Iowa had its undefeated season ruined today by Northwestern in part because starting Hawkeyes QB Ricky Stanzi injured his ankle in the second quarter.

(Facemask penalty would’ve negated Northwestern subsequent touchdown)

Video of the play shows Northwestern player Corey Wootton rolling onto the back of Stanzi’s right lower leg. But just before Stanzi went down, the quarterback appeared to have his head wrenched backwards by the right hand of Northwestern defensive tackle Jack DiNardo.

Video after the jump. Read more…

Officials at Iowa-Indiana overturned the original touchdown call on this play today. IU then missed a FG on the next play.

(Did Terrance Turner make the catch in time?)

IU leads 24-21 early in the 4th after a 92-yard TD pass by Iowa with 13:03 to go.

UPDATE: 28-24 Iowa after 66-yard TD pass by the Hawkeyes. Those two scores came on back-to-back plays!

Iowa romps to 42-24 win. I want to believe that someone spiked IU’s Gatorade with Ancient Age in the second half.

No other way to explain what happened.

A big hit that didn’t get adequate airtime yesterday was Michigan State’s Jeremy Ware’s fourth quarter lick on Iowa’s Colin Sandeman:

(Ware flagged for personal foul, Sandeman walked off under own power)

Video of the hit after the jump, along with the game’s final play - which gave Iowa the win and a perfect 8-0 record. Read more…

One of the marks of a good college football coach is what he encourages his players to do off the football field. No, check that - what his players actually do off the field. It’s not like coaches at discipline-troubled schools actually tell their players to commit crimes and cheat on test. But a coach who has his players acting right and making a difference in the community? That is a good coach.

Brian Kelly, for example, is a good coach. Aside from the Bearcats’ considerable success on the field (21-6 for the last two seasons, Orange Bowl bid in 2008, 5-0 and ranked 8th this season), the program is squeaky-clean, a welcome development after the eyebrow-raising regime of Bob Huggins on the Cincinnati hardwood. So as they prepare for their biggest game of the season - a road test at #21 South Florida tonight - they do so with the help of Mitch Stone, the 12-year-old cancer patient that they’ve “adopted.”

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A quick rule of thumb for those of us in the early stages of relationships: if you’ve been told by police not to contact that person anymore, things have gone horribly wrong and you are not in that relationship anymore. It seems blatantly obvious to you or us, but if everybody knew that we wouldn’t have situations like this.

That’s the mugshot of Brittney Mears, a 22-year-old resident of Iowa City. She went to last week’s Iowa Hawkeyes game at Kinnick Stadium, where Iowa faced lowly Arkansas State. As most fans with a mean streak do, she picked out a player to harass for the duration of the game, and sure enough, she got in his head and distracted him. Tiny problem: she did it to a Hawkeye, and she’d already been told to leave him alone. That’s a paddlin’.

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Everybody’s been bagging on the Big Ten this offseason, what with the conference’s dismal 1-6 record in bowl games last season. And if the first games of the first weekend this year are any indication, expect the criticism to continue.

First, Iowa - the only Big Ten school to win its bowl game last year - opened up with in-state I-AA opponent Northern Iowa. And the 22nd-ranked Hawkeyes needed not one, but two blocked field goals to survive an embarrassing near-plucking by the Panthers.

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Last August, SPORTSbyBROOKS pointed out all the Iowa Hawkeyes football team arrests since 2007, foolishly thinking that being charged with 22 crimes couldn’t possibly be bested.  However, that was incredibly foolish as Iowa’s now up to 26 different Hawkeyes being arrested or ticketed since April ‘07, some with multiple offenses (including coach Kirk Ferentz’s son).

(The official drunk Hawkeye image of SPORTSbyBROOKS)

And we have another arrest to add the pile.  In this case, we have the added difficulty modifier of operating a moped while intoxicated that came to the police’s attention when Iowa offensive lineman Kyle Calloway plowed into a police barracade.  (Gee, wonder how he got that moped…)

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It was fun for the Iowa Hawkeyes at last season’s Outback Bowl, where they trounced South Carolina 31-10. It was even more fun for Iowa football broadcaster Ed Podolak, who spent his time down in Tampa taking peeks down women’s shirts.

However, when photos of Ed’s boob viewing hit the web, Podolak decided to retire from the radio gig he held since 1982. Ed’s alleged alcohol problem also had some bearing on his decision to move off the mic, as Podolak sought some professional treament.

But it looks like Ed’s treatment must have worked, because he’s coming back to the Hawkeye broadcasting booth.

Read more…

• Some overly-obsessed 34-year-old tried to abduct Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson during a “Dancing With The Stars” taping.

• A girls’ HS basketball team roughs up a roster of Dallas radio guys.

• Apocalypse now? Isiah Thomas could be put in charge of the Clippers.

• White Sox closer Bobby Jenks doesn’t read, but really likes his rear.

• This giveaway’s a gas: Minor league team plans to hand out fart filters.

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Transfers happen. They’re every bit the staple of college athletics as cheerleaders or ultra-creepy advertisements for Flo-Max. Maybe the writing’s on the wall that the player’s not going to be getting any game action before he graduates. Maybe the player gets homesick or whatever. They happen.

(Just one of up to five players bidding Iowa adieu.)

But they usually happen A) rarely and B) on an individual basis. So when up to four scholarship basketball players and a top recruit all flee the Iowa basketball team within a matter of days, it is most certainly time to panic for coach Todd Lickliter and Hawkeye fans.

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