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Iowa Football: Trevor Lauck Recalls Celebration At Michigan
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- Iowa Football: Trevor Lauck Recalls Celebration At Michigan
(IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect)
As Iowa fans continued to watch the replays of their improbable victory over Michigan last weekend, further analysis of the celebration following Reece Vander Zee's game-winning touchdown catch on the game's final play revealed two things.
First things first, the CBS TV cameras made sure to film any reactions from Hawkeye fans inside Michigan Stadium that they could find, but the focus was also to get as many shots of the team celebration, too.
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The jubilant reactions were exactly what you would expect. Vander Zee chucked the football in the air after being mobbed by a sea of white jerseys, and head coach Kirk Ferentz gave his classic double thumbs-up before shedding a few tears.
As the celebration continued throughout the remainder of the day, fans on social media began to point out one small detail - star offensive lineman Trevor Lauck being pushed by Wolverine safety Chris Bracy.
Lauck barely reacted, if at all, when the push happened, which led some fans to believe he was too busy worrying about celebrating instead of battling his opponent.
But that's not what happened. Lauck was in fact aware that Bracy pushed him, but he said there was no bad blood between the two at all. Lauck said Bracy never said anything to him, and he chalked the encounter as a funny one.
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"In his defense, I was running down there pretty fast, honestly. And if you saw me running down there like that, you'd probably try and brace too," Lauck aside. "So I don't want him to seem like the bad guy here."
Lauck spent Iowa's well-established 24-hour rule (where the Hawkeyes focus on the previous game for 24 hours before moving on) rewatching the Vander Zee touchdown approximately 20 times and checking social media for the fan reactions.
"It was pretty cool thing to see all those videos and see all the fans and George Kittle and all the people posting about it. It was pretty awesome," Lauck said.
But the 24-hour rule is now long over.
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In Lauck's own words, it's time to flip the page to a very important Big Ten home opener against No. 5 Ohio State at Kinnick Stadium on Saturday afternoon (2:30 p.m., CBS).
Defeating the Buckeyes, which some consider to be the most-talented team in the country and a heavy favorite to win a second title in three years, isn't going to be easy, especially if the Hawkeyes continue to stall in the run game.
Ferentz didn't show much concern with his ground game at his weekly press conference on Tuesday , but the numbers haven't been what Iowa has hoped so far - at least against Power Four competition. While the Hawkeyes tallied 711 rushing yards against Northern Illinois and Northern Iowa, they managed just 151 against Iowa State and Michigan (average of around 75.5 yards per game).
Lauck knows those figures probably need to increase to beat Ohio State, and it starts with cleaning up the things they can control - making sure everyone is blocking their correct assignments and avoiding procedural penalties.
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Lauck is confident the offensive line will improve as the season rolls along (they do feature a new center, after all), but then there's also things they can't control, too. Both Iowa State and Michigan stacked the box and dared Iowa to beat them through the air, and it can be hard to block when safeties enter the equation.
"[On] Saturday we're just kind of blocking the linebackers and the defensive line and stuff, but when safeties come down, it has the ability to change who we're going to and stuff like that," Lauck said. "It really depends on the game plan."
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HawkeyeRoundtable publisher Brad Schultz has covered the Iowa Hawkeyes since 2023. To send him story ideas, scoops, or criticize his writing, reach him at bradschultz@roundtable.io
