Iowa (4-0 8-0) won their eighth straight game by beating Michigan State (3-2 4-4) 15 – 13 at East Lansing, Michigan. This is the first time in school history the Hawkeyes won the first eight games in a single season. They have won seven straight four other times with the last time being in 1985. This also marks the first win for Coach Kirk Ferentz (1-4) at East Lansing and the Hawkeyes first win since 1995. The home team has won the game for the past nine meetings.

THE GAME
The Hawkeyes beat Michigan State on the last play of the game as Ricky Stanzi threw a seven yard touchdown pass the Marvin McNutt with no time left in the game. This is after Michigan State took the lead with a 30 yard touchdown pass. They also had a hook and ladder pass prior to the touchdown pass to get the Spartans into scoring range.

The last four minutes of the game is when both teams were able to score touchdowns on each other’s defenses. The rest of the game was made up of five field goals (Iowa 3, Michigan State 2) and two goal line stands (Each team had one) that were at the one yard line.

THE INJURIES
The Hawkeyes also had five injuries during the game that likely knocked two players out for the rest of the season. This was a very physical game against a very physical Spartan team.
Offensive Right Tackle Dace Richardson broke his leg or foot in the first few minutes of the game and will be out for the next four to six weeks. This didn’t hurt the Hawkeyes that much since they are deep with talent on the Offense Line. Julian Vandervelde will start at right tackle for the injured Richardson with Dan Doering backing him up.

Free Safety Brent Greenwood and Cornerback Tyler Sash hit helmet to helmet during a tackle. Greenwood was carted off the field to the locker room as Sash was able to get up and still play in the game. Green wood was up and walking around in the locker room and returned to the game on the sideline for the second half. He is currently on the depth chart for the Indiana game.

Wide Receiver Colin Sandeman was hit helmet to helmet by Michigan State’s Cornerback Ware as he caught a pass from Stanzi. Sandeman was knocked unconscious for a few minutes before getting up and walking off the field. Sandeman is also listed on the depth chart of the Indiana game.

Running Back Brandon Wegher was also injured during the game as he took a hit in the chest. He was out for a while before returning briefly later in the game. He is also on the Depth Chart as the number one back for Iowa.

Running Back Adam Robinson sprain his leg on the last drive of the game as a defender landed wrong on him. They are saying it is similar to Tony Moeaki’s injury earlier this year. Ferentz announced on Tuesday that Robinson was likely out for the remaining regular season.

With Robinson out and Wegher as starting RB, that makes room for RB Paki O’Meara to see some action as the backup for Wegher. The biggest concern is fumbling the ball. Robinson has not fumbled the ball all season. There are rumors flying around that RB Brad Rogers is going to be put into the running back rotation. This will mean Rogers will lose his Red Shirt season. This will be interesting how good Rogers is after entering spring practice a little heavy and out of shape two months ago.

NEXT WEEKS GAMES
We will see how the new adjustments will work for Iowa this Saturday against Indiana (1-3 4-4). This is a home game that the Hawkeyes are favored to win by 17 ½ points by the odds makers.

Michigan State travels to Minnesota (2-3 4-4) on Saturday. This will be Minnesota’s first game without Wide Receiver Eric Decker. Decker was also lost for the rest of the season. This could be the year if Minnesota fails to become bowl eligible since Michigan State is favored to win this game.

Here are some interesting and fun facts about Iowa going into this weekend’s game against Michigan State in East Lansing.

Last win in East Lansing was in 1995
Home Team won last 9 meetings in this series.
Iowa holds the Big Ten longest road winning streak with 3 wins. Since Ohio State lost last weekend.
Seven straight wins first under Kirk Ferentz and first time since 1985 season.
First 3-0 start since 2002 for the Hawkeyes.
11 straight wins tie the second longest streak in school history. The other streak was in 1956 – 1957 season (10-0-1) with Ohio State ended the streak by beating Iowa.
Only team with wins over 3 BCS ranked teams this season. Penn State, Arizona, Wisconsin
Iowa ties Alabama with most wins in FBS this season with 7 (Both 7-0).

Here are some other facts to think about.

Longest winning streak in Iowa history was 20 wins in 1921-1923. Iowa lost to Illinois to end this streak.
Last time Iowa beat Ohio State and Michigan in same year was in 1962
Last Big Ten Conference championship outright was in 1985. Iowa was co-champs in 2004 with Ohio State.
Last Rose Bowl appearance for the Hawkeyes was in 1990.
Last BCS Bowl appearance was the Orange Bowl in 2002.
Last time Iowa won every away game in a single season was in 2002.
Last time Iowa won every home game in a single season was in 2004.
Last undefeated Conference record Iowa had was in 2002 (8-0).
The last undefeated season Iowa had was in 1922 (7-0-0).
There are only four undefeated seasons in Iowa history. They are 1899 8-0-1, 1900 7-0-1, 1921 7-0, and 1922 7-0.
Highest BCS ranking was fifth in Dec. 2002 for 5 weeks.

Here are some interesting facts about Iowa winning National Championships. I found this information on other websites that keep track of National Championships.

In 1921, Iowa was selected as National Champion by Billingsley and Parke Davis.

In 1956, Iowa was selected as National Champion by Football Research along with selections by others of Georgia, Oklahoma, and Tennessee.

In 1958, the Football Writers of America, ranked the Iowa Hawkeyes as #1 and National Champions. This trophy rests not far from Nile Kinnick’s 1939 Heisman trophy in the Iowa Athletic Museum.

Iowa (3-0 7-0) made Wisconsin’s (3-1 5-1) homecoming bad by beating the Badgers 20-10 on Saturday afternoon in front of 81,043 fans. With this win, Iowa pushes the second longest winning streak to 11 games as well as tying the record for winning the first seven games of the season. Iowa won the first seven games of the season since 1985 when Iowa also won the first seven games.

Iowa Quarterback Ricky Stanzi was 17 for 23 and 218 yards with one TD. Iowa Wide Receiver Derrell Johnson-Koulianos had 8 catches for 113 yards and Tight End Tony Moeaki had 3 catches for 55 yards and one TD. Running Back Adam Robinson ran for 91 yards as well.

Wisconsin Quarterback Tolzien had 143 yard passing with three interceptions as league leading Running back John Clay was held to only 75 yards rushing for the day.

The Iowa defense adds 3 more interceptions to their total count. The 15 interceptions are the most interceptions by a team in FBS.

Start of the first quarter, Wegher brought back the ball 39 yards after the kickoff to the Iowa 42 yard line. Iowa march down the field with a couple long receptions before stalling out on the Wisconsin 32 yard line. Iowa turn over the ball on downs.

Wisconsin started at their 32 yard line and started moving the ball by giving it to Clay. The Badgers also stalled at the Iowa 44 yard line and had to punt the ball away.

Wisconsin got the ball back with 5:27 left in the first quarter after Iowa had a three and out. Wisconsin started moving the ball from their 26 yard line with a couple 14 yard rushes by Clay and marched down to Iowa’s 18 yard line as the first quarter ended.

At the beginning of the second quarter Wisconsin was not able to move the ball anymore and settle with a 34 yard field goal to go on top 3 – 0.

Wisconsin defense again forced another three and out on Iowa and got the ball back on their eight yard line. Tolzien had a couple long passes of 19 and 21 to move the ball to mid field before Clay started moving the ball with his legs. Clay end up leaving the game for a few plays as Montee Ball came in and end up rushing for his first college touchdown 10 yard out to make the score 10 – 0 Wisconsin.

Iowa started on their 35 yard line with eight minutes left in the half. Stanzi connected with DJK for 34 yards to move the ball deep into Wisconsin territory. Again Iowa was only able to move the ball another seven yards before settling with a 37 yard field goal by Murray to make it 10 – 3 Wisconsin lead.

Wisconsin and Iowa was unable to move the ball in the last five minutes of the quarter to go into halftime with Wisconsin up by seven points.

Wisconsin started the Third quarter on their 33 yard line. Wisconsin was moving the ball up the field until Iowa’s cornerback Amari Spievey intercepted Tolzien’s pass at the Iowa 46 yard line.

Iowa started mixing up the plays by passing and rushing up the field. Stanzi threw a 24 yard reception To Tony Moeaki for a Touchdown to tie the game 10 – 10.

Wisconsin’s David Gilreath returns the ball 25 yards to Wisconsin’s 36 yard line. Wisconsin was not able to move the ball and had their first three and out of the game.

Iowa got the ball back at the Iowa 20 yard line with 5:55 left in the third quarter. Iowa started moving the ball until Stanzi fumbled the ball. Wisconsin recovered it on Iowa’s 34 yard line.

Iowa’s defense buckled down to only give up 4 yards to Wisconsin. Wisconsin’s Philip Welch trying a 38 yard field goal and missed it.

Iowa then moved the ball seven yards to the Iowa 38 yard line as the third quarter finished.

Start of the fourth quarter Stanzi threw a 21 yard pass to TE Reisner and a 24 yard pass to DJK putting the ball on Wisconsin’s 17 yard line. Adam Robinson then rush for seven yards and again for 10 yards to score a touchdown. Iowa leads the game for the first time with a 17 – 10 lead.

Wisconsin again had another three and out and gave the ball back to Iowa. Iowa then pushed the ball down field to Wisconsin’s 48 yard line as Murray hit another field goal for 48 yards. Iowa leads 20 – 10.

Wisconsin started throwing the ball up the field as Iowa’s AJ Edds intercepted it at Iowa’s 31 yard line. Iowa then marched the ball down the field to Wisconsin’s 20 yard line before turning it over on downs.

Wisconsin got the ball back on their 20 yard line with 2:24 left in the game. Wisconsin again tried hurrying the ball up the field and Tolzien threw another interception to Iowa’s Spievey at the Wisconsin 41 yard line.

Iowa then ran out the remaining 1:29 of the game to win it 20 – 10.

Here is a look at Iowa’s basketball team in the pre-season. Todd Lickliter is entering his third year as Iowa’s Coach with a 28-36 record at Iowa and a 159-97 overall record. In 2008-09 season, he led Iowa to a 10th place finish in the Big Ten with a 15-17 overall record and a 5-13 Big ten record.

This is a small improvement since his first year. He led Iowa to a 8th place finish in 2007-08 season with a 13-19 overall and a 6-12 Big Ten record in his first year.

This year both Lindy’s and Athlon magazines picked Iowa to finish last in the Big Ten Conference. This is hard to believe after ESPN recently released a book that has Jeff Sagarin’s list of best college programs of all time where Iowa is ranked the 10th best program in the country. The list is based on wins and losses as well as margin of victory. Iowa is one of eight Big ten teams in the top 20.

Iowa has a lot of growing to do since most of the team is made up with freshman and sophomore players with one senior and two juniors. Iowa is still a very young team that has at least a couple more years before they are taken seriously in the Big Ten Conference. First the Hawkeyes will need to find a way to keep their players longer than one or two years. Iowa has lost 4 players since last season to transfers. They are Jake Kelly (Indiana State), Jeff Peterson (Arkansas), Jermain Davis (Minnesota State) and David Palmer (NKU).

Iowa is starting to battle the injury bug early this year. Newcomer Devin Archie injured his right shoulder during the second practice of the season last Saturday. His injury also hurts the team as well. Future of Iowa’s shot blocking was resting on his shoulders. The injury will cause Archie to miss the first four to seven weeks of the season. The Hawkeyes are in high hopes of having him back at the start of the Big Ten Conference play.

Here is the list of players that will be on the team this year as well as the schedule for the 2009 – 2010 season.

Good Luck Hawkeyes.

Returning players:
G Devan Bawinkel, 6-5, sr., 4.8 ppg, 1.6 rpg;
F Jarryd Cole, 6-7, jr. 3.7 ppg, 3.0 rpg);
F Aaron Fuller, 6-6, soph., 4.0 ppg, 2.7 rpg;
G Matt Gatens, 6-5, soph., 10.8 ppg, 3.8 rpg

F Andrew Brommer, 6-9, soph., 1.2 ppg, 1.2 rpg;
G Anthony Tucker, 6-4, soph., 10.4 ppg, 3.0 rpg

Newcomers:
F Devon Archie, 6-9, jr., Indianapolis;
F Brennan Cougill, 6-9, fr., Sioux City, Iowa;
G John Lickliter, 5-11, redshirt fr., Iowa City;
G Eric May, 6-5, fr., Dubuque, Iowa;
G Nick Neari, 6-2, fr., St. Charles, Ill.;
G Cully Payne, 6-1, fr., Schaumburg, Ill.

2009-10 schedule

November – 8, Marian (exhibition), 12:30 p.m.; 15, Texas-San Antonio, 5 p.m.; 17, Duquesne, 8 p.m.; 20, Bowling Green, 8 p.m.; 23, vs. Texas at CBE Classic, 8:45 p.m.; 24, vs. Pittsburgh or Wichita State at CBE Classic, 6:45 or 9 p.m.; 28, North Carolina Central, 12:30 p.m.

December – 1, Virginia Tech, 8:30 p.m.; 5, Prairie View A&M, 3 p.m.; 8, at Northern Iowa, 7 p.m.; 11, at Iowa State, 7 p.m.; 19, Drake, 5:30 p.m.; 21, South Carolina State, 7:30 p.m.; 29, Purdue, 6 p.m.

January – 2, Minnesota, 3 p.m.; 5, at Illinois, 8 p.m.; 9, Michigan State, 4:30 p.m.; 12, Tennessee State, 8 p.m.; 16, Penn State, noon; 20, at Michigan State, 5:30 p.m.; 24, at Indiana, 4 p.m.; 27, Ohio State, 7:30 p.m.; 30, at Michigan, 3:30 p.m.

February – 3, Illinois, 7:30 p.m.; 7, at Ohio State, 11 a.m.; 10, Northwestern, 7:30 p.m.; 13, at Purdue, 3:30 p.m.; 16, Michigan, 8 p.m.; 25, at Northwestern, 6 p.m.; 28, Indiana, 5 p.m.

March – 2, 3 or 4, at Wisconsin, TBA; 7, at Minnesota, 5 p.m.; 11-14, at Big Ten Tournament at Indianapolis, TBA

That’s right. Iowa could finish this year perfect and still be watching the BCS Championship Game from home. Everybody can thank the AP and Coaches Polls for this. The AP and Harris Polls make up two thirds of the BCS rankings and the Computer rankings make up the other third.

Iowa is currently ranked 11th in the AP, 11th in the Harris, and 12th in the Coaches Polls. However the Hawkeyes are ranked much higher in the computer rankings. They are also going to be ranked 10th in the BCS if it came out today.

There are several reasons this can happen. They include a poor Conference ranking for the Big Ten (6th in the Sagarin rankings), Iowa’s schedule only having two or three ranked teams in it, Iowa’s beating Penn State is being forgotten, the AP and Coaches Polls have to be turned in by Saturday or Sunday night, or that the AP and Coaches Polls are turning into a popularity contest instead of the true value they are supposed to be judging.

That’s right a popularity contest and Iowa is not a popular liked school in these polls. Every year I see a team that gets the short end because they are not as popular as some of the other schools in the polls. There are also teams in the Top 10 that should be dropped lower than Iowa. One of the teams is fifth ranked Boise State. The Broncos barely beat Oregon (19-8) and last night they barely beat Tulsa (28-21). Iowa has a better overall record and schedule than Boise State. Did everybody forget that Iowa beat South Carolina last year 31-10 in the Capital One Bowl? South Carolina was a top six school in the SEC Conference last year.

The computer ranks have Iowa ranked as high as first (Colley Matrix) and as low as ninth (Sagarin). The other Computer rankings for Iowa are as follows: Wolfe doesn’t release rankings until the 18th of October, fourth Massey Ratings, eighth in the Billingsley Report, and third in the Jeff Anderson & Chris Hester Ratings.

The best thing about the computer rankings is that they are not a popularity contest. They crunch the numbers based on performance.

At least the CBS Sports line website has Iowa ranked ninth in the country. Iowa should be a top 10 team.

Ever time Iowa is talked about, they keep bringing up Iowa only beat FCS team Northern Iowa 17-16 in the last seconds of the game. Has anybody look at UNI since then. UNI is currently ranked fourth in the FCS Polls and is one of the favorites to win the FCS this year. UNI also have blown out every opponent since playing Iowa. UNI has scored as low as 30 points to as high as 66 points since the Iowa- UNI game.

So stop bringing up this game as a negative against Iowa. I’m pretty sure that UNI can beat a few teams in the top 25 as well as a couple teams in the top 10 in the FBS polls.

Just give Iowa a chance before shooting them down as a National Contender as well as a Big ten Contender. I hope after the next two games (at Wisconsin, at Michigan State) everybody will start seeing what Iowa fans have been seeing the last few games.

Iowa (2-0 6-0) has a happy homecoming this weekend as Iowa Hawkeyes beat the Michigan Wolverines (1-2 4-2) 30 – 28 in last night’s ABC Primetime Match up. With this win, Iowa becomes the only Big ten team undefeated this year and pushes the second longest winning streak to 10 games. This is the first time Iowa won the first 6 games of the season since 1985 when Iowa won the first seven.

Ricky Stanzi threw for 285 yards and two touchdowns with only one interception. Tony Moeaki had 6 receptions for 105 yards and two touchdowns.

The game started bad for the Hawkeyes as Ricky Stanzi’s first throw was intercepted by Michigan’s Donovan Warren and ran back for a touchdown. This was even before Michigan’s offense was on the field. This mad it 7 – 0 Michigan.

After the interception, Stanzi passed Iowa back down the field and score a touchdown with a 34 yard reception to Tony Moeaki. This was Moeaki’s first reception coming off the injury list. Tony has missed the last 3 games and it show last night why he is a big factor in Iowa’s scoring drives. This made it 7 – 7 with over nine minutes left in the first quarter.

Michigan’s Tate Forcier started driving the Wolverine’s down the field then made a Freshman mistake by lofting a pass up in the air. The pass was interception by Iowa’s Jeremiha Hunter at the Mich 35. Hunter returned the ball for only 16 yards.

Iowa only move the ball 8 yards before stalling out on an incomplete pass on third down. Iowa’s Daniel Murray kicked a 28 yard field goal to make the score 10 – 7 Iowa.

Michigan mixed up the play calling as they marched down the field and scored on a 3 yard rushing touchdown by Brandon Minor. This ended Iowa’s streak of 33 quarters not allowing a rushing touchdown. The score is now Michigan 14, Iowa 10 at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter was all Iowa. Iowa force Michigan’s Forcier to fumble the ball that Iowa recovered. Hawkeyes pushed the ball 22 yard before Murray making a 41 yard field goal to cut Michigan’s lead to one with a 14 -13 score.

Iowa then force Michigan to punt the ball after going three and out. Stanzi then completed a 33 yard pass to Trey Stross and a 47 yard pass to DJK to get Iowa into the Red Zone. This is then Iowa’s running game start up as Brandon Weghner flipped over the line for a one yard touchdown run. Iowa reclaim the lead 20-14.

Iowa got the ball back with 1:19 left of the quarter and tried for a 53 yard field goal that Murray missed to end the half.
Iowa was held to only 3 rushing yards for the half. Iowa came out of halftime as a different team then the first half.

In the third quarter, Iowa forced another three and out on Michigan as they started where they left off in the first half.

Iowa marched down the field with their running game back on track to finish the drive with a 40 yard field goal by Murray to make the score 23 -14 Iowa.

With 8:46 left in the third quarter, Michigan marched the ball down the field by almost running every play. Michigan cut the Iowa lead to just 2 points with a Brandon Minor one yard touchdown run. This score was 23 – 21 Iowa.

Iowa started to drive the ball down the field again but time expired in the third quarter.
Iowa Offense stalled at the Michigan’s one yard line as Iowa turnover the ball on downs to Michigan. Michigan failed to move the ball which caused Iowa to get the ball in good field positioning. Iowa Stanzi then completed a 42 yard pass to Moeaki for another touchdown to make the Iowa lead 9 again at 30 – 21.

With 7:42 left in the game, Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez benched Forcier and let Freshman Denard Robinson quarterback Michigan’s offense. This was a wise choice as Denard Robinson drove Michigan down the field with his running ability and capped of the drive with his fourth rushing touchdown of the season from three yards out to make the score 30 – 28 Iowa.

Iowa receive the ball back with 3:16 left to play but was unable to move it down the field, but was able to use some of the clock up. Iowa had to punt it back to Michigan with 1:30 left to play.

Michigan’s Denard Robinson started to drive the Wolverines down the field, but end up being greedy with his pass as Iowa’s Brett Greenwood intercepted the ball to end the game and Michigan’s comeback.

13th ranked Iowa start out fast then slowed down as they hold on the beat Arkansas State 24- 21 in their last non-conference game. Iowa is now 5 – 0 overall and 1 – 0 in Big ten Conference play. This makes the first time Iowa won their first five games since 1995.

Iowa took advantage of Arkansas State’s nerves by scoring on their first two drives of the game to take a 14 – 0 lead before the Red Wolves settle down on defense. As the Hawkeye defense controlled the Red Wolves offense most of the game.

Ricky Stanzi started the game by going 5 for 5 with a 33 yard touchdown pass to Trey Stross in the opening drive of the game. On the second drive of the game he threw a 41 yard touchdown pass to Marvin McNutt.
The Red Wolves marched down the field in the Second Quarter and scored on a 12 yard touchdown throw to end the half 14-7.

Iowa started the Third Quarter like they did the game and scored a touchdown when Stanzi threw a 43 yard pass to McNutt to make the score 21-7.

Stanzi threw a bad pass that was intercepted in the beginning of the Fourth Quarter by Demario Davis who ran it back 75 yards for a touchdown. This is the second interception for a touchdown the Hawkeyes gave up this year. This made the score 21-14 with 14:41 left in the game.

Arkansas State’s Davis did a back flip into the end zone which caused them to 15 yard penalty that gave Iowa good field position as Iowa score a 20 yard Field Goal by Murray to make the score 24-14 with 10 minutes left in the game.

The interception brought life back into the Red wolves as they march down the field 84 yards and score another touchdown with 2:01 left to play making it 24-21. Iowa kept the ball alive just enough to run the clock out for the win.

Stanzi finished 18 for 26 with a career high 296 yards passing with 3 TD and 2 INTs. McNutt had four catches for 121 yards and two TD’s as Stross had the same number of catches for 64 yards and one TD.
Brandon Wegher had 11 carries for 49 yards and Adam Robinson had 14 carries for 38 yards as Iowa’s running game was stopped by the Red Wolves having 8 defenders in the box.

Tyler Sash picked up his league leading fifth interception of the season as Iowa’ defense controlled the Red Wolves Offensive line for most of the game. Adrian Clayborn also had a sack for the day.

This was only the second time in the last 40 games at Kinnick that wasn’t sold out. There were only 67,989 fans present at the game. Kinnick can hold a total of 70,585 fans for a single game.