FanHouse Austen Arnaud

Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads says junior quarterback Austen Arnaud is ready to return to the Cyclones starting lineup this week when they take on Oklahoma State.

Arnaud, a two-year starter for the Cyclones, has been sidelined the last weeks with a bruised throwing hand. He was injured during the Oct. 17 win over Baylor.

Rhoads says Arnaud was close to returning to the lineup last Saturday at Texas A&M but that his velocity just wasn't there so he stuck with redshirt freshman Jerome Tiller for one more week.

Riding a pass defense that kept the field clogged all afternoon long, the Iowa Hawkeyes broke a six-year road jinx with a 35-3 victory over Iowa State at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames.

Six Cyclone turnovers combined with a plethora of other mental errors to doom Paul Rhoads' team. Quarterback Austen Arnaud simply couldn't find his receivers all afternoon long, going 10 for 22 and only racking up 79 yards. The junior from Ames threw four interceptions, with backup Jerome Tiller adding one more and tailback Alexander Robinson fumbling once.

Iowa's offense was far from wonderful in the first half, with quarterback Ricky Stanzi overthrowing receivers or simply heaving the ball towards no one at all. For the Hawkeyes, though, the real story was the emergence of two stars.

I'll have a lot more to say about this weekend's Iowa-Iowa State game Thursday morning in Pickin' On the Big Ten, but you, faithful college football fan, need to be aware of a rare occurrence involving that game, as both the Hawkeyes and Cyclones find themselves in possession of the unfortunately not-so-rare Two-Headed Quarterbeast. Iowa's goes by the names of Ricky Stanzi and Jake Christensen, while Iowa State's is known as Austen Arnaud and Phillip Bates.

Now, normally, when a coach has to unleash the Two-Headed Quarterbeast, it's a sign that neither quarterback can be trusted to handle an entire game himself. That may or may not be the case here. For the Hawkeyes, though Kirk Ferentz insisted Christensen was his guy after the Maine game, this will be the second week Stanzi gets the start. Both quarterbacks have played well against complete nobodies this season, though Stanzi has shown more poise, while Christensen is still a threat to wound any ducks in the vicinity of Kinnick Stadium. Stanzi hasn't faced a real pass rush or a decent secondary yet, however, so don't be surprised if Christensen sees more than just spot duty this weekend.

And for the Clones? That's another story. In Ames, it's definitely not the case that one quarterback seems to be better than the other. They're both pretty darn solid. Arnaud is a greater deep threat, but Bates is slippery, fast, and confident. Just like the Hawkeyes, however, the Cyclones really haven't played anybody yet, so the early returns on their quarterbacks may not be accurate either.

Look, I know nobody outside the state of Iowa gives a rat's bonkus about this game unless they're from there, but how often do you get to see a two-quarterback system that seems to work well for both teams? Answer: not very.

Spring practice has always been a time of offensive and defensive scheme installation, fundamentals and player evaluations. But this year's spring practice also has Big 12 coaches channeling their inner Olivia Newton John. That's right, it seems everyone in the conference is getting physical.

At Texas, it has been new defensive coordinator Will Muschamp who has the Longhorns playing tougher.

"We've had the most physical practices we've ever had," [head coache Mack] Brown said. "We were more physical last spring, but this spring we've just continued. Obviously, Will's come in with some new defensive thoughts and we're working on those."

The players seem to be catching on:

"Every day, we're hitting, no matter where we are," cornerback Deon Beasley said. "Inside the bubble, outside, we're hitting. I think it's good for us to get some contact and for us to show that we're not only a fast team, but we're a physical one as well."

Nebraska's new head coach Bo Pelini also wanted the Huskers focusing on physical football.

Pelini labeled last year's defensive performance "irrelevant" and said he hasn't watched any of the tape from last year. He'll spend some time trying figure out what talent he has, and "tweaking" the scheme to the players. It will also be more physical.

"We're not gonna be out there playing tag, I promise you that," Pelini said.