Waiting

The Hawks are 10-2 after a heartbreaking loss against Northwestern when quarterback Ricky Stanzi, the undisputed team leader, went down with a high ankle sprain. Then came an oh so close and yet so far overtime loss at Ohio State with redshirt freshman quarterback James Vandenberg displaying a strong arm that bodes well for the future. The final game of the regular season was against Minnesota for the Floyd of Rosedale trophy, which is a bronze pig honoring a live one bet between the two governors on the game early in the last century in case you're wondering. With Vandenberg at quarterback again, the Hawks weren't able to produce much offense but won because of one of the gutsiest defensive games I've ever seen them play.

I've said it before, but this isn't the most talented Hawkeye team Kirk Ferentz has coached. The 2002 team was better, but this team never quits. And that equals great coaching which equals a season I'll remember for a very long time. I don't know this for a fact, but I can easily imagine them chanting "Refuse to lose!" in their pregame huddle.

So now we wait for the bowl selection show on Sunday, December 6. What will it be? The Fiesta Bowl? The Orange Bowl? Or the Capital One Bowl? Both the Fiesta and Orange are BCS bowls; and if Iowa isn't invited to one of them, I guarantee there will be Hawk fans yelling "We was robbed!" all over Iowa. I'll join in, but our rival in this politicized process is Penn State. They have a much larger fan base and thus potentially a larger TV audience. On the other hand, the last time Iowa played in the Orange Bowl, they were allotted 30,000 tickets. 40,000 fans showed up. So enough of the politics. Despite the so called rankings, it's really all politics. Let's adopt some sort of college football playoff system as do all other college football divisions, not to mention NCAA basketball.

Enough of the rant. I hope for a Fiesta or Orange Bowl bid. I'm kicking myself for not asking those nights off from work. If one of those games happens, I'll just have to tape it and watch when I get home. We'll see where the Hawks go on Sunday.

For now, good night.