Tuesdays with Torbee

The Scarlet Knights played in the very first “official” college football game 150 years ago this very autumn, an anniversary being celebrated by programs large and small, good and bad this season.

Rutgers – whose current moniker was born that day when its players donned snappy scarlet bandanas to differentiate themselves from their New Jersey University (now Princeton) opponents – scored 6 more points in that ancestral confrontation than they did this past Saturday against the Hawkeyes. But there was one striking similarity between the late 19th and early 21st century struggles: a Knight with a fearsome foot.

According to the account of that game on the official Rutgers athletics website, the rules of the day disallowed carrying or throwing the ball (someone should tell Rutgers quarterback Mclane Carter this is no longer the case, for most of the first half, he appeared unaware the forward pass is now acceptable.) Without the benefit of passing that gloomy November afternoon in New Brunswick, a Rutgers player named Madison M. Ball, a wounded veteran of the Civil War, used his quickness and kicking the ball with the heel of his foot to take the lead in the contest, which the Rutgers 11 (err, actually 25 in the early rules) rode to a decisive 6-4 win.

Not bad, but not quite the display of punting nirvana that Aussie punter Adam Korsak wowed an otherwise relatively somnolent Kinnick crowd with. All Korsak did – while his offense set the game back to the late 1800s – was drop six punts inside the Iowa 11 yard line with zero touchbacks. To add amazement to Hawkeye injury, four of those six came to gentle rest inside the five-yard line, pinning Iowa back and preventing this game from being the 50-something to nothing bloodbath it should have been.

And that wasn’t even what most impressed the (well-trained to love punting) Kinnick crowd. Korsack also uncorked an insane 69-yarder on his way to, and I am not making this up, 476 total punting yards! If only punting really were winning, Chris Ash would likely not be fighting for his coaching career

Other than the crazy display of “footy” as those down under - including Iowa’s skilled Michael Sleep-Dalton who also had a hell of a day averaging 45-yards plus on his kicks - call it, the game was a relatively drama-free dispatching of a woefully overmatched opponent. Nate Stanley was sharp, but did miss just enough deep ball connections to keep his critics busy. The three-headed running back monster continued to look threatening. The suddenly dangerous wide receiving crew made enough plays to comfortably win. As far as tuneups for a highly anticipated and likely hotly contested in-state rivalry game, I don’t know if you could have scripted it better, minus a couple worrisome injuries in the secondary.

Injury concerns aside, I am actually more sanguine than usual heading into the annual Hate Week extravaganza. For one thing, the rest of the nation doesn’t view this year’s Cyclone as hot garbage like usual, so even if Iowa does lose, the ignominy will be mild.

But despite Iowa State’s objective and, frankly, rather impressive improvements, I still think the Hawkeyes have the better, more-talented team from top-to-bottom.

I know ‘clone fans are pinning their hopes on quarterback Brock Purdy, who didn’t play in last year’s contest in which Iowa State mustered a measly 3 points. And Purdy is an upgrade over the guy he replaced, whose name escapes my mind and I’m not going to bother to Google because, let’s face it, no one needs to know the name of another in a long line of forgettable Cyclone quarterbacks.

So Purdy is a capable QB, but heading the Hawks is a three-year starting senior QB who is already 2-0 against his instate rival, including a road win in Ames as a first-year starter. He will not blink, no matter how hard the mouthbreathers ride him from the stands in the Jack Trice Memorial Windtunnel.

And then there is they bye week. Some worry that the Cyclones being off last week will benefit them, giving them more time to game plan for Iowa as well as avoiding additional injuries. However, despite Rutgers being a bad P-5 team, their athletes are still bigger, faster and stronger than those of Iowa State’s lone opponent, UNI. I feel like Iowa will have the advantage, having logged a conference win already, albeit against one of the worst teams in the Big 10.

Let’s hope this column next week is another tribute to an opponent’s stellar punting. I’d be thrilled for Iowa State to rack up 500 yards on the foot of punter Joe Rivera. Hell, I’d even be OK with them scoring 6 points like Rutgers did at college football’s genesis.

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