Jeffrey Becker/USA Today
Saturday Quotebook: Stanley Doesn't Mind The Bumps
IOWA CITY — Nate Stanley saw the interception, and knew he had to do something about it.
The Iowa quarterback had a pass to Tyler Goodson bounce into the hands of Purdue's Dedrick Mackey deep in Hawkeye territory in the fourth quarter of Saturday's 26-20 win at Kinnick Stadium.
Goodson picked off the pass at the Iowa 36 and was heading down the right sideline when Stanley corralled him at the Hawkeyes' 9-yard line.
Purdue ended up getting only a field goal off the turnover.
It was a day in which Stanley had to provide some contact. The senior had six carries for nine yards, a number reduced by an 8-yard sack
"I think it's just knowing, having the mindset to be a physical player out on the field," Stanley said of his hits. "In certain situations, you want to take hits off yourself by sliding, but sometimes you don't have that option to do that. It comes down to situations like you have a third-and-5 and you have to get five yards. You don't want to slide. You want to do everything you can and show that you're going to go 100 percent for your teammates, show, 'Hey, there's no quit in me either.'
"It's awesome to show a team that I'm not going to back down. You can hit me a hundred times, and I'm going to continue to fight, continue to lead my teammates."
Asked about Stanley's tackle, Ferentz said, "That would have been huge had he not done that. But that was a good effort. That's the way he's wired. He's going to give everything he's got out there. Had a couple runs mixed in there, too, that were good."
Stanley took the blame for the interception.
"That ball was not a very good ball," Stanley said. "I put him in a bad position for that. That interception is on me."
CONDOLENCES FOR REILLY: Former Iowa player Mike Reilly, an All-American who went on to play in the NFL, died Friday in Dubuque.
Reilly, 77, played at Iowa from 1961-63. After a career in the NFL with the Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings, Reilly returned to Iowa and worked as a broadcaster for Hawkeye games.
A legendary player. A great football player. Played linebacker, which is right in the center of all the action," Ferentz said. "And I met him as adult, that's really where I got to know him. So he was just always so positive, always so enthusiastic and just to me struck me as a can-do guy."
Ferentz remembered what Reilly told him in his first couple of seasons as Iowa's coach.
"It was, like, hey, you guys are going to be fine, you're doing the right thing, just keep pushing forward," Ferentz said. "So that was a part I appreciated."
PURDUE'S LACK OF RUN GAME: Purdue had just 33 yards on 18 rushing attempts, but the numbers didn't really surprise the Hawkeyes.
"That's not what they really do," defensive end A.J. Epenesa said.
"That's really not Purdue's DNA, they don't hang their hat on that realm," Ferentz said. "But there's almost a danger there in my opinion at least when you play a team like that because if you take that for granted then next thing you know they're hitting you for eight yards, 10 yards and those are really painful. So I thought our guys for the most part we gave up a couple runs today but they were pretty focused out there. And if you can at least make a team a little bit one dimensional it gives you a better chance to play well defensively."
