to Indianapolis. Last year’s depressing loss to a frankly bad Nebraska team should still be stuck in the collective craw of the Hawks; here’s hoping they trip to Lincoln dashes Nebraska bowl dreams.

Part of me would love to see it be a 42-3 bloodletting – but we all know that isn’t going to happen. So sign me up for another blood pressure spiking, low-scoring slobberknocker as long as the good guys come out on the right end of the score.

Follow me on Twitter @ToryBrecht and the 12 Saturdays Podcast @12Saturdays.