IOWA CITY -- The Iowa offensive line manhandled Wisconsin up and down the field on Saturday night, leading to a 42-10 victory and taking home the Heartland Trophy.
The performance could all be encapsulated by one particular drive for the Hawkeyes.
In the first possession of the third quarter, the Iowa offense took the rock 10 plays for 86 yards over 5:34 for a touchdown. Every single play was a run, and seven carries went for seven or more yards.
"If it's working, you stay with it," Kirk Ferentz said postgame. "We got into a pretty good rhythm, and Tim (Lester) called a great game. Everything was really complimenting each other."
That drive was where quarterback Brendan Sullivan could feel the flood gates opening for the Hawkeyes.
"When the defense knows what you're gonna do and you still do it to a high level, that's really cool," he said. "It definitely gives the whole offensive unit and the whole sideline just a huge momentum boost. It was just a lot of fun to be a part of, and luckily I got a couple runs on that too, so that was a lot of fun."
All told, the Hawkeyes out-rushed the the Badgers 329 yards to 124 yards, nearly tripling Wisconsin's effort. Everything on the ground starts and ends with the offensive line for the Hawkeyes.
"It's just fun to be a part of an offensive line like that, that just has no quit in them," Sullivan added. "It's always gonna give it their all. It's fun to be back there and just trust them, because I know that they've got my back, and I've got theirs."
Kaleb Johnson, who led the team with 135 rushing yards and three scores had some fun behind the big guys, too.
"It's awesome [when the offensive line gets push], man," he said. "Our connection just keeps building and bonding. So, I love those guys, man. They just work their tails off every day."
Starting right guard Connor Colby could see it all coming together as the game went along as well, giving at least some of the credit to the running backs.
"I think guys are front blocking hard and the running backs are hitting the holes hard," he said. "Eventually that wears on the defense and so we get the longer runs."
Though this performance didn't happen overnight, Ferentz did appear to be a bit surprised by how well things came together.
"I didn't see this thing coming tonight," he said. "Sometimes that just happens where things start clicking a little bit. Just got to give our guys credit because they really came ready to go."
One of the best running backs in all of college football, Johnson is starting to enter some rarefied air, thanks to what he and the Hawkeyes have been able to do on the ground. Following his his third score on the evening, Johnson tied Shonn Greene's single-season school record for touchdowns.
"It's an honor [to be in the same conversation as Greene]," Johnson said, who connected with the former Doak Walker Award winner in Iowa City recently. "He said, 'I know you can break my record.' He said, 'Just go ahead and do it,' and stuff like that. So I just kept my head down, remember what he said, and just kept going."
Ferentz believes that forward-looking mentality is what has gotten Johnson to this point.
"The thing I'm most impressed with is the approach, the maturity he's playing with right now, practicing with," Ferentz said. "He's like that all week long."
"He's hard to bring down. He doesn't go down with an arm tackle," Ferentz added. "A credit to him. He's really figured out to use what he has. I think he's enjoying that. ... He's staying so focused right now. That's a real tribute to him."
The numbers the Hamilton, Ohio native has put together to this point in the season -- 170 carries for 1,279 yards and 20 total touchdowns -- has him on the fringes of the Heisman conversation. Johnson isn't quite ready to throw his name in the hat yet -- at least not with the local media.
"I'm a humble person," he smiled. "So whatever goes out there, goes out there, and whatever's said is said. My focus is on just helping my team win and just being successful with my team."
Ferentz hadn't put any thought into the talk around Johnson and the award for the nation's top player, either. Though, he was willing to say that he'd be all-in to support the Big Ten's leading rusher for the trophy.
"We haven't been too worried about that," Ferentz said. "I imagine he'll be in the conversation at some point if he keeps doing what he's doing. We'll promote him as best we can, just like we would anybody who is doing a great job. It's a team thing, if it does happen. Kaleb would be the first guy to say it."
Sullivan, on the other hand, he wasn't shy about his thoughts on Johnson's play so far this season.
"I think he should be a Heisman finalist," he said. "The way he's playing, the way that he's been playing this whole season, it's really consistent. And so I think, in my opinion, he should be a Heisman finalist."
Sullivan, Kamari Moulton, added Jaziun Patterson combined for 28 carries for 188 yards to share the load with Johnson.
"All three [running backs] ran well tonight," Ferentz said. "They're a good combination. Jaziun was hitting it hard. Kamari has the quick burst in there. They're playing off each other pretty well."
Johnson, who is clearly the bell cow of the group, enjoys seeing the entire unit succeed.
"It's been awesome to see them, especially Kamari," he said. He just came in, he's a new guy in the RB room. ... So it's pretty awesome, just telling him, just keep being hard on him. I've been hard on Jaz too, because they could be great too."
Johnson was roommates with Patterson when they arrived at Iowa as freshmen in 2022. He was the first teammate on the sideline to congratulate Patterson after he scored a four-yard touchdown with 1:15 left in the contest.
"We've been close since freshman year," he said. "He and I, and the connection we all have together, including Coach (Ladell) Betts, the whole RB room, we're just very connected. We treat each other as brothers, so it's awesome."
