NU hands Hawkeyes first loss of season
IOWA CITY - This is why teams watch and re-watch video on their opponent during the week.
Why they prepare as if they expect to win, even when their school hadn't beaten a top-5 team in 50 years and the first few minutes make it seem like it'll be another 50 years.
With No. 4 Iowa enjoying a 10-point lead on Northwestern early in the second quarter - but backed up at its own 6-yard line on an unseasonably warm Saturday - senior defensive end Corey Wootton noticed the Hawkeyes lined up in the same formation they used last week for a 92-yard, play-action touchdown pass against Indiana.
Sure enough, Iowa quarterback Ricky Stanzi faked a handoff and bootlegged to his right.
Right into Wootton.
Not only did Wootton force a fumble that defensive tackle Marshall Thomas recovered in the end zone, he landed his 285 pounds on Stanzi's right ankle and knocked him out for the game and beyond.
"I just got up the field and saw that it was a boot," Wootton said. "I kind of lucked out in a way."
Or, more likely, the preseason Playboy All-American finally received karmic payback for the knee and ankle injuries he has fought for the last 11 months.
Either way, Wootton's play gave Northwestern all the momentum necessary to pull off the 17-10 Big Ten upset before 70,585 jammed into Kinnick Stadium.
The Wildcats (6-4, 3-3), who became bowl-eligible for the third year in a row, hadn't beaten a top-5 team since a 14-10 win at Iowa on Oct. 3, 1959.
While the Hawkeyes (9-1, 5-1) tumbled out of the BCS title chase, the Wildcats celebrated like crazy at midfield. Then they raced to the stadium's southeast corner to sing "Go U Northwestern" with hundreds of purple-clad people.
Among the many hugs shared on the FieldTurf? New school President Morton Schapiro bonding with athletic Director Jim Phillips - and head coach Pat Fitzgerald sweeping Phillips off his feet in the tunnel before they charged arm in arm into the joyous locker room.
"This isn't the destination," Fitzgerald said. "We fully expect to continue to keep playing better. This is a great program win - it's obviously critically important to show the direction to all those recruits throughout the country that, absolutely, Northwestern is for real.
"You better get on the boat right now, 'cuz the ship's leaving the shore."
But in the opening minutes the Wildcats were the ones left on the shore looking forlorn.
On the third play from scrimmage, Stanzi hit wideout Marvin McNutt for an easy 74-yard touchdown pass as safety Brian Peters fell for a double move. Iowa added a field goal on its next possession to go up 10-0 just five minutes and 10 seconds into the game.
Wootton's play reversed the momentum and highlighted a string of 4 Iowa turnovers in as many possessions.
Backup quarterback James Vanderberg, a redshirt freshman who had never played in a Big Ten game, threw his first pass straight into linebacker Quentin Davie's hands.
From there backup quarterback Dan Persa drove the Wildcats 46 yards for the game-winning score - a 4-yard, play-action pass to tight end Drake Dunsmore that made it 14-10 with 5:20 left in the half.
The rest of the game was a field-position affair as Northwestern, which lost Persa to a hand injury late in the third quarter, dared the uncertain Vandenberg to lead Iowa the length of the field.
In his eight possessions - all of which began inside Iowa's 40 - he directed the Hawks into NU territory just one time. That drive ended with a 44-yard missed field goal.
NU's Stefan Demos drilled a 47-yarder early in the fourth quarter to put all the heat on the Hawks.
This time there would be no Iowa comeback. Not with Stanzi encumbered by crutches and a walking boot on the sidelines.
The Hawks still have a shot at their first Big Ten title since 2004, but it will be with Vandenberg (9 of 27, 82 yards) at the controls.
"The bottom line is we weren't good enough to overcome the problems that we caused ourselves in the first half," Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. "The problems that they forced."