Iowa football focusing on another fast start after No. 11 Indiana’s explosive weekend

IOWA CITY — Logan Jones was watching a movie when he saw the final score between then-No. 9 Illinois and then-No. 19 Indiana.

The Hawkeye center tried to put some separation between himself and college football on his extra day off, but a 53-point Hoosier win quickly captured his attention.

“That was wild,” Jones said. “I didn’t expect that, I’ll tell you that. I know Indiana has a good football team, but to put up 63 points on anybody, that’s not easy to do.”

Iowa (3-1, 1-0 Big Ten) now faces now-No. 11 Indiana (4-0,1-0 Big Ten) in the wake of its dismantling Illinois. The Hawkeyes haven’t beaten a program ranked by the Associated Press in the last 10 tries, going back to the 23-20 win over then-No. 3 Penn State in October 2021.

The only easing into a conference schedule Iowa had was its 38-28 win over Rutgers Friday night. Even then, that wasn’t a simple matchup.

“We saw some growth from our football team, had our challenges in the first half, certainly,” Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said. “Those guys did a great job with their game plan and execution.”

Ferentz echoed some of Jones’ surprise to the Hoosiers’ win last week. The 63-10 win over Illinois was most points scored by a Big Ten team against any AP top-10 opponent.

The last team to hang 60-plus points over a top-10 program? Ohio State.

Now Iowa’s goal of quick starts are even more important against an Indiana team that loves to do just that.

“Where do you want to start? It's hard to find a weakness,” Ferentz said. “It really is. I'm not saying it's like playing Ohio State, but there's some similarities in my mind if you look at their offense.”

Iowa’s won four consecutive games against Indiana, and eight of the last nine, going back to 2008. In fact, the Hoosiers haven’t beaten the Hawkeyes in Iowa City since 2007.

This isn’t the Indiana that Iowa fans remember. This is a Hoosiers squad turned on their head, captivating the college football nation with a College Football Playoff appearance in Year 1 under head coach Curt Cignetti.

It helps knowing a gritty, second half win against Rutgers last week instilled more confidence into the Hawkeyes.

“We know what we're getting into,” wide receiver Dayton Howard said. “We obviously know they're a good team. We can compete with any single team, any team in the country, I feel like, based on the confidence that we have.”

Iowa’s running back room has rapidly dwindled, even with the growing offensive confidence. The Hawkeyes got Kamari Moulton back after his Week 1 injury, but they’re still missing Xavier Williams and Jaziun Patterson.

Ferentz said Patterson is out this week despite the junior listed on the depth chart. Instead, true freshman Nathan McNeil will rotate in, despite Iowa’s head coach initially hoping the freshman would get to observe more this season.

“The few, the proud, the free. Whoever is healthy is in there,” Ferentz said. “...That's pretty much where we're at right now. We'll play with the guys we have.”

It’s not a perfect scenario, but quarterback Mark Gronowski has shown steady improvement since his debut against Albany in Week 1. The run game is a Hawkeye staple, but Gronowski ability to scramble and find receivers could help balance the shorter RB room.

“I think that the trust in them has been growing every single week,” Gronowski said, “just continuing to believe in those guys. I can continue to give those guys chances again.”

The kind of win Indiana had over Illinois reinforced Gronowski’s belief in playing fast, aggressive football. He wants to make plays, whether it be himself or setting up his teammate.

More importantly, Iowa has learned to stay ahead of Indiana and not play behind. The Hoosiers haven’t trailed this season, and once they’ve got a lead, it can be hard to keep up.

“They've kind of been dominating teams from the jump and kind of keeping it on throughout the entire game,” Gronowski said. “So if we can try to do that on Saturday and kind of see how they react. I think it'll be important.”

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