A Trip Down Memory Lane

The 1974 season was one of new hopes. Three seasons under Frank X. Lauterbur found the Hawkeyes with a record of 4-28-1, including a final season of 0-11. A season where the Hawkeyes were outscored by an average of 24 points per game.

At the end of the 1973 season, Athletic Director Bump Elliott met with Coach Lauterbur to give his recommendations on how to turn around the moribund Hawkeye program. Coach Lauterbur didn’t agree with the personnel changes suggested by Bump so Elliott let FXL go.

Seven years before Notre Dame made the controversial decision to hire Moeller, Ohio, high school coach Gerry Faust, Bump Elliott made a hire that created very little controversy outside of Iowa. Elliott went to prep football hotbed, Massillon, Ohio to hire Bob Commings. Commings coached at Washington High School where his teams compiled a 44-5-1 record.

Commings was an undersized, even for his playing days, guard on Iowa’s Big Ten champions of 1956. He was an overachiever and was voted Iowa’s MVP while earning second team all Big Ten honors. Elliott was hoping that Commings' record of success as a player and as a high school coach could ignite Iowa' football fortunes.

Iowa returned some top-notch players including all-league linemen Rod Walters and Joe Devlin, and cornerback Earl Douthitt. However, there was a lack of quality depth on the team.

The 1974 schedule was a brutal one with UCLA, USC and Penn State, as well as perennial Big Ten monsters Michigan and Ohio State, but Commings had faith and dubbed his team the “Chosen Children.”

Commings debuted on the road against Michigan and the Hawks fell 24-7 for Iowa’s 12th straight loss. Next came defending Pac Eight champion and 12th ranked UCLA for Commings’ Kinnick Stadium debut. Iowa held on to a 14-3 halftime lead and went on to beat UCLA 21-10 and Bob Commings was chosen UPI Coach of the Week.

Penn State and Southern Cal were next on the docket and it was business as usual with the Hawks getting pasted by both teams.

Iowa got its first Big Ten win since November of 1972 when the Hawks put a 35-10 hurting on Northwestern. Iowa was standing at 2-3 with the only losses to three top ten schools and Commings was rewarded with a three-year contract extension and a raise to $29,000 per season.

Minnesota was next but the Golden Gophers were too strong behind super back Rick Upchurch and Iowa fell 23-17.

October 26 brought the Fighting Illini of Bob Blackman. Illinois was 4-1-1 losing only to California and tying Michigan State. Jim Phillips led the Illini with 556 yards and more rushing touchdowns (7) than the entire Iowa backfield.

Bob Holmes got the Hawks off to a good start with a short touchdown run in the first quarter. Illinois fought back, but the Hawks put the game away late when Rob Fick hit Solon’s Eddie Donovan out of the backfield and Donovan plowed over an Illinois defender at the goal line leading Iowa to a 14-12 win.

Iowa stood at 2-2 in the Big Ten, the first time Iowa was at .500 in the Big Ten since 1970.

Of course, Iowa being Iowa reverted to form and reeled off five straight losses to finish the season including a 60-21 shellacking by Michigan State in the season final.

Let’s take a look at the Iowa two deeps from 1974 followed by our weekly photo feature.

OFFENSE

TE - Yocum 6-2, 226, D. Jackson 6-4, 194

LT - Walters 6-4, 240, Ladick 6-2, 251

LG - Devlin 6-5, 266, Butler 6-3, 249

C - Myers 5-11, 231, Jim Hilgenberg 6-2, 201

RG - McCarney 6-3, 229 (ISU’s Mac), Davis 6-2, 237

RT - Michelosen 6-2, 231 Klimczak 6-3, 243

SE - Schultz 5-11, 187, Frantz (Not listed on roster)

QB - Fick 6-2, 191, Ousley 6-1, 190

FB - Holmes 6-1, 225, Fetter 6-0, 202

LH - Jensen 6-4, 227, Winston 5-9, 192

RH - Donovan 6-1, 182, Wellington 6-1, 214

DEFENSE

SE - Heil 6-6, 222, Phillips 6-5, 219

LT - Washington 6-2, 236, Lopos 5-9, 227

NG - Bryant 6-0, 219, Bush 6-0, 222

RT - Wojan 6-5, 244, Dye 6-5, 246

QE - Wagner 6-2, 209, Walker 6-2, 217

LLB - LaFleur 6-1, 215 (Father of Fry era DL Jon), Campbell 5-9, 196

RLB - Jackson 6-1, 227, Armington 6-2, 219

LC - Douthitt 6-2, 187, Salter 6-1, 165

SS - Elliott 5-10, 177, Stech 6-1, 182

FS - Caldwell 5-11, 182, Elliott

RC - Burks 6-0, 181, Walker 6-0, 189