Make no mistake about it, the Iowa Hawkeyes are a lucky, lucky football team right now. They needed a few questionable calls to beat Indiana, a bad football team.

And they’re also not a “sexy” team like a Florida or USC, as they needed two blocked field goals to beat Northern Iowa at home and also barely beat Arkansas State.

But with an easy schedule down the stretch that features Northwestern and Minnesota (and also Ohio State), the Hawkeyes will be in the BCS Title race for the next two-three weeks whether the NCAA football community likes it or not.

The Iowa-Ohio State game in Columbus next week looms as one of the biggest games of the entire college football season.

So, what does the Iowa situation say about the quality of college football and the Big Ten as the Hawkeyes rest at #4 in the BCS Standings? Let’s examine things a little further.

First of all, regarding the Hawkeyes, their success at 9-0 speaks to the value of their style of play. It’s the same style of play Ohio State used to go undefeated in 2002, beating what many thought was an indestructible Miami (FL) team in the BCS Title Game, and it’s the same style the Hawkeyes have used this year and in the past few years.

Teams like Iowa and Ohio State and Michigan in 2006 for the matter with great defenses and ball control offenses will always be relevant in college football, or any level of football for that matter, especially if they happen to get some breaks over the course of the season. That’s what usually separates the great conservative football teams from the bad ones.

And then there’s the Big Ten Conference, which has taken a beating nationally due to its big-stage struggles in recent years.

But few people realize that Big Ten football is a different game from what they play in Los Angeles or Florida or Texas because of the weather.

Iowa QB Ricky Stanzi threw 5 picks in the Indiana game, most of them when he was forced to throw into massive wind gusts that made the ball flutter like a dying duck in the Autumn sky.

But then Stanzi got the wind at his back finally in the fourth quarter and connected on several long passes as Iowa roared back to blow out the Hoosiers by a score of 42-24.

And that’s a big part of the reason why the “boring” Big Ten teams often do so well: the weather often demands it. Look at the struggles of spread teams like Michigan this year and even Purdue in the “Kyle Orton for Heisman” year in 2004. Weather can derail even the highest-flying Big Ten offensive circuses in a hurry.

Until we see Southern teams willing to come up and play Big Ten teams in November, the weather factor can’t be discounted.

All we get to see are Big Ten teams traveling to Florida or California to play teams suited to play in those conditions on their respective home turfs, and it’s tough to draw a fair conclusion when that’s the only evidence we have.

So, does Iowa deserve to be right up there with the likes of Florida and Texas? Not at this time, actually, because of their close calls against bad teams.

But Iowa actually has played a tough schedule this year with a solid non-conference win over Arizona, and if they go undefeated and Texas stumbles, they definitely deserve a shot to see if they can re-create Ohio State’s magic from 2002.
The Hawkeyes have a defense featuring NFL-caliber guys like Adrian Clayborn at DE, Pat Angerer at MLB, and Tyler Sash at safety among others that can keep them in any game, and while the Big Ten has done poorly against USC in the Rose Bowl in the past, the SEC matchups on New Year’s Day have been a different story as the leagues have a close head-to-head record over the past ten years.
Iowa may not be good for ratings, but in the interest of representing the diversity of football styles across this great football country, it’s hard to find someone more worthy than the Hawkeyes.


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