Antwaan Randle El slashed them and dashed them for four years and did it again another four quarters Saturday. But it's OK to come up for a breath. They can relax, release a collective sigh.
The scary good man is gone now. Randle El ate them alive one last time and they lived to tell about it.
The Hawkeyes snapped a three-game losing streak to Indiana, 42-28, before 68,295 fans at Kinnick Stadium. He did it again.
Randle El conducted an offense that churned out 468 yards, including 308 rushing yards, but it's OK.
If the Hawkeyes have a facial tic, it's called Randle El. He had them twitching one more time, running the Hoosiers' option offense to perfection. But they can laugh about it, now. The scary good man is gone.
"Maybe later," Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said. "I didn't see anything too funny out there today. I'm not Pop Warner or Alonzo Stagg, but I don't know if I've seen a better college football player."
The Hawkeyes' offense, a sputtering proposition the last two weeks, punched in. Quarterback Kyle McCann was dead on. Receiver Kahlil Hill was a weapon. And running back Ladell Betts was a bully.
Iowa ran 50 offensive plays to Indiana's 84 and gained 454 yards, averaging 9.1 yards a play to Indiana's 5.6. The Hawkeyes were a perfect balance, rushing for 226 and passing for 228. They scored touchdowns on their first four drives, and played a game of one-up with Randle El, matching and surpassing him along the way.
"It was a lot of fun," said McCann, who completed 12 of 16 for 223 yards, three touchdowns and an interception, bouncing back nicely from last week's four interceptions at Michigan State.
"We were able to do whatever we wanted, running the ball, throwing the ball, making big plays. That makes it fun."
The duel with Randle El started right off, third play of the game.
Iowa offensive coordinator Ken O'Keefe snared a play from Central Michigan's playbook, running Hill in motion and stopping him behind the left guard before the snap.
McCann rolled out and hit Hill, who made a reverse pivot into the flat. Tight end Dallas Clark and wideout Chris Oliver landed blocks and Hill toed the sideline for a 75-yard TD.
"I knew it was going to be a good play," said Hill, who caught three passes for 93 yards and two TDs. "If the guy bit, I thought maybe 15, 20 yards. But Chris was banging heads down field, so it went the distance."
Indiana (1-5, 1-3 Big Ten) answered. Holy Cow, the Hoosiers answered.
Iowa had the Hoosiers with a third-and-7 from their 5-yard line, but Randle El rolled out and took off for 11 yards, setting the tone for monster 14-plays, 98-yard TD drive.
And the game was on. Randle El against McCann. Randle El against Hill, Clark, C.J. Jones. Randle El against Betts, who ran like a mad bull, rushing 22 times for 172 yards.
In the end, Iowa had just enough defense. Indiana had no defense.
THE HAWKEYES made one defensive stop in the first half to get the crack they needed.
Behind the offensive line's best performance since Kent State, the Hawkeyes marched 80 yards on 11 plays to take a 14-7 lead with two minutes, 27 seconds left in the first quarter. Sophomore running back Aaron Greving scored the first of his two TDs, but Betts did all the work, gaining 50 yards on six carries.
"We felt like we couldn't stop anybody," Indiana linebacker Devin Schaffer said.
Then, the stop, the one real stop. Randle El was stopped for a 6-yard gain on a third-and-9. Advantage Iowa.
With time enough to write the Great American novel, McCann hit Jones on a crossing pattern. He caught the pass at Indiana's 40, broke one tackle, got a late block from Clark and scored from 59 yards, his first TD.
That gave Iowa a 21-7 lead, a two-touchdown safety valve that came in handy when the Hoosiers twice pulled within seven points in the second half.
Iowa's offensive line pummeled the Hoosiers. "It's about time," said offensive line coach Joe Philbin. "I think we can have a hell of an offensive line before it's all said and done."
Still, the Hawkeyes were nervous. That was the scary good man, after all. Randle El accounted for 301 yards and scored two TDs. Tailback Levron Williams rushed for 144 yards on 24 carries and scored two TDs.
"It's kind of like a seesaw battle," Randle El said. "When that happens, you've got to just continue to do your part on offense and score. We just continued to believe our defense is going to give us a chance and get them stopped." But Randle El is one man, with, seemingly, six legs and four arms.
The Hawkeyes defense is 11, actually way more than 11 Saturday. The Hawkeyes constantly rotated fresh defenders into the game. They needed them all.
"I was getting tired," said outside linebacker Grant Steen, whose pale face and bluish lips said tired. "I don't know how Randle El does it. He's all over the place and he doesn't seem to lose a beat."
But the Hawkeyes won. Their stats are sprained, but they lived and now can laugh it off.
- Marc Morehouse