Iowa Running Back Adam Robinson Suspended for Insight Bowl

Rumors started running rampant throughout the sports blogsphere earlier this afternoon when the Las Vegas sports-books decided to remove the odds for the Insight Bowl matchup between the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Missouri Tigers—a game that will be played on Dec. 28 at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona.

As soon as the game was dropped from the board, speculation began as to what type of drastic change forced the odds-makers to panic.

Well, now the word out of Iowa City is that Hawkeyes staring running back Adam Robinson, a sophomore who rushed for 941 yards and 10 TDs this season, has been suspended for Iowa's bowl game.

Coach Kirk Ferentz explained that Robinson would be suspended for the Insight Bowl, but did also make it clear that his talented young runner would be welcome back to the team for his junior season after the conclusion of this year.

An official press conference is scheduled for tomorrow at 11 a.m to clarify the matter. Ferentz briefly made the statement that the suspension had to do with Robsinson failing to comply with team expectations.

The suspension of Robinson means that Iowa’s already depleted backfield—which has been thinned by the loss of Jewel Hampton, who is planning on transferring—will now be without the offense's second most productive player.

Marcus Coker, a 230 pound freshman who rushed for over 400 yards on 83 carries, will likely be the team’s go to back in the bowl game—as there aren't really many other options at this point.

The news of Robinson’s troubles is yet another tough blow for an under-performing Iowa team which went from Big Ten challenger to conference afterthought after finishing the season in a sluggish fashion, losing their last three games to finish 7-5.

The Robinson report comes just a few days after the announcement of the dismissal of talented senior wide receiver Derrell Johson-Koulianos, who threw away his future and tainted his illustrious Iowa career with several major drug charges including marijuana and cocaine possession.

Johson-Koulianos, who caught at least 40 balls each of the last three seasons, was a major impact player for Iowa’s offense and his presence will surely be missed in the Insight Bowl.

After such a sour end to the year and a week filled with scandal, it should be interesting to see if Coach Ferentz, along with talented senior leaders such as Adrian Clayborn and Ricky Stanzi, can rally this Hawkeye team for one last big effort against a very dangerous Missouri team.