Somewhere in my house I have an empty 1970 era Pepsi bottle. I’m not crazy and I’m not alone. The bottle commemorates the Hawkeyes’ 12-10 victory in 1977 over the Cyclones in the first game of the series renewal.
A little backdrop to the series.
Iowa and Iowa State played their first game in 1894 with ISU winning 16-8 in Iowa City. The series ended briefly in 1920 with Iowa holding a 15-7 series lead.
According to a November 22 article in the Iowa City Press-Citizen “Iowa has all to lose and nothing to gain in the battle with her sister institution.”
The series was renewed in 1934 with ISU pounding Iowa 31-6. Prior to the game Iowa coach, Ossie Salem stated that the two teams wouldn’t be playing in 1935 but would be playing again in the near future.
The near future morphed into years and the two wouldn’t meet on the gridiron until 1977 in Iowa City.
Iowa State was coming off of an 8-3 season in 1976 and Earle Bruce and company were confident that another great season was in the offing.
Dexter Green was one of the most exciting running backs in the country and the Clones had a stout defense led by defensive linemen Mike Stensrud and Tom Randall and linebacker Tom Boskey.
ISU also brought with them a little confidence and attitude as evidenced by the “Beat Iowa” on their jerseys.
Iowa was coming off of the best year in the Bob Commings era. After consecutive 3-8 seasons, the Hawkeyes went 5-6 in 1976.
Unlike Iowa State, Iowa made its bones on a defense that was ranked third in the Big Ten in 1976. The Iowa defense was led by a stout linebacking corps of Dean Moore, Tom Rusk and Andre Jackson.
So on September 17, 1977, an unstoppable force in cardinal and gold ran into Kinnick Stadium to face an immovable object in black and gold.
This time the immovable object would win.
Iowa State struck first on a long punt return for a touchdown. When a team known for its defense gets down 7-0 palms start to get sweaty…unless that team has a bullet known as Dennis Mosley.
I remember sitting in my end zone seat and screaming as Mosley took off and became a black and gold dot screaming towards the ISU end zone on a 77 yard touchdown run. A missed extra point kept ISU on top until late in the first quarter when Iowa’s Jon Lazar smashed into the end zone to give the Hawks a 12-7 lead.
If memory serves me right and it often doesn’t, Iowa tried for the two point PAT and failed and the scored stayed at 12-7 until ISU hit a field goal to cut the lead to 12-10. After that the Iowa defense stiffened and time and time again turned away the Cyclone offense.
Late in the game, Iowa punter, Dave Hosclaw nailed a long punt to pin ISU back to their 10 yard line. With less than a minute to go, Iowa State tried to drive into field goal range but failed. The Hawkeyes held and Kinnick was rocking with jubilant Iowa fans.
On this day, the immovable object had won. The only ISU touchdown had come on a special teams play. Iowa out gained Iowa State 192-96 and held the magnificent Dexter Green to only 46 yards on 21 carries.
Hawkeye fans were on top of the world, at least for one day. Iowa would finish the year 5-6. A 34-14 loss to UCLA would be turned around by a forfeit. Iowa State would regain its stride to finish 8-3 and play in the Peach Bowl. But on that beautiful September day, the Hawkeyes were the champions of Iowa.
Let's take a look at the two deeps for both teams from the 1977 matchup. Below the two deeps you can find out weekly photo feature from the game program as well.
Iowa Two Deeps
TE - Jim Swift 6’4”, 235. Matt Petrzelka 6’6”, 240
LT - Barry Tomasetti 6’3”, 255, Aaron Leonard 6’2”, 268
LG - Mike Mayer 6’2”, 241, Lemuel Grayson 6’3”, 217
C - Jim Hilgenberg 6’2”, 230, Mark Callaghan 5’11”, 224
RG - Doug Benschoter 6’3”, 256, John Rushton 6’2”, 230
RT - Sam Palladino 6’2”, 255, Jeff DeVilder 6’3”, 240
SE - Mike Brady 5’10”, 180, Brad Reid 5’11”, 170 (Go Linn-Mar!!)
QB - Bob Commings, Jr. 6’1”, 195, Jeff Green 6’0” 183/ Pete Gales 6’3”, 165
TB - Ernie Sheeler 6’0”, 192, Dennis Mosley 5’9”, 175/ Tom Renn 5’9”, 182
FB - Jon Lazar 6’1”, 210, Jim Arkeilpane 6’0”, 214
WB - Jesse Cook 5’11”, 160, Chris Mackey 5’11”, 183
PK - Scott Schilling 6’0”, 220
LE - Steve Wagner 6’3”, 220, Darrell Hobbs 6’6”, 249
LT - Joe Willis 6’4”, 264, Joe Stephenson 6’5”, 235
RT - Joe Hufford 6’2”, 238, John Harty 6’6”, 260
RE - Steve Vazquez 6’2”, 235, Jim Molini 6’4”, 225
LLB - Dean Moore 6’2” 210, Gene Holtorf 6’2”, 210
MLB - Tom Rusk 6’2”, 232, Tim Gutshall 6’), 197
RLB - Andre Jackson 6’0”, 195, Leven Weiss 6’3”, 205
CB - Rod Sears 6’0”, 185, Mario Pace 6’0”, 172
SS - Cedric Shaw 6’0”, 190, Shanty Burks 6’0”, 185
FS - Dave Becker 6’2”, 188, Cedric Shaw 6’0”, 190
CB - Roger Stech 6’0”, 185, Chuck Sodergren 6’2”, 193
P - Dave Hosclaw 6’2”, 193.
Iowa State Two Deeps
TE - Guy Preston 6’7”, 206, Mickey Leafblad 6’4”, 220
LT - Dick Cuvelier 6’3”, 266, Tom Stonerook 6’2”, 233
LG - Maek Boehm 6’1”, 230, Al Grissinger 6’4”, 244
C - Denny Engel 6’0”, 206, Dave Rom 6’1”, 236
RG - Kevin Cunningham 6’4”, 248, Jim Wilson 6’1”, 227
RT - Tim Stonerook 6’7”, 236, Brian Neal 6’3”, 250
SE - Stan Hixon 6’0”, 165, Tom Buck 5’10”, 180
QB - Terry Rubley, 6’1”, 172, Vinny Cerrato 5’11”, 173
TB - Dexter Green 5’9”, 162, Jeff Curry 5’8”, 177
FB - Cal Cummins 5’11”, 185, Pat Kennedy 5’11”, 192
SB - John Solomon 5’9”, 177, Ray Hardee 6’0”, 187
PK - Scott Kollman 5’11”, 174
LE - Rick White 6’1”, 200, Steve Weidemann 6’2”, 193
LT - Mike Stensrud 6’4”, 265, Greg Rensink 6’4”, 220
NG - Ron McFarland 6’1”, 256, Jim Sweeney 6’2”, 235
RT - Tom Randall 6’6”, 251, Kenny Neil 6’4”, 233
RE - Craig Volkens 6’2”, 212, Terry Earnest 6’4”, 206
LB - Tom Boskey 6’1”, 211, Mike Leaders 6’1”, 209
LB - Mark Settle 6’3”, 216, Scott Cole 6’1”, 200
R - Tom Perticone 5’10”, 183, Dam Dummermuth 6’3”, 190
SC - Kevin Hart 5’11”, 180, Jerry Washington 5’11”, 190
WC - Mike Clemons 6’1”, 184, Brian Johnson 6’2”, 190
S - Mike Schwartz 6’0”, 172, Larry Crawford 6’0”, 160
P - Rick Blabolil 6’0”, 185
