It's Sports Illustrated's Fault!

They had a kick-ass class of battleships named after them, though.

oldebayer: They had a kick-ass class of battleships named after them, though.

There's a class of battleship named Hawkeye?

Honestly, the only reason Iowa lost was they lost their quarterback. If he's back for OSU, I still see the Hawkeyes beating them, and Iowa still takes the Big 10. If not, the Buckeyes win and get a Rose Bowl bid I didn't see coming.

GAT_00: Honestly, the only reason Iowa lost was they lost their quarterback. If he's back for OSU, I still see the Hawkeyes beating them, and Iowa still takes the Big 10. If not, the Buckeyes win and get a Rose Bowl bid I didn't see coming.

What I've heard is that Stanzi is out for at least the next two weeks, and maybe for the Bowl game. The fact that he was on crutches on the sideline in the second half doesn't bode well for a speedy recovery. It's a damn shame, because I'd rather have Iowa at full strength.

Guess the refs couldn't bail them outta this one.

At least the Big 10 wont have anyone in the Championship game, thank God.

Go go TCU.

Quasar: Guess the refs couldn't bail them outta this one.

They definitely did last week versus the hoosiers.

/Inconsolable.

The quarterback play wasn't the only changes at Kinnick stadium for Iowa when one compares the game they played against Indiana versus the game they played against Northwestern. Against Indiana, they got several gift calls from the refs and the ball took some mighty strange bounces in their favor. Against Northwestern, they got none of that.

But the biggest change that I noticed was from the cameramen panning the crowd. Against Indiana, it appeared that they were searching the crowd for the most butt ugly women possible. Every shot of the Iowa coeds produced women who were more than somewhat beauty impared. Then, the next week against Northwestern, the cameramen panned the crowd and seldom showed an Iowa woman who wasn't a babe. And this is what I'm thinking caused the loss, not the veteran quarterback going down and the newbie freshman not making plays. Lady Luck got jealous, and deserted Iowa because of the freaking ESPN cameramen.

fark Iowa.

They had a great run. I've never seen so much hate for a team of underdogs. I didn't quite understand it, as I thought people tended to that sort of thing. I guess they just like the same teams winning year in and year out.

TheJoe03: At least the Big 10 wont have anyone in the Championship game, thank God.

This bears repeating.

Yeah well....at least two dudes can get married here in Iowa!!

/little known fact: Ricky is not Stanzi's real first name. It's actually more like "GODDAMNIT STANZI!", or "WHO ARE YOU THROWING TO STANZI?!" The most common name however is still "farkING STANZI DID IT AGAIN!"

YonderScott: TheJoe03: At least the Big 10 wont have anyone in the Championship game, thank God.

This bears repeating.

Not inherently true, unfortunately. A two-loss team can get into the national title game, even ahead of an undefeated non-BCS team! If Iowa wins out and finishes 11-1, they still COULD get into the title game if everyone else fails hard enough. Cinci would have to lose once, and at least two of the current top 3 teams would have to lose twice (Texas, Bama, Florida).

It's incredibly unlikely, though. Texas doesn't have anyone left to challenge them this year. Alabama and Florida also have easy schedules left. To me, this is what the BCS will end up looking like:

Rose: USC vs Ohio State (Either team could easily change)
Fiesta: TCU vs Oregon (Oregon could be replaced by Pitt, Arizona, Iowa, Penn State, OK State or Miami)
Orange: Cincy vs GA Tech
Sugar: Loser of Bama/Florida vs Boise
NC: Texas vs Florida/Bama

There are a few interesting games that will sort things out from here. Iowa/OSU is one. Cincy/Pitt (Pitt only has 1 loss, and that's out of conference), GA Tech/Miami, Stanford/USC, USC/Arizona, and Arizona/Oregon. The PAC 10 and Big 10 are the really interesting conference races at this point. The SEC and Big 12 are pretty much set. The Big East and ACC, while not taken seriously, are set up to be competitive for the rest of the year.

Outside the BCS, Utah/TCU should be interesting. BYU/Utah could also be very interesting. Nevada/Boise might be worth a watch. I'm curious to see if Temple, Central Michigan, Houston and Troy can run the table the rest of the way.

Freak: Go go TCU.

If they win out, TCU and Boise St. should both definitely be in a BCS Bowl...playing each other.

That's too bad. I liked Iowa.

KiwDaWabbit: They had a great run. I've never seen so much hate for a team of underdogs. I didn't quite understand it, as I thought people tended to that sort of thing. I guess they just like the same teams winning year in and year out.

It's really more of an animosity for the Big 10 generally than it is for Iowa specifically. If they were Vandy, or Stanford, or Syracuse for instance, they would be getting a lot more favorable attention.

/You can blame Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State for consistently flopping in BCS bowls recently
//Washington, Miami, Oklahoma, and Texas have all won Rose Bowls more recently than any Big 10 team too
///At least you essentially have a semi-final to get to the Rose Bowl this year

PolarBoy: /Inconsolable.

Huh?

studleystudstutterson: It's really more of an animosity for the Big 10 generally than it is for Iowa specifically. If they were Vandy, or Stanford, or Syracuse for instance, they would be getting a lot more favorable attention.

/You can blame Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State for consistently flopping in BCS bowls recently
//Washington, Miami, Oklahoma, and Texas have all won Rose Bowls more recently than any Big 10 team too
///At least you essentially have a semi-final to get to the Rose Bowl this year

Part of the problem is that Big Ten teams usually wind up playing USC. They've lost one bowl game ever under Pete Carroll, right? So, they tend to make everyone look bad. Iowa's worst bowl loss under Ferentz was to USC. However, they have beaten Florida, LSU, and South Carolina in bowl games this decade, so, sure, they're not lights out, but they are better bowl performers than people may give them credit for. Sometimes when the Big Ten goes 1-6, 2-4, etc., in Bowls, one of those wins is from Iowa.

That all being said, the silver lining of Iowa losing is that they might go to a bowl that they could reasonably win. I suppose that's part of what fueled the haters. Well, as it turns out, everyone got what they wished for, so they can find some other team to rail on from here on out. The only really crappy thing is that Stanzi might be out for the rest of the season, so this is the time when we get to see what this team is really made of.

studleystudstutterson: /You can blame Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State for consistently flopping in BCS bowls recently

Yep. As a Michigan fan, it has been painful to watch the B10 flops in BCS games. With the exceptions of OSU earlier this decade and PSU in the Orange Bowl a while back, it has been Michigan losing three Rose Bowls in four years, OSU losing three straight BCS games, and the last two debacles in the Rose Bowl (including the one that Illinois had no business being in).

The only MILD success the conference has had is winning six of the last ten Capital One Bowls.

KiwDaWabbit: They had a great run. I've never seen so much hate for a team of underdogs. I didn't quite understand it, as I thought people tended to that sort of thing. I guess they just like the same teams winning year in and year out.

As a TCU fan I had a hate for them for selfish reasons, but I think the majority of the nation had underdog hate for them because of:

1) VERY questionable calls that went their way to save their game
2) The quality of the wins they did get vs. unranked teams
3) The number of times they had to win it in the last quarter of the game
4) They're not TCU.

/ok maybe not so much the fourth.

KiwDaWabbit: They had a great run. I've never seen so much hate for a team of underdogs. I didn't quite understand it, as I thought people tended to that sort of thing. I guess they just like the same teams winning year in and year out.

I firmly believe it's not the hate of the team, but the hate of the rabid Hawk fans. I know every team has rabid fans, but I think Iowa has a thicker population of them as compared to other teams.

what a strangely prosaic headline. is that seriously the best you could come up with?

/agree that iowa was much luckier than it was talented