I truly feel sorry for Iowa fans who decided to dump their season tickets this year.

The atmosphere, crowd energy and outrageous outcome conspired to put this past Saturday into my personal Top 5 of Kinnick moments seen in person, right up there with "the kick" by Daniel Murray, rushing the field after taking out Wisconsin to secure a conference title in 2004 and the infamous "snow angel" game against Minnesota back in the early 1990s.

The jury may still be out on whether the Hawkeyes are officially back, but there is no denying the magic has returned to Kinnick.

It has been years since the good feelings flowed this strongly in Iowa City. Finally dispatching the pesky Cyclones had fans in a relaxed mood leading up to Saturday's game, but the sight of former safety Brett Greenwood gamely pushing himself to lead the swarm with Pat Angerer and Chris Doyle at his side brought the crowd to a roar only slightly muted by so many lumps in so many throats.

Iowa's opponent did its part to make the story special. Pitt has been a more-than-worthy non-conference opponent, giving the Hawkeyes everything they want in each meeting, and this past Saturday may have been the best of the bunch.

Between their insanely hard-hitting defense and all-world receiver Tyler Boyd, the Panthers did everything in their power to make this feel like a November Big 10 slobberknocker. Fortunately for the Hawkeyes, unlike so many games over the past two seasons, the spectacular finish went their way as Marshall Koehn's unlikely kick climbed over the goalpost sending the already frenzied crowd into ecstasy.

I touched on it a bit after the Illinois State game, but everything surrounding Iowa football feels crisper, smarter and most of all, more fun thus far this season. And I don't think it's simply winning. From Kirk Ferentz's newfound creativity and boldness (how awesome was it to see the OTHER team's coach punt from 4th and inches from Iowa territory and be able to lean over to your seatmate and say "Ferentz would go for it here"?) to a well-coordinated pre-game program and a lighter hand by Iowa City's finest out in the tailgate lots, the good times feel ready to roll again.

Saturday wasn't a sellout, but those there more than made up for the thousands of unfortunates who missed out. As the crescendo of emotion ramped up in the fourth quarter, I had goosebumps break out on my arms like no time since at least the early stages of the Wisconsin game in 2010. And that I-O-W-A chant that echoed and reverberated over and over and over after Iowa's go-ahead touchdown was so organic and heartfelt, it almost made me tear up for a second time on an emotional night.

It seems trite and cliché to write that something special is brewing in Iowa City this year, but so far, it's a difficult conclusion to deny. No doubt, there will be adversity and pitfalls ahead as the Hawkeyes move into their conference schedule. But the gloomy malaise that made so many fans feel disengaged seems to have burned off like fog on a crisp autumn day.

It truly feels like Coach Ferentz, all the players and indeed anyone involved in any aspect of the Hawkeye program have embraced the challenge of winning their fans back. In all my years of attending games at Kinnick (going on 30 years!), I honestly can't recall a time when fans felt less like leaving than after Saturday's victory. I also can't remember so many players doing full laps of the entire facility, high fiving and yelling with fans in a joyous mutual admiration society even after the band stopped playing.

This coach cares. These players care. And the really seem to feed off the love and support that rains down on them from the tens of thousands who are still packing the stands.

If this keeps up, Iowa is going to be one hard ticket to come by later this fall.

Few predicted that, but man is it good to see.