Game of give and take

The football team giveth and the football team taketh away. Like a child playing in a bathtub turning tides, a game of momentum in Iowa City went back and forth. \n"It's hard to get momentum on the road," coach Terry Hoeppner said at the post-game press conference.\nFor the adolescents of the Big Ten, a team which has grown up rapidly before the eyes of every Hoosier, seizing the lead remained a problem. \nMoments of momentum were met with missed opportunities. Following a touchdown late in the third quarter, the special teams gave the offense another chance after recovering a Damian Sims fumble on kickoff. Yes, momentum! One play later Blake Powers' only interception took that opportunity away. No, momentum!\nAt the start of the fourth quarter, Kyle Killion gave IU new life falling on top of a ball coughed up by Iowa running back Albert Young. Beautiful! Then the offense took away the momentum by losing nine yards in three plays and punting. Blasphemy!\nAnd still with 9:51 left in the fourth quarter, IU remained in the game. Despite a 24-21 score favoring the Hawkeyes', a James Bailey touchdown had catapulted momentum into the throws of the Hoosiers. \nIn response, Iowa received the ball and marched down the field quicker than it takes Lindsay Lohan to face plant into a Scarface-ized pile of powder. \nFour plays and eighty yards later, the score and the game were never the same. It was so close, yet so far for an IU program that has lost 15 straight Big Ten road games. \nOf course, it was not the fault of the defense. They caused the turnovers that the offense never capitalized on. But it was not the fault of the offense either. When they brought the game within a field goal, the defense relented a touchdown four plays later. \nIt was a team effort. It was give and take. \nThe Marching Hundred, the band donned in cream and crimson, did its best to give the football team a home field advantage. On first downs they pointed towards the goal line. On Iowa's touchdown celebration chanting the letters I, O, W and A from each corner of the stadium, the band drowned them out by playing "Indiana, We're All For You." The band was resilient swamped in a sea of yellow and black.\nAnd on a day when both quarterback and wide receivers played spectacularly, there was much to make music about. \nIt was only fitting that the press box served popcorn as wide-out James Hardy provided enough entertainment this year to fit an entire movie reel. In the first half alone, Hardy had 118 receiving yards culminating in a jump ball that he plucked out of the sky. For a few moments I temporarily forgot that Randy Moss played for the Oakland Raiders and not the Hoosiers.\nSo give the Hoosiers credit that they put Iowa on their heels. Take away from the game that the offense ran 101 plays and still could not topple a Big Ten team. But overall, winning is a process. \nIt is a process that takes rebuilding. IU has not defeated Iowa in Kinnick Stadium since 1994. \nIt is a process of experience for the young underclassmen. They have an understanding after their first few games in a conference charged atmosphere. \nIt is a process that will teach. It is a process that will work. But for right now, it is a process of give and take.