IOWA CITY, Iowa - Kirk Ferentz said his red-shirt freshman was going to be better in Game 2 than he was in Game 1.

The Hawkeyes' veteran head coach was right. Boy, was he right.

James Vandenberg, a red-shirt freshman from Keokuk, Iowa - a city, er, town, whose population is about one-tenth of the capacity of Ohio Stadium, took command of an 18-point underdog Iowa team and passed it into overtime, an overtime that it lost by a field goal but made a statement, a big-time statement.

Vandenberg completed 20 of 33 passes for 233 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He connected with nine different receivers. He was sharp from the opening snap until the game's end. The college football critics - and there are many, including one national television pundit who gave Iowa two chances to win in Saturday Columbus: "slim" and "none" - will focus on his three interceptions and a sack in overtime that probably took Iowa out of field goal range.

Let the record show, however, that the red-shirt freshman was the real deal. He completed long ones - a 55-yarder to Derrell Johnson-Koulianos. He completed short ones - nice yardage-gaining screens to Adam Robinson and Tony Moeaki.

And, of course, he completed big ones, two of them to Marvin McNutt in particular: A 9-yard strike with 3:31 left in the third quarter that tied that game at 10-all. Then, in the face of 100,000-plus cheering against him, he show his touch with a soft 10-yarder that McNutt reached over his defender to tie the game at 24-all and set up overtime.

"He played with great poise, great mental toughness and great physical toughness," said Ferentz of his rookie. .raisedquote {font-family:arial, helvetica; font-size:14px; font-weight:700;} .raisedquotesig {font-family:arial, helvetica; font-size:12px; font-style: italic;}

He played with great poise, great mental toughness and great physical toughness." Kirk Ferentz on red-shirt freshman quarterback James Vandenberg

"We've had the benefit of being around him for the last 18 months. He just give you a good vibe. He gave us a chance to success and that's all you can ever ask."

Vendenberg left a big-time impression of former NFL player and general manager, Matt Millen, who was working the game for ABC.

He's a cucumber out there...as cool as you can be," Millen said after Vandenberg fired a strike between to OSU defenders to find McNutt, who ran a perfect slant route.

"Man, Sean (McDonough). This kid looks like a fifth-year senior," Millen added during Iowa's game-tying drive, an 8-play, 70-yard march into an Ohio State defense that is routinely heralded as the very best in the Jim Tresell-era at OSU, a collection of year that has had its share of great defenses.

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