Iowa Loses Game At Horseshoe, But Should Gain National Respect

We all know in sports, there really are no moral victories.  Iowa lost a chance at the outright Big Ten Championship Saturday night…plain and simple.  Two talented, well coached teams both played their hearts out and left everything on the field.  Coach Tressel sounded like a prophet when he said at the end of the game that he predicted it would come down to the final play.  It did and Ohio St.’s backup placekicker made the clutch kick that sent an army of 105,000 scarlet and gray-clad fans into delirium and a valiant Iowa team back to Iowa City to consider what might have been.

Iowa has been called many things by many people this season.  For the most part, very few people outside of Iowa have given them their due.  In fact, it seemed as the wins piled up week after week through September and into late October, the lack of respect only increased.  They were the worst 7-0 team in the country, the “experts” said.  Win again.  Iowa is the worst 8-0 team in the history of college football.  Win again.  The Hawkeyes are the worst 9-0 team in the history of sports. 

Well folks, it is time to give Iowa its due.  The Hawkeyes epitomize the word “team”.  Freshmen James Vandenberg’s was supposed to be thrown to the lions in his first college start at Ohio St.  In my book, Vandenberg was the biggest reason for extending the game to overtime.  He played as good a game as starter Ricky Stanzi had played all year. 

Iowa could have pitched up the tent when Ohio St. grabbed the 24-10 strangle hold on the game in the 4^th quarter.  Yet, just when things seemed at their darkest, Derrell Johnson-Koulianos returned the kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown.  When Vandenberg lead Iowa to the tying touchdown with just over 2 minutes left, it seemed that Iowa has another date with destiny.  Yet, Ohio St. got up off the mat and showed what it was made of.

All season Kirk Ferentz has downplayed the lack of respect his team has received in the national media.  Just prepare for the next game as hard as you can and things will take care of themselves.  One of my favorite Ferentzisms is that “you get what you deserve in life”.  This certainly does apply to football…to some degree, but everyone will admit that college football is unique in the sports world, in the sense that merit and equity are only part of the equation.  Reputation and politics are often critical factors.  Can you spell B-C-S and P-O-L-L-S?

Well, Iowa’s body of work over the 2009 college football season indicates that this team is worthy of our respect and admiration.  It would be very ironic if this tough loss at Ohio St. does more for Iowa’s bowl hopes than the 9-game unbeaten string to begin the year.  They did their school and their conference proud in Columbus on Saturday.  The BCS pairings won’t be announced for another several weeks, but in my book, Iowa deserves a shot to play in a BCS Bowl game.