Happy Traveler Iowa Might Be on the Road to Pasadena : Big Ten: Hawkeyes rout No. 5 Illinois, 54-28, and need to win two of their last three for a berth in the Rose Bowl.

Has the Big Ten finally produced a team capable of blocking out the distractions and focusing on football New Year’s Day in Pasadena?

Stop snickering and consider the 1990 Iowa Hawkeyes, who Saturday moved into position to be the Big Ten’s Rose Bowl representative with their third major upset on the road this season--a 54-28 victory over fifth-ranked Illinois.

If the 13th-ranked Hawkeyes win two of their last three games (against Ohio State and Purdue at home and Minnesota on the road), they will play in the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1986, when they were beaten by UCLA, 45-28.

And if they can keep up the concentration that has carried them to road victories this season at Michigan State, Michigan and Illinois, the Hawkeyes, 7-1 overall and 5-0 in the Big Ten, might actually leave California with something other than souvenirs.

Iowa stepped into a particularly hostile environment Saturday--72,714 in Illinois’ Memorial Stadium energized by speculation that the NCAA’s investigation of the Illini basketball program, sparked by an Iowa assistant coach, could bring penalties some time this week. Iowa players woke up Saturday to a front-page headline in the Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette reading, “Bad Blood Boiling Over Illini-Hawkeye ‘Game of the Year.’ ”

But the Hawkeyes took the crowd out of the game by rushing out to a 28-0 lead and never looking back to win here for the first time since 1979.

Nick Bell, Iowa’s 255-pound tailback, gained 168 yards in 22 carries and scored two touchdowns. His backup, Tony Stewart, ran for 101 yards in 22 carries and threw a three-yard touchdown pass.

The Hawkeyes gained 540 yards in offense against the top-rated defense in the Big Ten. More telling is the fact that Iowa produced 297 yards--145 from Bell in 16 carries--and held a 34-14 lead at halftime against a defensive unit that had allowed only one touchdown in 15 quarters coming into the game.

“I never in my wildest dreams thought our offense could go out against a great defensive team like Illinois and just chop them up,” Iowa Coach Hayden Fry said.

Illinois’ senior defensive stars, nose tackle Moe Gardner and tackle Mel Agee, were nonfactors as the Iowa offensive line opened huge holes for Bell and Stewart.

Illinois, 6-2 overall and 4-1 in the Big Ten, started the game on an upbeat note, with Clinton Lynch returning the opening kickoff 37 yards. After Jason Verduzco threw nine yards to Shawn Wax, the Illini had second and one at their own 46-yard line.

But then the sky fell on them in the person of Bell.

Wagner Lester fumbled the ball away, allowing the Hawkeyes to take possession at their own 49, and Bell broke a 43-yard run on the first play from scrimmage.

Three plays later, Iowa was in the end zone, quarterback Matt Rodgers throwing five yards to wingback Mike Saunders.

The Hawkeyes quickly got the ball back after the next Illinois series went one-two-three punt, and they rode the running of Bell and Stewart 64 yards to another touchdown.

Fry went deep into his playbook on the scoring play--Stewart’s halfback pass to Danan Hughes--catching Illinois free safety Marlon Primous moving up to force the run.

“A good time for that,” Stewart said. “Coach Fry made a good call. Some people thought I was going to overthrow Danan, he was so wide open.”

Fory Wells was forced to punt from the end zone on the Illini’s next series, allowing Iowa to regain possession at the Illinois 43. This time, it took the Hawkeyes only four snaps to score, with Bell rushing the final 26 yards. The senior from Las Vegas made a quick cut at the line of scrimmage and ran through linebacker Romero Brice to break free.

“Nick and Tony get the extra yard for us,” Iowa center Mike Devlin said later. “That helps a lot. We open up a hole for them, and they get 10, 15 yards more on their own.”

Said Illinois Coach John Mackovic: “They were going to run the ball, run it right at us, and see if we could hold up. And we did not. Because of that, it gave them great confidence.”

When the Illinois offense again went nowhere, Iowa took over and went on a 67-yard, 11-play scoring drive to take a 28-0 lead 4:51 into the second quarter.

Faced with the big deficit, the Illinois offense meshed for the first time all day, scoring on Verduzco’s 20-yard pass to Wax.

But the momentum remained with Iowa, thanks to another unconventional call by Fry.

With the Hawkeyes lined up in field-goal position on fourth and four at the Illinois 14, holder Jim Hartleib, Iowa’s backup quarterback, took the snap, sprinted right and threw to tight end Matt Whitaker for a touchdown.

Illinois scored again on Verduzco’s two-yard pass to Lester to narrow Iowa’s lead to 35-14 at the half. But the Hawkeyes scored nine more points to take a 30-point lead into the fourth quarter.

That was far too much for Illinois to overcome.

“Iowa was ready,” Mackovic said, “they took advantage of every single possibility. They forced turnovers. They ran the ball hard right at us. They passed the ball. They picked up the blitzes when we tried (to blitz). They really didn’t give us much of a chance to get started.”