Currently: - Game info: 12:00 pm EDT Sat Oct 31, 2009
Ricky Stanzi showed how calm he can be under pressure as he led Iowa on a game-winning touchdown drive as time expired in the team’s last game.
The seventh-ranked Hawkeyes will be looking for the same kind of leadership from their quarterback as they try to remain at the top of the Big Ten standings now that they’ve lost their leading rusher for the season.
Looking to win its 13th straight, Iowa will try to overcome an injury to Adam Robinson when it hosts Indiana on Saturday.
The Hawkeyes (8-0, 4-0) have faced plenty of pressure all season with several nail-biting victories, and their most recent game was no exception. Down 13-9 with 1:37 remaining, Stanzi executed a 10-play, 70-yard drive, connecting with Marvin McNutt on a 7-yard touchdown pass as time expired for a 15-13 victory over Michigan State last Saturday.
“It speaks to our players, the character that they have,” said coach Kirk Ferentz, whose team won by three or fewer points for the fourth time and is fourth in the Bowl Championship Series poll. “They realized they still had time.”
The victory was costly, though. Robinson, a freshman who set career highs with 27 carries and 109 yards against the Spartans, will miss the rest of the regular season with a left ankle sprain.
Robinson, who has rushed for 629 yards and five touchdowns this season, was pressed into service when Iowa lost expected starter Jewel Hampton for the season due to a knee injury suffered during fall camp.
Freshman Brandon Wegher is expected to handle most of the carries now. He’s rushed for 321 yards and three touchdowns on 87 carries.
“Our margin for error is really thin, and I think our players understand that,” Ferentz said. “Thus far, at least they haven’t seemed to be affected by anything going on outside, and it’s a tribute to our leadership. We’re getting really good leadership.”
The loss of Robinson puts even more pressure on Stanzi, who was 11 of 27 for 138 yards in East Lansing.
Stanzi is a big reason the Hawkeyes are atop the Big Ten despite unspectacular numbers—he’s sixth in the conference with 214.4 yards per game and seventh in completion percentage (57.1).
Still, he was a big factor in rallying Iowa from a third-quarter deficit in a 21-10 victory at then-No. 5 Penn State on Sept. 26, and helped the Hawkeyes erase a 10-point deficit in a 20-10 road win over Wisconsin on Oct. 17.
“We’re not the most gifted team,” Ferentz said. “But the guys have really played well together. They’ve played through tough situations, whether it be the injuries, with other younger players stepping up, and then through tough situations … But it doesn’t seem to matter what the situation is. The guys, they stick together, they play hard and they finish the game.”
Stanzi could be in for a big performance this weekend as he faces a Hoosiers defense that is allowing a conference-worst 246.6 passing yards per game.
Indiana (4-4, 1-3) is also coming off a contest with a late game-winning play, but the Hoosiers were on the other end, losing 29-28 to Northwestern on Saturday after Stefan Demos kicked a 19-yard field goal with 21 seconds left.
They led 28-3 at one point.
“It’s very tough,” linebacker Matt Mayberry said. “Obviously every time you come up on the losing end, it’s a bad result. But it’s even worse when you’re out there fighting and then it doesn’t go our way. But we’ve just got to get ready to go back to work and it’s a great opportunity to go and play Iowa.”
Giving up big plays has been a problem all season for Indiana, which is ninth in the conference in allowing 392.5 yards per game. Opponents are scoring 26.5 points per game against the Hoosiers.
Indiana lost 45-9 in Bloomington to the Hawkeyes last season as Stanzi threw two touchdowns.
