EAST LANSING, Mich. — When Iowa beat Penn State on Sept. 26 to start 4-0, it was fun. After all, the unexpected is always fun."
Beginning the season 6-0 was different and ridiculous in its own right, too. After all, it was the first time in 24 years a Hawkeye team had done that.
But now, with head coach Kirk Ferentz’s team sitting at a cool 8-0, the only sufficient description is: “Are you freaking kidding me?!?” After all, forever is a long time to wait for anything, and Iowa hasn’t been 8-0 in, well, forever.
“We are 8-0, and we are happy about that,” Ferentz said.
On a cool Michigan night, junior quarterback Ricky Stanzi orchestrated the drive of his life — into the wind, no less — taking the Hawkeyes 70 yards in 97 seconds to beat Michigan State, 15-13.
Are you freaking kidding me?!?
On the final play of the game, wide receiver Marvin McNutt snagged the catch of his life — a 7-yard game-winner as time expired. Oh, by the way, the sophomore has a bum thumb and was playing quarterback a year-and-a-half ago.
Are you freaking kidding me?!?
On a rainy Sunday night in Iowa City, the Hawkeyes stood No. 4 in the latest BCS standings. It is the highest BCS ranking in school history.
Florida, Alabama, and Texas are the only teams ahead of Ferentz and Company, which have won 12 consecutive games dating back to last season — the second-longest current streak in the country.
Are you freaking kidding me?!?
This just doesn’t happen. Not here. Not ever.
After Iowa started 6-0, wide receiver Derrell Johnson-Koulianos said, “I never thought when I came to Iowa, really, that I’d be a part of a 6-0 team.”
Nor should he have. Players don’t come to Iowa expecting to contend for national championships — at least not in football. If anyone tells you differently, he’s lying.
This isn’t a school that sits in the middle of fertile recruiting ground. This isn’t a school that consistently contends for BCS bowl berths. This isn’t a school that rakes in five-star prospects as often as Derek Jeter rakes in celebrity girlfriends.
Quite simply, this isn’t Florida or USC or Oklahoma or Alabama.
But here Iowa sits, eight games down and four to go — three of which are at home against mediocre Big Ten opponents. Here Iowa sits, with one of the toughest road schedules in the country nearly complete. And here Iowa sits, with Pasadena, Calif., in its sights for the first time since 1991.
A few days before the beginning of the season, I remember sitting in a bar with a few friends, discussing the Hawkeyes’ chances this year. Ever since stud running back Shonn Greene left for the NFL, I had staunchly maintained that Iowa was destined for another 8-4 season, which qualifies as a better-than-solid campaign around these parts.
I laughed uncontrollably as one of my friends predicted that the Hawks would go 12-0. He smiled, but he wasn’t joking.
The possibility of Iowa going 12-0 seemed certifiably insane two months ago.
But now, after Saturday night’s last-second victory over the Spartans, 12-0 isn’t just attainable; it’s realistic. And everyone in college football knows what 12-0 means: A trip to the Rose Bowl — not for the actual Rose Bowl, but for the BCS national championship game.
Now wouldn’t that be fun?
Are you freaking kidding me?!?
