Tuesdays with Torbee

Has any Iowa team with a relatively gaudy 9-2 record heading into Thanksgiving ever been trusted - maybe even loved - less?

I came up with a phrase to describe this year’s version of the Hawkeyes, but as is the case frequently in this aesthetically displeasing but ultimately successful Iowa campaign, the language is a little “salty.”

This team is kind of shi$%y, but very gritty.

And I say that with fondness and admiration, not a sense of complaint.

There’s no hiding the warts. The offense sputters and flames out far too often. Opponents are allowed to hang around in games when they should be buried. Starts are slow, leads are blown. But usually, nine out of 11 times so far, the Hawkeyes scrape and scrap and claw and find a path to victory.

This may not be the world’s most exciting brand of football, and for fans who relish nothing more than grinding an opposing team’s face in the turf, it is wholly unsatisfactory. But you still have to admire it.

This past Saturday was more of the same. An improved-but-still-flawed Illinois squad, playing without the leadership of coach Bret Bielema, jumped out to a quick 10-point lead as the Hawkeyes looked sluggish and slow coming out of a senior day sendoff.

I won’t say I felt a second home loss was brewing, but the possibility of a humiliating home finale toe-stubbing to the Illini seemed plausible.

Until Charlie Jones took the team on his back and let his electric feet turn the entire game around.

When we look back on this odd season, I think we will recognize that a hidden strength of this team is having different dudes step up when things looked most dire. Charlie this last Saturday. Joe Evans with the game-ending strip sack against Minnesota. Nico Ragaini’s long touchdown reception against Penn State. You never know who is going to rise to the occasion and make the big play, but more often than not, someone does and Iowa holds on for the win.

It may not win any beauty contests, but finding new and unique ways to win football games week-after-week deserves credit. If you’d told any Iowa fan prior to the Illinois game that Alex Padilla would struggle to a mere 83 yards passing with one interception and no touchdowns, most would have predicted a loss. Instead, the mostly moribund running game resurfaced, with Tyler Goodson and freshman Gavin Williams combining for nearly 200 yards rushing and a touchdown. Throw in Caleb Shudak’s solid performance – hitting four of five critical field goals on a blustery day, missing only from 55-plus yards – and you have scrounged up yet another unique winning formula.

The fact Iowa can’t seem to establish a fixed identity, counterintuitively, might be a secret to its weird success in 2021. How do you prepare for a team that can find ways to beat you either running, passing, via special teams or spectacular defense? In some ways, the Hawks are like a college football hydra – cut off one head and another one rises up to bite you.

This makes the Black Friday game against Nebraska fascinating. Here you have allegedly the “best 3-8 team in the country” hosting what many believe is the worst 9-2 team in the country. This conventional wisdom was borne out in the opening line, which favored the team with a 1-7 conference record by 4 points over the team with a 6-2 conference record. With Monday’s surprise announcement that Adrian Martinez would not start at quarterback for the Cornhuskers, the line flipped to favoring Iowa, but only by a miniscule 1.5 points.

I don’t know if Vegas lines count as bulletin board material, but if I’m an Iowa player, I’m feeling a little disrespected. Apparently looking good while losing is more impressive than winning ugly?

At this point, conventional wisdom says your record reflects who you are. Friday's contest will be a good test of that theory. Based on results-to-date, this should be another knock-down, drag out slog with Iowa somehow finding a way to come out on top and Nebraska finding yet another novel way to grab defeat from the jaws of victory.

Prior to the season, I predicted Iowa’s record to be what I thought at the time was an overly optimistic 9-3. Now, I’d be pretty disappointed if that’s the final win-loss record.

Ten wins is a damn good season, regardless of the potholes hit along the way. Let’s hope the roads in Lincoln are smooth enough to bring our Hawkeyes home at a cheerful 10-2.

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