Sargent Sets A New Tone

Running back's two carries on Iowa's last touchdown run against Purdue gave him confidence.

They were two of Mekhi Sargent’s runs for Iowa in Saturday’s 26-20 win over Purdue — fourth-quarter bursts that clinched the victory.

Combined, they made up one of the Hawkeyes’ two touchdown drives — the first one a 21-yarder, the second one for 14 yards and the score.

“It was a tone-setter,” Sargent said. “Even though it was late, we set the tone with that.”

Sargent knew that there were only 2 minutes, 16 seconds left in the game when he scored, but there were two messages sent.

One, the Hawkeyes could still run the ball.

Two, Sargent was back.

Sargent, Iowa’s lead running back, seemed out of sorts in the previous two losses. He fumbled on his first carry in the Oct. 5 loss to Michigan, and seemed erratic from that point.

Sargent is Iowa’s leading rusher this season — he has 83 carries for 397 yards and three touchdowns — but he had just seven carries for 12 yards in the 10-3 loss to the Wolverines, then had nine carries for 18 yards in the 17-12 loss to Penn State.

He had 13 carries for 68 yards against Purdue, a sign that maybe he had broken through his struggles.

The last two runs maybe set more than one tone.

“It was huge for me, personally,” Sargent said. “I wanted to do that, have something to be proud about. I wanted to finish strong. We had the game in our hands, but we wanted to clinch the win. I wanted to be a part of that.”

“Those were two great runs for Mekhi,” center Tyler Linderbaum said. “It was great to see him get those runs, build some confidence.”

Sargent said the fumble had bothered him.

“It hung with me for a few days,” he said. “We’re still in season. You don’t want to be, I think, thinking negative the whole time, dwelling on the past. My thing was to just move forward. A lot of football left. Just down the line, there’s a lot of football left. I just want to be the best player I can be.”

Iowa finished with 102 rushing yards. The Hawkeyes had just 71 in the losses to Michigan and Penn State.

“I wish we were rushing for 250 a game, in a perfect world,” coach Kirk Ferentz said. “I think we made progress last week. I think things looked a little more cohesive with our blocking. It starts there.”

“I think it was good for us to have that last drive,” Linderbaum said. “Something to build on.”

It’s a foundation, Sargent thinks, for his future.

“As a football player, I feel like you have to go through adversity at some point,” he said. “It all starts at practice, the basic fundamentals, you know? Just moving forward, we just want to capitalize on every opportunity.

“Yeah, I was facing adversity. I wasn’t the first to cough the ball up. And I won’t be the last.”