FanHouse KirkFerentz

The University of Iowa has had its run-ins with the law over recent years, and as a result, Kirk Ferentz has been pretty tough on any player who runs afoul of the law. Get busted for public intoxication? That's a minimum four-game suspension. Not even his seed is exempt from these rules.

So it's no surprise that Iowa receiver Shaun Prater has been suspended indefinitely following his OWI arrest early Saturday morning. What is somewhat surprising, however, was Prater's excuse to the cops upon being pulled over. Yeah, he was drunk, but it wasn't his fault. The bartender spiked his drink!

Kirk Ferentz has always done a good-to-great job at Iowa. Because of his work, he is traditionally one of the hotter names that gets thrown around every time there is an NFL vacancy.

But now that Iowa has inked him to a seven-year extension, you have to imagine that it will be at least next year a few seasons before anyone starts linking him with vacant head-coaching positions at a higher level.

Rumors abounded quite frequently near the end of the 2008 NFL season as to where Bill Cowher might or might not coach next year. It turned out, he was just fine and dandy hanging out in the CBS booth, kicking it with Boomer Esiason and Dan Marino, even with the wonderful opportunity to coach Brett Favre dangling out there.

That's not entirely surprising though. What is surprising is that rumors about Cowher's potential employement for 2010 have already gotten a kickstart. From Adam Schefter, it appears that his buddy Boomer is already discussing on his WFAN radio show the possibility of Cowher as a replacement for Herm Edwards in Kansas City following 2009.

Yeah, I know what you're thinking, smart guy. You're thinking this post should be one letter long, and that letter should be 'F.' It's true that the Big Ten did little to advance its reputation during the season, and even less during the postseason. In spite of it all, there are still a few diamonds among the, um, whatever else it is the diamonds are scattered among.

They're scattered among things like 35-3, a 1-6 bowl game record, the fall of the Michigan dynasty, a tragically unwarranted and completely unjustified preseason overrating, several regressions to the mean, and the worst sendoff since the last episode of "Seinfeld."

So we'll go through the league team by team, painful as that is, to build up the successes and try to understand the failures of Big Ten football in 2008. Yes, I used "success" and "Big Ten football" in the same sentence without the connecting phrase "lack of." Deal with it, Buck. Every team gets an overall grade and a quick look at its prognosis for the 2009 season. For you Big Ten fans, I promise you it's not all bad news; for you Big Ten haters, I promise you it's not all good.

A year ago, the Browns, having just missed the playoffs with a 10-win season, headed into the new year with high hopes for the future. They had young, emerging stars at quarterback, wide receiver and tight end, and head coach Romeo Crennel was about to sign a contract extension for his role in the organization's turnaround.

Apparently, six months of unwatchable football is all it took to undo all that. Last Sunday, general manager Phil Savage had to turn in his Blackberry, and a day later, Crennel was kindly asked to do the same.

Now, the team has two front-office vacancies, and owner Randy Lerner wasted very little time interviewing Patriots vice president Scott Pioli to replace Savage. The two met yesterday and according to the Boston Herald, Pioli must decide today if he's going to take the job. The issue: Pioli's demands are so ridiculously high that the Browns aren't sure he's serious about leaving the Patriots.

Make it 12 for 12 as Iowa's Shonn Greene has now rushed for over 100 yards in every single one of the Hawkeyes' games this season. Greene's night was over with more than 11 minutes to play after Iowa went up 55-0, which was how the game ended up. He finished with 144 yards on 22 carries and scored two touchdowns. Greene unofficially finishes with 1,727 yards for the season. That may not be enough to give him the rushing crown, since Connecticut's Donald Brown has more games to play. Nonetheless, it's quite an accomplishment for a guy who was delivering furniture at this time last year. Greene now owns Iowa's all-time season rushing record as well.

This was the final home game ever for Minnesota in the Metrodome. If the Gophers and their fans had any mixed emotions about leaving their home for the past quarter century, this game should help them get those feelings sorted out. The Gophers were dominated by Iowa in every phase of the game except kick returning. Minnesota's Tony Stoudermire returned nine Iowa kickoffs for 285 yards, which is quite impressive until you realize what it means that your return guy ran back nine kickoffs.

His name is Daniel Murray, and he didn't just kick the field goal that put Iowa over Penn State, 24-23. He also kicked a hole in the national title picture. Thus, the young man is not merely the toast of Iowa City tonight; they're raising a glass to him in Gainesville, Los Angeles, Austin, Norman, and Stillwater.

Or at least they'd better be.

While some fans out there think the conference's official name is The Big Ten Is Overrated, face the facts: An undefeated Penn State team was going to the national title ahead of any one-loss team from the SEC or Big 12. You don't have to think such a thing would be fair. You just need to accept that it was the truth. The voters weren't going to deny Joe Paterno another shot at the national title after he'd been shut out so many times before with teams just as undefeated as this team is. WAS. Sorry.

I tried to warn you. I told you on Thursday not to assume that Iowa would lose. I made my case for why Iowa, and not Michigan State, was the team on Penn State's schedule with the best chance to beat them.

He's a sneaky one, that Kirk Ferentz. He seems almost Mister Rogersish with his low-key demeanor and his dry sense of humor. You'd have a much easier time believing he was the chair of the English department at some small liberal arts college, not a coach in a BCS conference.

Let it be said, however, that the man is now responsible for not one but two of the cockiest decisions I've ever seen a head coach make. The first happened four years ago, when he took an intentional safety against Penn State, effectively telling Joe Paterno "You're not going to get the ball in field goal range." Ferentz put the Hawkeyes' fate on the backs of his defense, and they responded. They picked off Michael Robinson on the very first play.

The second happened in today's Iowa-Indiana game. It's hardly a secret that Ferentz has been on every hot-seat list from coast to coast and in all four corners of the Internet. Iowa fans in the know, however, have been aiming the poison arrows at Ken O'Keefe, Ferentz's offensive coordinator and long-time friend. (O'Keefe gave Ferentz his first job in coaching, at a Connecticut prep school.) Ferentz has heard his critics, and today he answered them.

After the Hawkeyes' latest stultifying loss, Iowa athletic director Gary Barta would like you to know he likes what he's seen from the team this season.

"We have a young team," Iowa's athletic director said. "I like where we're headed with the players that we have.

"We have to win some games, and we all know that."

Yes. We also know that water is wet, feet are useful, and the Large Hadron Collider has not yet destroyed the universe.

Okay, to be fair, losing three games by a total of nine points isn't the most shameful fate a team can endure, especially if the losses are to three teams which are no worse than slightly above average, which aptly describes Pitt, Northwestern, and Michigan State. Yet it seems to irk some fans, as Barta knows:

"I continue to have great confidence," Barta said. "When you lose close games, people tend to get upset, and I understand that."

Call me crazy, but I don't understand that. I can live with a Hawkeye loss so long as I got to see a good football game.

God bless you, Week 3. Finally, it's time for football with outcomes less predictable than Al Davis' wardrobe or what happens when you leave PJ Hill alone with a Twinkie. Here's 10 games to watch other than Ohio State-USC.

Kansas vs. South Florida, Friday 8PM

Why We're Watching: Velour. Please, Mark Mangino, bring back the velour. We'll plant a velour tree, write velour ballads and pray to a velour god who wears gold chains and sleeps on a circular bed (Which is probably James Caan).

Then there's the football, as two previously not-ready-for-primetime teams meet on national television in a game that's as much about this season as a dipstick on the state of two climbing programs. Quarterbacks Matt Grothe andTodd Reesing are the constants from last year's teams, but both the Bulls and Jayhawks have to prove that they've successfully rebuilt key areas of their teams. South Florida lost two four-year starters at cornerback to the NFL draft and replaced them with Jerome Murphy and Tyller Roberts, two players with two career starts entering the season. Kansas lost its leading rusher and its leading receiver, but seems to have no problem filling the holes with Brandon Anderson-styled powerback Angus Quigley and an array of receivers (Reesing has completed passes to 11 different players).

But the matchup of the game will be South Florida's George Selvie against red-shirt freshman lineman Jeff Spikes. Selvie led the nation in sacks last year, but hasn't had the chance to so much as touch a quarterback inappropriately this season. He's due, which should alone send a shiver down Bulls' fans like they just hired Isiah Thomas to run the team. And if that doesn't strike enough fear, consider this: When he was a kid, George Selvie had a Buick fall on his head. If you think that doesn't make you an unstoppable badass, ponder it some more with the entire Wisconsin offensive line sitting on your head to add to the realism.

If South Florida wins, they likely won't play another ranked team this season until they meet West Virginia in December. [ Ed. Note -- The Bulls edged out Kansas on a dramatic last-second field goal. ]