FanHouse James Vandenberg

Every Thursday, Pickin' on the Big Ten previews the upcoming weekend's games and ponders the meaning of it all, staring into the yawning existential void and calling a fullback dive on third-and-seven.

With one more loss, Michigan will become ineligible for a bowl game for the second season in a row. This has not happened since W.A. "Brad" Thornwhistle's disastrous first two seasons in 1847 and 1848. To avoid this horrible dishonor, all the Wolverines have to do is to beat Ohio State on Saturday. That will keep them alive for the Little Caesar's Pizza! Pizza! Bowl Bowl.

Below, former Buckeye Raymont Harris models the uniforms Ohio State will wear this weekend.
Your eyes don't deceive you. Raymont Harris still exists, and he's modeling the new throwback uniforms the Buckeyes will be wearing for this weekend's game at Michigan. This is where all you coastal and Southern types wonder aloud how anybody can tell if a Big Ten team is wearing a throwback uniform.

Of course, Columbus is the headquarters of Abercrombie and Fitch, Victoria's Secret, The Limited, and a few other fashion-type retailers. You'd expect some swanky threads on the Buckeyes sooner or later. But what else is going on in less fashionable parts of the conference?

Ohio State is going to the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1997. The foot of former Major League Soccer player Devin Barclay gave the Buckeyes a 27-24 overtime win over the Iowa Hawkeyes Saturday. Barclay's 39-yard kick came after Ohio State picked off Iowa quarterback James Vandenberg's desperation heave on the Hawkeyes' first possession of overtime.

Vandenberg, replacing the injured Ricky Stanzi, was unimpressive last week but performed much better after a week of preparation. The two defenses essentially dominated the game until the fourth quarter when OSU started running effectively and Iowa began to throw the ball almost at will.

One little loss to Northwestern can change everything. Iowa looked like the team to beat in the Big Ten title race, but now that it has fallen to the Wildcats and Ohio State has beaten Penn State, all the momentum has moved back to Columbus. Technically, both the Hawkeyes and Buckeyes control their own destiny. Whichever team wins Saturday's game is the presumptive conference champion.

Now go try to figure the odds that Iowa can win in the Horseshoe with a redshirt freshman quarterback making his first career start with no run support to speak of.

We finally figured out what sort of misfortune Iowa's Cardiac Kids couldn't survive. They couldn't survive losing Ricky Stanzi. As a result, No. 8 Iowa fell to unranked Northwestern on Saturday, 17-10.

The junior quarterback left just before halftime after Northwestern's Corey Wootton tackled him in the end zone. Stanzi sprained his right ankle and fumbled the ball. As Northwestern's Marshall Thomas recovered the fumble for a touchdown, Stanzi remained on the Kinnick Stadium turf. He would walk off the field on his own power, but Stanzi would not return to the game. Neither would Iowa's offense.

Breathe easier, America: the Iowa Hawkeyes' luck finally ran out. Quarterback Ricky Stanzi was injured just before halftime of today's 17-10 loss to Northwestern in Iowa City. Stanzi was tackled in his own end zone by Northwestern's Corey Wootton. He sprained his right ankle and fumbled the ball. Northwestern recovered the fumble for a touchdown.

Stanzi did not return to the game. Redshirt freshman James Vandenberg, who holds most of the state of Iowa's high school passing records, replaced him. Vandenberg's first pass was intercepted by the Wildcats.

ESPN cameras showed Stanzi on crutches and in a protective boot during the second half.