Everyone Wins

I still can't believe how badly Iowa dominated Michigan State. No one saw that coming. Saturday's game showed why so many Hawkeye fans were thinking national title at the beginning of the year. This is Kirk Ferentz's most talented team... too bad it wasn't sharp in big games until Saturday.


The improvement Ricky Stanzi has show from his junior year to his senior year has been more dramatic than I anticipated. Ferentz has said countless times than no player prepares harder than Stanzi, and the proof is in the numbers. Stanzi now has 19 TD passes and just two interceptions this season (one of which wasn't his fault). Hands down, he's the best Iowa quarterback since Chuck Long.

It's not surprising that, coming off the monumental win in Austin, the Cyclones started slowly against Kansas. What's most encouraging is that Iowa State was mentally and physically tough enough to pull it together and handily defeat the Jayhawks. At the beginning of the season, I said the Cyclones would find a way to scratch together six wins and get back to a bowl game, despite the brutal schedule. I was basing that projection mostly on the coaching prowess of Paul Rhoads, and Rhoads hasn't disappointed.

Shawn