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.
Every Thursday, Pickin' on the Big Ten runs down the weekend's games from inside a chicken coop, at least as far as you know.
Cue the inevitable anti-Iowa backlash. A team that barely got by Arkansas State and Northern Iowa is somehow No. 1 in the nation according to the computer polls the BCS uses. Don't like it? Line forms to the left. Kirk Ferentz even agrees with you.
Shouldn't the computers' top ranked team have at least some sort of offense? Yes, of course. But whose fault is that No. 1 ranking?
Every Thursday, Pickin' on the Big Ten gives you the bottom line on the upcoming weekend's games.
Every team now has six games on the books. Well, Illinois doesn't, which is good news/bad news. Illinois fans have only had to watch five games so far; that's good news. They have seven games left to watch, which is not such good news.
This would be a perfect time for mid-term report cards, but letter grades are so one-dimensional, don't you think? There are more meaningful comparisons to be made. Make the jump and see every Big Ten team compared to ... well, just go and look.
Every Thursday, Pickin' On the Big Ten previews the weekend's action, even when the truth is ugly.
It was a bad week for vowels.
The seven Big Ten schools whose names start with consonants played anywhere from OK to brilliantly this past weekend. The four that start with vowels -- Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Ohio State -- all dropped a pantload on the field.
Illinois gets a partial pass because Missouri has been on a nice run lately. Ohio State played a Navy team that usually goes bowling. Indiana struggled with a Division I-AA FCS school, but they're Indiana; you kind of expect these things from them after a while.
That leaves one school. Iowa. And if I was an Iowa fan ... wait. I am an Iowa fan. Make the jump and see what has me feeling punchy. I promise I'll get around to the games eventually.
Every Thursday, Pickin' On the Big Ten previews the upcoming weekend's action in The Conference Everybody Loves to Hate.
Oh, it's here. It's finally, finally, finally here. No more depth-chart speculation, no more arguing about who is the best SAM in the conference, and only one more week until the game that will either restore the Big Ten's swagger or send it sobbing into the bathroom. The teams are ready, the stadiums are ready (well, except for Minnesota's), the cheerleaders and bands are ready, the vast charcoal forests of northern Michigan have been shaved to the ground, the beer cows of Wisconsin have been "milked" into millions of brown glass bottles ... it's time for some football, y'all.
So, grab a beverage, throw some cheddarwurst on the grill, and let's take a look at this weekend's action-packed slate of games, shall we?
While it doesn't really come as a shock, Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz announced today that Jewel Hampton (blocking, right), the man tasked with taking over Shonn Greene's running back job, will miss the entire 2009 season with a knee injury. While the exact injury Hampton suffered was not disclosed, Ferentz confirmed that Hampton will have surgery and is likely to redshirt this season.
Hampton's injury seriously dims Iowa's hopes for improving upon last season's success. Hampton was Greene's backup last season and was the only running back on the roster with significant game experience. Former walkon Paki O'Meara (pictured. with ball), who has played a little, moves into the starting spot, though it is likely Ferentz will use multiple backs.
O'Meara isn't the only Hawkeye who must now step up his game.
The college football season is fast approaching, with many fall camps set to open this week. Thus it's time to lay aside our interregional bickering and turn our thoughts to, you know, what might actually happen on the field.
The big question in the Big Ten this season is whether Penn State's conference championship was just a momentary burp in the conference's Buckeye-dominated food chain, or whether things might actually be shifting just a bit in the conference. Do the Buckeyes claim the title again? Will the Nittany Lions defend last year's crown and make a run at the national title? Will there be some giant, world-rocking surprise team that comes in and knocks them both out of the BCS?
Twitter has become a favorite public relations tool of several prominent college football coaches, with USC's Pete Carroll, Tennessee's Lane Kiffin and Florida's Urban Meyer all having more than 10,000 followers.
But Iowa's Kirk Ferentz insists that there's no way he'll ever tweet -- in fact, he'd rather be clubbed with a baseball bat than caught tweeting about what he had for breakfast.
Look, it doesn't matter if you think Kirk Ferentz is overpaid. The University of Iowa doesn't think so, because they announced today that Ferentz has signed an extension which will keep him in Iowa City (theoretically) through 2015 at a salary of $3.02 million per year.
The deal was agreed to in principle back in April but wasn't signed until last week. The extension comes after a season in which the Hawkeyes returned to their early 2000s form, knocking off No. 2 (at the time) Penn State and becoming the only team in the conference to win its bowl game.
Needless to say, Ferentz is one coach who won't be flying coach any time soon.
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.
Every Thursday, 
Every Thursday, 
Every Thursday, 
Every Thursday, 
Every Thursday, 
While it doesn't really come as a shock, 
The college football season is fast approaching, with many fall camps set to open this week. Thus it's time to lay aside our interregional bickering and turn our thoughts to, you know, what might actually happen on the field.
Look, it doesn't matter if you think 
