Iowa Swings for a Big Ten Championship

Hawkeyes Will Look to Senior Quarterback Tate for Leadership

Iowa quarterback Drew Tate plays golf to relax, though that doesn't stop him from occasionally throwing clubs. "I can drive," Tate said. "But once I pull out an iron, I'm trouble."

While playing in a fundraising tournament staged by the Iowa athletic department this summer, Tate stared down the 199-yard 13th hole at Finkbine Golf Course in Iowa City and pulled out one of those troublesome irons.

He took a swing and watched his 6-iron turn into a hole-in-one.

"That's a once-in-a-lifetime thing," said Tate, who remains slightly bitter about the NCAA rules that kept him from claiming the sport-utility vehicle that came with the feat.

Nevertheless, Tate in many ways is Iowa's ace in the hole.

The Hawkeyes look positioned to challenge Ohio State for the Big Ten championship. At the center of it is Tate, who passed for 2,828 yards and 22 touchdowns last season. The star quarterback wants to make the most of his senior campaign in which he has at least an outside shot to win the Heisman Trophy.

"This is my last camp, my last year, and football is never going to be the same again after this year," Tate said. "Even at the next level, it's going to be fun, but there's other stuff. It's business."

Even with a young wide receiving corps this season, Tate is in position to put up big numbers. Running back Albert Young, who overcame two injury-plagued years, comes off a breakout season. Young rushed for 1,334 yards and eight touchdowns after starting the final 11 games.

At 6 feet 7, tight end Scott Chandler gives Tate a big and reliable target. Chandler caught a team-high 47 passes for 552 yards -- second among all Iowa receivers.

The Hawkeyes welcome back plenty of talent along both lines, though the defense looms as Iowa's biggest question entering the season.

Defensive end Kenny Iwebema created problems for opposing offenses with seven sacks, though his status is uncertain after Coach Kirk Ferentz suspended him for a week during camp.

Outside linebacker Edmond Miles needs to pull together a unit that loses Chad Greenway and Abdul Hodge, who finished 1-2 in the Big Ten in tackles last season.

Safeties Marcus Paschal and Miguel Merrick bring consistency to the middle of the secondary, but the Hawkeyes also lost a pair of cornerbacks with a combined 7 1/2 years of starting experience.

But Iowa has built a 45-17 record over the past five seasons, despite lesser talent compared with Michigan and Ohio State. Much of that success comes from the stability provided by Ferentz and his coaching staff.

Because of his time as an NFL assistant with the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens, Ferentz is often trailed by rumors of a jump to pros. But Iowa athletic officials restructured Ferentz's contract through 2012, with a new salary that reportedly pays him $2.8 million annually.

"My contract situation has been addressed, so that might help curtail some of that talk now," Ferentz said. "We focus on what's in front of us."

Iowa's schedule proves somewhat unforgiving, with a bye not coming until the final week of the season. But the Hawkeyes have a good chance to go 4-0 before playing Ohio State on Sept. 30.

"My goal personally -- and I'm pretty sure it's one of Coach Ferentz's -- is starting fast in September," Tate said. "If we can start fast, that's going to help us in the long run."