Hardly anyone left. Long after the game clock struck 0:00 Saturday, most of the 70,397 at Kinnick Stadium stayed for the party.
No. 17 Iowa, a team that started the Big Ten season with a 13-point loss to Michigan, won a share of the league title with a 30-7 victory over No. 9 Wisconsin after Ohio State knocked the No. 7 Wolverines out of sole possession of first place.
“Today was one of those special environments,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. “It has been a great feeling because turning to the month of November, our guys did a great job and gave us a chance to make every game significant and today certainly was one of those.”
The Iowa student section stormed the field with 30 seconds left to celebrate Iowa’s second co-Big Ten championship in the last three years.
“These are moments you can’t buy,” Ferentz said. “That’s one of the great things about sports–you can’t buy them. It’s hard to earn them.”
As the gray November day wore on, this game gained importance. Fans and players found out what happened at Ohio Stadium early in the first quarter. The winner would get a share of the Big Ten championship and Wisconsin (9-2, 6-2) could go to the Rose Bowl.
“I saw it early and it got me a little bit fired up,” said Iowa senior safety Sean Considine of Byron, who had a key interception in the third quarter that led to a 21-7 Iowa advantage. “I think everybody out there saw it, but nobody said a word about it. I think everybody knew what it meant if we won.”
Sophomore quarterback Drew Tate passed for three touchdowns, and the Iowa defense presented the offense with four turnovers it converted into 13 points.
The Hawkeyes, who appear headed to Orlando’s Capital One Bowl, won their 18th straight home game and 13th straight Big Ten home game. Wisconsin is likely to represent the Big Ten at the Outback Bowl in Tampa.
Iowa (9-2, 7-1), which has lost four running backs to ACL injuries, did not have to face Badgers standout tailback Anthony Davis, who was out with a leg injury. Wisconsin could muster only 41 yards rushing on 30 attempts as linebackers Abdul Hodge and Chad Greenway had 11 and 10 tackles, respectively.
“His leg was very weak,” Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez said. “We thought he could get back. He had a light workout on Thursday, light work on Friday and he still couldn’t protect himself. . . . We’re a different team without him.”
That put the pressure on sophomore quarterback John Stocco, who completed 18 of 38 passes for 145 yards, was intercepted twice and lost two fumbles. He was sacked once by Willowbrook’s Matt Roth, once by Greenway and twice by Jonathan Babineaux. Iowa had 20 takeaways in its last five games.
The Hawkeyes took a 14-7 halftime lead on the strength of the scrambling Tate, who threw touchdown passes of 6 and 51 yards to junior wide receiver Clinton Solomon.
“He has a little magic to him,” Ferentz said. “It’s his car and he’s driving now.”
Tate was intercepted by Wisconsin safety Jim Leonhard in Iowa’s first two series, but bounced back. He guided the Hawkeyes 66 yards on nine plays in the third series. Tate hit Solomon for 6 yards for the first touchdown with 4:22 left in the first period.
The second touchdown pass was pure Tate. On a third-and-one situation, Iowa used a quick snap to catch the Badgers a little off guard. Still, Tate had to duck and twist away from the Wisconsin rush before he found Solomon running free down the center of the field for the 51-yard touchdown.
“He moves so much and so well, it puts you on eggshells, and you’re afraid to go after him,” Alvarez said.
Iowa evened the series at 39-39-2 and gave Ferentz a 53-52 record as a head coach. Iowa is 30-7 in the last three seasons.
“Does this end all those rumors about going somewhere else?” Ferentz said with a wide grin. “I think this is a pretty good place to be.”
