It was a wild weekend in the Heart of America with three very close games and still an ongoing question as to which team will end up on top this fall.
A week after beating rivals and defending champs Iowa State, the Iowa Hawkeyes shut out Missouri in the most lopsided win of the weekend. Iowa State, but the way, played a non-conference game against Northern Iowa, and won. Iowa, for their part, have been piecing things together nicely and controlled the game 64-0.
Iowa were led by lock Jacob D'Aniello and center Kevin Tomkins in what was, overall, a strong team display.
Things were a little different elsewhere
Wayne State held off a tenacious Nebraska 29-20 in a game in which the Bobcats were hit with a lot of penalties.
With four starters out and very little ball to work with, Wayne State had to be deadly when they got possession.
"They were a physical team but when we were able to play we were the more skillful," said Wayne State Head Coach Bryn Chivers.
The Bobcats led early when prop Trent Draper popped off the back of the maul and thundered over. Nebraska answered with a smart kick-chase that bottled up Wayne State when the Bobcats tried to run out of their own in-goal. Really what they needed to do was touch the ball down and use the goalline dropout. Wayne State was eventually penalized and the Cornhuskers tapped and big prop Ben Nyberg worked his way to the line.
Nebraska scrumhalf Eamonn Boyle added a very nicely-taken penalty goal from about 38 meters out to nudge Nebraska ahead. Late in the first half Nebraska had another prime scoring chance. Somehow Wayne State held them out. But, finally, they got a penalty, tapped, and put center KL Hill over for a 13-7 lead as halftime approached.
Wayne State inched closer just before the break after a long box kick from scrumhalf Ben Donnelly and a speedy chase from wing Titha Marah. Nebraska was penalized for diving over in the ruck, and WSU tapped quickly, recycling and putting hooker Mandisi Ndlovu over in the corner to make it 13-12.
Nebraska put Wayne State under pressure in the first several minutes of the second half and finally the pressure told and they got it over. Boyle was good on the kick and the Huskers led 20-12.
Penalty trouble or no, Wayne State made the penalties they got pay off. They took the lineout on one such infraction, worked the maul, and then a rumblin', stumblin' power run from Anthony Chambers put him over for a crucial score. The kick was good and it was now 20-19.
Both teams had excellent chances to score again, and Nebraska's last prime chance proved to be their undoing. With a penalty 10 meters out, the Huskers tapped. But they got their wires crossed and Wayne State stole the ball. A long kick found space and Marah was on his horse. The ball rolled and rolled into the Nebraska 22. Marah toed it ahead, and then when the ball popped up again he was able to grab it and fall over the line for a 95-meter turnaround.
That was the game-winner. With Nebraska pushing to get that lead back Wayne State unleashed a long-range try with wing Joad Fernandes selling a dummy and racing in from long range. That finished it off at 29-20. Marah, not surprisingly, was named player of the game.
