IOWA CITY, Iowa -- They call it "complementary football" around here like Iowa football is a concept that has to be understood more than followed. They're not haughty about it. They walk around with "Punting Is Winning" T-shirts. They celebrate the guy who drives his corn harvesting machine to the tailgate same as if it was tricked out RV, complete with TVs.
They shout to out-of-towners, "Wanna beer?" at 10 a.m. for a 3 p.m. kickoff. In other words, everybody pitches in whether it's game day or the game itself.
Iowa is famous for its defense -- and cockeyed psych jobs (the visitor's locker room is still painted pink) -- but Saturday reached a new level.
If you were hung up on the No. 3 Hawkeyes undefeated success halfway through the season hinging on an that complementary intermingling of offense, defense and special teams, you missed a heck of a show.
You missed a quarterback who was putrid before he was legendary in Iowa's 23-20 win over No. 4 Penn State. Spencer Petras started 1 of 9 then was money down the stretch, throwing the game-winning 44-yard touchdown to a guy named Nico (Ragaini) from a Connecticut prep school with 6:26 left.
You missed a secondary that has its mind on money. That group -- the self-described "Dough Boys" -- picked off four more passes making it 10 in the last two games and 16 for the season.
They're the Dough Boys, corner Matt Hankins explained, because, "It's all about the paper. It's all about the money." Yes, the rush for getting one's own has to be considered complementary football, too.
You missed an Australian punter, Tory Taylor, who dropped six of his nine punts inside the 20. You also missed the savviest of Iowa fans -- the student section -- chanting "M-V-P, M-V-P" for Taylor when he dropped two foot wedges that checked up inside the 10 in the tense, taught fourth quarter.
You missed 6-foot-5 linebacker Jack Campbell, on his way to an All-American season, cleanly leveling Penn State QB Sean Clifford in the second quarter. Clifford left the field clutching his lower right back and never returned.
Penn State then missed him. Backup Ta'Quan Roberson, a redshirt freshman who had thrown all of seven passes in his career, was not up for the moment. After Clifford had guided the Nittany Lions to a 17-3 lead, Roberson oversaw an offense that committed eight false start penalties. Roberson himself threw two of the four interceptions.
"The ball eventually finds you if you do the job," said another one of those Dough Boys, free safety Jack Koerner, who had one of the interceptions.
Finally, you missed a field storming. It wasn't the first at Kinnick Stadium, but the students who bum-rushed the playing surface clearly had something stored up. They largely didn't get to see their Hawkeyes during the COVID-19-altered 2020 season.
For every "this is the best night of my life" heard from the giddy students, there was also order. No one was hurt. In fact, there was room made amid the mayhem for those feeling claustrophobic or scared by the crowd.
"That was the hardest part of the game, getting through that mosh pit," center Tyler Linderbaum said. "I'm not going to lie. I might have a slight concussion from being on the head [by fans]. Just kidding. Don't tell the trainers."
"Smart football fans. They know when to cheer," Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz added. "They've always appreciated defense in my 30-years plus here, which means they're smart because, especially in this day and age, nobody cares about defense."
Not until lately. This was the kind of Big Ten grinder that even a few years ago folks would look down their noses at. They interpreted the defensive battles for a lack of speed in the Big Ten. This game was full of elite defenders and elite plays. This was just as thrilling as Texas, Oklahoma, Ole Miss and Arkansas combining for 206 points on Saturday.
The game-winning play had formed in practice this week with all the innocence of drawing it up in the dirt. Petras rolled right on sort of a naked bootleg and fired back across the field to the wide open Ragaini. What was the coverage? What was the route? Who knows?!
"We don't really have a name for the route," Ragaini said. "... I was thinking about it all game. I was hoping that [we] would call it."
Ragaini is here because Iowa quarterbacks coach Ken O'Keefe went to the same Connecticut high school.
"All I wanted to do was play big-time football like this my whole entire life," Ragaini said. "One day in … high school, Coach O'Keefe gave me the call, and I packed up my stuff and was here three days later."
The touchdown catch was his first two years and only the third of his career. With the win, Petras became the winningest quarterback in school history (12-2 as a starter, .857). You probably missed that, too.
It was a long, slow, slog back for Iowa. Penn State scored on its first three possessions to go up by two touchdowns with 12:31 left in the second quarter. Roberson went from throwing those seven career passes to being thrown the keys to the car.
Following Iowa's first touchdown drive that cut it to 17-10, the oomph went out of Penn State's offense. Roberson entered and played eight snaps over the final three series of the half. That span included four false starts on four different Penn State linemen.
That's what made it even sweeter. You knew this was going to be tight. This was a meeting of the No. 2 and No. 3 scoring defenses. Penn State hadn't lost in Iowa City since 2010.
And you have to admit, if Clifford had stayed healthy, the Nittany Lions probably would have won. Clifford came into the game the highest-rated passer in Penn State history. He left 15 of 25 with two interceptions, dragging the heart-and-soul of Penn State's effort with him.
Penn State still can win the Big Ten East if Clifford recovers and if it survives. There are huge games still to go against Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State. Meanwhile, Iowa seems a deadlock to win the Big Ten West. It is 6-0 with no currently ranked teams left on the schedule. Better yet, the Hawkeyes don't have to play Michigan, Michigan State or Ohio State.
Yes, it's OK to dream about a College Football Playoff berth, too. This season has the look of 2015 when an undefeated Iowa came within 27 seconds of going to the CFP before losing to Michigan State in the Big Ten Championship Game.
It was a seminal moment for Ferentz because players talked of his emotional state in the locker room. That had to be true because the longest-tenured coach in FBS kind of teared up twice in his postgame comments. It was Iowa's first win in a game involving two top-five teams since the epic 12-10 victory here in 1985 that catapulted the Hawkeyes to the Rose Bowl.
Ferentz was coaching the offensive line for Hayden Fry that year.
"Lots of jumping, music going, dancing with recruits," running back Tyler Goodson said. "It's a moment nobody else can feel unless you're in athletics, period."
Be reminded: Iowa hasn't won a Big Ten title since 2004. That's 17 long years. Ferentz was quick to point out that nothing is won yet. That's what coaches do. If they're smart, they also take a step back to admire what they've accomplished.
The day started with a salute to newly named College Football Hall of Famer Bob Stoops (Iowa, 1979-82). Stoops, now a Fox analyst working the game, helped pour the foundation for that ball-hawking defense you saw Saturday.
The day ended with a complete, complementary football victory.
"I'm not sure it can get any better," Ferentz said.
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October 10, 2021 at 12:24PM
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Playing old-school complementary football, Iowa is putting on a show you do not want to miss - CBS Sports
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