Iowa out to prove last season wasn't an anomaly
Iowa was one of college football’s most surprising teams last season, going undefeated in the regular season to win the Big Ten West division title. However, it isn’t how a team starts the season that counts, it’s how it finishes.
One drive was all that kept the Hawkeyes from winning the Big Ten championship and competing in the college football playoffs.
Iowa had multiple opportunities to stop Michigan State during a nine-minute, fourth-quarter drive. The most pivotal was a fourth-and-2 on Iowa’s 5-yard line. Make the stop, and Iowa earns a spot into the college football playoffs.
Instead, Connor Cook converted, and the Spartans scored the game-winning touchdown a few plays later. The Hawkeyes tasted their first defeat of the 2015 season, earned a berth in the Rose Bowl, and ran into a buzzsaw in Stanford, losing 45-16.
Two defeats to end an impressive season.
As painful as those losses were, they serve as motivation for this year’s team. "We left two games out there that could have defined what kind of team we were," said cornerback Desmond King. Because of this, the Hawkeyes are taking a different mental approach this season, having gained an understanding of what it takes to make it to the top.
Not only does this mean digging down deeper during drills, but also ignoring the high expectations accompanying this year’s team.
Iowa isn’t flying under the radar anymore, as Big Ten writers overwhelmingly chose the Hawkeyes to win the West division. It’s easy to see why, considering Iowa returns 13 of its starters from last year’s squad, including King and quarterback C.J. Beathard, who are the leaders on either side of the ball.
Having this leadership is invaluable, because the Hawkeyes have a firm grasp on what they want to do: finish last year’s business. To do so, they can’t worry about expectations.
"Coach Kirk Ferentz does a good job at talking at us, preaching to us, that we can’t listen to the outside noise," Beathard said. "If you listen to that stuff, it will just mess with you. You just gotta ignore that and focus on getting better as a team."
To build momentum for this season, Iowa looks back at the success it had in 2015.
Though the Hawkeyes lost their last two games, they still went undefeated in the regular season, which is a remarkable accomplishment. Beathard told reporters last year’s success "Gave us some confidence. It gave us some momentum going into this season. We’ve done 12-0, we know what it takes to get there. Now, we have to take that next step forward."
Opportunities exist to develop that momentum over the season. Iowa plays a night game in Happy Valley against Penn State - never an easy place to play - and also hosts Michigan. These games, coupled with rivalry battles against Nebraska and Wisconsin, provide the Hawkeyes plenty of opportunity to excel in high-pressure situations.
Beathard understands the grind of the season, and won’t take any games for granted. "None of those games are going to be easy. If you think they are going to be easy, you’re going to be beaten. We can’t go into situations saying this game is going to be tough. They’re all going to be tough games."
Beathard’s attitude reflects the leadership this team needs. Because they’ve been there before, they know what it takes to win every week.
The Hawkeyes have the drive to finish what they started last season. And with Beathard and King as anchors, they are building the leadership to put them in the position to get there. If they make it back to Indianapolis for the Big Ten title game, they might use last year’s disappointing experience as this year’s gain.