Iowa Football: The Hawkeyes' 2013 Superlative Awards

It is the end of the 2013 regular season, and Kirk Ferentz and his Iowa Hawkeyes are eons from where they were one year ago.

At the end of November 2012, Iowa was 4-8, and the popular consensus seemed to be that the only thing that allowed Ferentz to keep his job was his hefty contract.

Sports Illustrated's Stewart Mandel called Ferentz one of the five worst coaches in college football, and many of the Iowa faithful were tired of losses to the likes of Central Michigan and three-point losses to seemingly everyone else.

And then, "Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in."

The Hawkeyes defied expectations, went 8-4, finished fourth in the Big Ten and only lost to teams that finished in the Top 25.

Nevertheless, which players, which plays, which games were the best and the brightest?

This article will attempt to give the credit where credit is due.

Some fans may not have noticed it, but what some people consider the most conservative program in the most conservative conference in the country added some new wrinkles.

Some didn't work or died a quick death—flirtations with the zone-read option—and some, such as pulling the center and guards, worked well from the beginning.

The most notable offensive innovation was the three-tight end set—hey, what a grand concept—that made its debut against Ohio State. It worked splendidly, but Iowa used it irregularly, much to this columnist's chagrin. 

In effect, the best innovation was on the defense with what has been called the Raider or the Psycho defensive package.

Ben Ross of the DailyIowanMedia.com documents the package, but basically it comes in on obvious passing downs and substitutes most of the defensive line for faster, linebacker types. Three of those rushers are in a stand-up front from which they may blitz or they may drop into coverage.

The goal is to confuse the offensive line, as the line will not know where the pass rush is coming from.

The success of the package is almost of less importance than its use. As I detailed following the 2010 debacle, Iowa's game plan under former defensive coordinator Norm Parker too often suffered from a lack of a plan B when plan A didn't work.

The Raider package is proof that the coaches have learned from their mistakes, and there is more in the playbook than rushing the front four and hoping one of them gets there in time.

"Unsung" and the guys in the trenches go hand-in-hand, and that is as true in Iowa City as anywhere else.

In effect, the two most likely candidates for this prestigious honor are junior defensive tackle Louis Trinca-Pasat and sophomore center Austin Blythe.

Blythe had an up-and-down freshman year, grabbing nine starts at guard. However, as Marc Morehouse of the Cedar Rapids Gazette noted, Blythe was always fated for center.

He made the move this past spring and has quietly done a solid job during his 12 starts in the middle. This season, look for him to garner all-conference awards on his way to becoming the first Iowa center drafted since Bruce Nelson in 2003.

Meanwhile, Trinca-Pasat's—or LTP's—numbers weren't eye popping, but as Iowa fans know, he has been taking on blockers and plugging up gaps all season, thereby allowing the linebackers to compile their own eye-popping numbers.

By the final few games, teams gave up on inside runs, and the Hawkeyes' final three opponents averaged a dismal 2.15 yards per carry (YPC).

For this reason, LTP is the unsung player of the year.

The best win of the season was Michigan, but the most complete game of the season was still against Minnesota.

As was the story of most games during the 2013 season, it wasn't as close as the 23-7 score indicated, but Iowa dominated what at the time was a 4-0 Minnesota.

After getting dismantled by Iowa, people doubted how genuine the Gophers were, but they still put together a respectable 8-4 season.

As for the Battle for Floyd, Iowa held the Gophers to a season-low 1.11 YPC. The best defense in the conference and the country—Michigan State—allowed them to get 3.65 YPC on the ground.

Meanwhile, while the offense had its issues, it owned the line of scrimmage, compiling 5.47 YPC and manhandling likely first-round draft pick Ra'Shede Hageman.

When the season began, the two-deep listed third-year sophomore Cole Fisher and third-year junior Marcus Collins as the backup weak-side linebackers. All signs pointed to one of these two reasonably experienced players taking the starting job next year, when starter Anthony Hitchens graduates.

Two months later, the strangest thing happened. Fisher and Collins were unseated by undersized true freshman Reggie Spearman. This is "strange," because Ferentz, for better or worse, tends to favor players who have paid their dues and stayed with the system.

It also says something about Spearman's upside. A true freshman who, only six months ago was reporting to homeroom class, has moved past two players with three and four years on campus.

Moreover, Spearman is one of the three "blitzers" in the aforementioned Raider package.

It probably isn't fair to Spearman to assess his potential this early, but true freshmen don't earn this kind of playing and practice time unless they are extremely talented.

Cornerback Desmond King nabs this one, and there is no question about it.

King came to Iowa as a 3-star prospect, via Rivals, out of Detroit. He had offers from seemingly most of the MAC, as well as Wisconsin and Indiana. He was a record-breaking high school defensive back with solid size, but the knock on him was his speed. In fact, Ferentz himself, via Rick Brown of Hawkcentral.com, said he projected King as a safety and not a cornerback.

However, the need was at cornerback, and that is where King has shined.

The plans were always to pull King's redshirt, but the true freshman took over the starting role in the second game of the season, after former starter Jordan Lomax went down with a sprain.

He has gotten toasted a couple of times, but as is the case for any cornerback, he has come back and played strong on the next play. Even more notably, he has improved drastically as the season has worn on.

In the final two regular-season games, he has been tasked with covering two of the conferences best wide receivers—Michigan's Jeremy Gallon and Nebraska's Kenny Bell. Gallon finished with six receptions for 47 yards, while Bell managed seven for 67. Neither of them averaged more than 10 yards per reception.

With one season under his belt, King is already one of the better tackling cornerbacks in the Big Ten. If his trajectory continues on its present course, he might opt to declare for the NFL draft after his junior year.

From spring through summer and into fall camp, there was a lot of buzz surrounding junior defensive tackle Carl Davis.

He was a rarity in Iowa City—a defensive tackle with genuine size—but he had struggled putting it all together.

In 2013, he put it all together.

As with his partner in crime, LTP, Davis doesn't have gaudy stats, but his job from the inside of the defensive line is not to pile up stats, but to tie up blockers, and he has been exceptional in that capacity.

It's hard to say where his next step will be, but if he keeps improving, he has the physical attributes to hear his name called on the first day of the 2015 NFL draft.

It was the fourth quarter, and there was just over two minutes remaining in the game.

Iowa was up by a field goal, but Michigan was driving. The Wolverines had the ball at the Hawkeyes' 40 and were looking at 2nd-and-12.

Quarterback Devin Gardner, who had been held quiet all day, settled into the pocket, saw Iowa in man coverage, spotted a running lane and took off.

It looked bad for the Hawkeyes as Gardner was four yards short of the first down and headed for the sidelines.

However, he was carrying the ball in the wrong hand. Senior linebacker Hitchens went for the strip, pulled the ball out and scooped it up just inches before it rolled out of bounds.

Game, set, and almost match. Iowa went on to convert two first downs to put the game away, and that was it.

Say what you want about Ferentz, but he has a winning record against Michigan, and this was the play that sealed it this year.

This is a tough one, as the Iowa offense didn't have any true go-to players.

Mark Weisman could always be counted upon, but he was banged up through the heart of the Big Ten schedule, and he is a limited running back.

Jordan Canzeri was a spark plug, but he barely saw the field until the Wisconsin game.

Kevonte Martin-Manley is a solid possession receiver, but his limitations are palpable.

C.J. Fiedorowicz is a red-zone nightmare, but he often disappeared between the 20s.

Finally, Jake Rudock was almost as good as one could ask from a quarterback who hadn't taken a snap until this season, but was he MVP-caliber?

In the end, the most dependable element of Iowa's offense was the offensive line, and the most dependable offensive lineman was junior left tackle Brandon Scherff.

Unfortunately for the Hawkeyes, that means NFL scouts are talking about him, as documented by NFL.com's Mike Huguenin; in effect, he could opt to leave after this season.

Of course, nobody could blame him, but for purely selfish reasons, let's hope he sticks around for his senior season.

Meanwhile, the defense has no shortage of big-time athletes who made plays when the team needed them.

Both defensive tackles—LTP and Davis—could make a case for themselves, but the bright stars of this defense were its three senior linebackers—Christian Kirksey, Hitchens and James Morris.

Iowa has had some great tandems at linebacker during the Ferentz era. The most notable twosomes were Chad Greenway and Abdul Hodge; and Pat Angerer and A.J. Edds.

However, Iowa under Ferentz has arguably never had as good a trio of linebackers playing at the same time.

Any one of the three could be called the defensive MVP, but I'll go with Morris.

He tied for third in the conference with four interceptions, was eighth with 98 tackles, tied for 11th with five sacks, tied for eighth with two forced fumbles and tied for fourth with 14.5 tackles for loss.

After three years of starting, most Iowa fans figured they knew what Morris had to offer, but it turned out he saved the best for last.