IOWA CITY, Iowa -- There's a picture in the Hayden Fry Football Complex that would make Edvard Munch proud.
You know The Muncher, don't you? Norwegian artist who painted "The Scream" in 1893. Translated to pop culture, Macaulay Culkin basically struck the same pose as the painting's subject in Home Alone.
|
|
| Coveted coach Kirk Ferentz keeps working wonders in Iowa City. (Getty Images) |
Anyway, there's this picture of Iowa receiver Warren Holloway strategically located outside the reception area for coach Kirk Ferentz's office. Holloway is headed for the end zone, caught in the perfect Scream moment in the Capital One Bowl.
Perfect if you're an Iowa fan. Ed Munch models if you're one of the opposition's fans and cheerleaders in the background who look like they're uttering a collective hands-on-face, "What the heck?"
"All the LSU people?" Iowa quarterback Drew Tate said. "Yeah, I've seen it."
Tate also threw it, a 56-yard touchdown to Holloway as time ran out to beat the Tigers 30-25, a play that summed up this program lately.
What the heck?
Make that, what the Hawk?
With that pass, Iowa completed its best three-year run ever (31-7) in a season when it finished second-to-last nationally in rushing. That's more amazing considering Tate was Ferentz's fifth new starting quarterback in as many years.
Four of the top five rushers were hurt, three going down with season-ending injuries, one in each of the first three home games. Walk-on Sam Brownlee led the Hawkeyes with the program's lowest rushing total since 1938 (227 yards).
The average Iowa rush in Big Ten games gained 65 inches (1.8 yards). How hard is it to win that way? Thirteen teams won at least 10 games last year. Two finished below the top 33 in national rushing -- Georgia (No. 57) and Iowa (No. 116).
When told that Miami lost its quarterback, top rusher and best cover corner, Ferentz scoffs.
