Harty: Iowa takes us back to the 1980s with Saturday’s beatdown
IOWA CITY, Iowa – Hayden Fry should have stayed in Iowa City for another week.
Iowa’s all-time winningest football coach didn’t attend Saturday’s game between Iowa and Iowa State, but Fry would have felt right at home during this vintage 1980s mismatch.
The 16th-ranked Hawkeyes never trailed against their intrastate nemesis and cruised to a 42-3 victory before a sellout crowd of 70,585 at Kinnick Stadium.
It was the most points that Iowa has scored against Iowa State in 18 seasons under head coach Kirk Ferentz.
Iowa State had as many personal fouls (three) in the first half as points. You name the statistic and Iowa had the advantage, from rushing yards to passing yards to time of possession.
Iowa led 28-3 at halftime and it felt like Iowa State had no chance of coming back.
In other words, it felt like the 1980s.
“To go in 28-3 at halftime in any game is big,” said Iowa senior quarterback C.J. Beathard, who completed 19-of-28 passes for 235 yards and three touchdowns. “It helps to relieve some stress as an offense and a defense. The defense did a great job the whole game of shutting them down.”
Saturday’s game showed the current gap between Iowa and Iowa State in football, much like the games did in the 1980s when Fry and the Hawkeyes routinely had their way with the over-matched Cyclones. Iowa won five consecutive games against Iowa State from 1983 to 1987 by a combined score of 258-50.
Fry attended Iowa’s 45-21 victory over Miami of Ohio in the season opener last Saturday as part of the FryFest festivities.
The Hawkeyes then had their own FryFest on Saturday against the Cyclones.
The biggest difference is that Saturday’s game was played under the stars as a rare night game at Kinnick Stadium, whereas Fry used to pound the Cyclones in the afternoon.
Saturday’s game could’ve started at 7 a.m., though, and it wouldn’t have mattered because you knew that Seneca Wallace, Dan McCarney and even Steele Jantz weren’t walking through the door to provide Iowa State with any assistance.
The Cyclones have some serious issues that need to be addressed under first-year head coach Matt Campbell. Iowa State could’ve played up to its potential on Saturday, but it still wouldn’t have mattered because Iowa is vastly superior.
It usually is a good sign when Iowa pounds the Cyclones because it means Iowa is poised to have a good season. Iowa has won at least 10 games five times under Ferentz. Only one of those five teams in 2002 failed to defeat Iowa State.
Iowa State is likely headed for a long and frustrating debut season under Campbell. So it was imperative that Iowa win in convincing fashion on Saturday to avoid any negative publicity.
Perhaps the most encouraging thing about Iowa’s performance on Saturday is that it dominated both sides of the line of scrimmage for most of the game. The Hawkeyes rushed for 198 yards, led by senior LeShun Daniels with 112 yards on just 15 carries.
Junior Akrum Wadley complemented Daniels with 49 of the niftiest rushing yards you’ll ever see thanks to Wadley’s open-field wizardry. Wadley also caught a 26-yard touchdown pass from Beathard in the first quarter. It was Wadley’s second career touchdown catch as a Hawkeye. The Newark, N.J., native had a 31-yard touchdown grab in Iowa’s 45-16 loss to Stanford in 2016 the Rose Bowl.
And speaking of wizardry, Iowa senior receiver Matt VandeBerg showed again on Saturday that he is much more than a possession receiver. VandeBerg finished with game-high 129 receiving yards on seven catches.
“He’s faster than people think,” Beathard said. “He’s white, but he’s really fast.”
VandeBerg and Beathard have developed a chemistry in which they both trust each other on the field. Beathard trusts that VandeBerg will run precise routes and catch just about anything thrown his way, while VandeBerg trusts that Beathard will be on target with his passes, as was the case in Saturday’s game.
Beathard threw several passes to VandeBerg in Saturday’s game that were close to perfect in terms of location. You could tell they have spent countless hours practicing together.
A memorable night became even more special for VandeBerg when he proposed to his girlfriend after the game and she accepted.
As for Beathard, his performance and poise drew praise from Campbell, who compared Beathard to another pretty good quarterback.
Beathard told reporters after the game that he checked into the play that resulted in VandeBerg’s 12-yard touchdown reception with 10 minutes, 50 seconds left in the second quarter.
“What makes them a good offense right now is C.J. and his abilities that he’s good enough and smart enough that it’s almost like playing against Peyton Manning," Campbell said of the former NFL quarterback. “In some instances, he knows his offense, he’s really comfortable with his offense, so there is no coordinators making the calls.
“He’s making the calls and I think that is what makes him really dangerous and a really good football player. You’re almost competing against the quarterback and not an offensive coordinator. And that’s a credit to him really understanding his system and what he’s doing. He certainly made some great plays tonight.”
Another thing that makes Beathard tough is his supporting cast on both offense and defense. The season still is young and could go in a number of ways, especially if injuries become an issue.
But you have to like the potential of this Iowa team, even more so after Saturday’s beat-down.
“I just thought the guys had a really good week (of practice) and most importantly focused on the right things during the course of the week,” said Ferentz, who evened his record to 9-9 against the Cyclones. “So I’m really proud of the way the guys prepared this past week. And certainly, tonight they showed up and competed and that’s great to see.”
Ferentz probably could relate to the 1980s comparison, being that he coached the Iowa offensive line from 1981-89 and has witnessed his share of easy wins over the Cyclones.
A week that started with Ferentz getting a new six-year contract ended with his team showing at the expense of Iowa State that he is worth every penny.