Or co-Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week, anyway -- he also had to share the honor with just Northwestern's Venric Mark, who had a key punt return for a touchdown in jNW's heart-stopping 42-41 win over Syracuse.
Special Teams Co-Players of the Week
Mike Meyer, Iowa
Jr., PK, Dubuque, Iowa/Wahlert
• Booted four field goals, tying a career best, against Northern Illinois, accounting for 12 points in the Hawkeyes’ 18-17 victory over the Huskies
• Converted on field goals from 22, 29, 34 and 50 yards, with the 50-yarder coming with 9:30 remaining in the fourth quarter to cut the NIU lead to one possession
• Wins his second career Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week honor
• Last Iowa Special Teams Player of the Week: Mike Meyer (Nov. 8, 2010)
As I noted in the recap earlier, Meyer was a big part of Iowa's win on Saturday. The offense was held out of the end zone for the first 57:45 of the game, and each of Meyer's four made field goals was critical in keeping Iowa alive until they could get that touchdown. His 50-yard field goal (after slipping, no less) was a fantastic achievement, especially under the circumstances (swirling winds and considerable pressure -- Iowa was down 8 with less than ten minutes to go in the game). Meyer also drilled three touchbacks on his kickoffs, which helped take one of NIU's most dangerous weapons, kick returner Tommylee Lewis, out of action.
Hopefully we don't need to rely on Meyer to make four field goals every week to get a win (although if he does, he should be a shoo-in for the Groza Award), but it was nice to see him drill them this week and nice to have a kicker that we can have some degree of confidence in. All four of his made field goals looked very good and the one that missed was just right. If Meyer can keep up this level of play going forward, it will give us one less thing to worry about.