Northwestern Stuns Iowa

Sports News - November 8th, 2009 - Written by John

Six ranked teams lost teams this weekend, but nobody suffered worst than no. 4 Iowa. With a Rose Bowl bid on the line and a possible shot at the National Championship, the Hawkeyes raced to a 10-point lead only to surrender 17 unanswered and fell to the Northwestern Wildcats on Saturday.

They became the latest top-5 team to lose to a lower-ranked team this year. They were the likely school to move into third place in the BCS were Texas to lose at any point the rest of this season. The third slot is critical because it is right behind Alabama and Florida, one of whom will lose to the other in the SEC Championship game.

All season the Hawkeyes needed to make late-inning rallies to keep their undefeated season in line, the most recent coming last week when Indiana led 21-7 at halftime. But this one couldn't be recovered. Iowa couldn't score a point in the final three quarters, snapping it's 13-game winning streak. The Wildcats, meanwhile, became bowl eligible with the win.

With national hopes dashed, the Hawkeyes can still hope for a Rose Bowl bid. They play Ohio State next week, with the winner taking the Big Ten title and punching their ticket to Pasedena.

Quarterback Ricky Stanzi injured his ankle and was taken out of the game in the second quarter. His status is uncertain for next week.

The play in which he was injured got Northwestern going. Down 10-0, Stanzi was sacked in the end zone and coughed up the ball. As his ankle was twisted backwards, Northwestern's Marshall Thomas jumped on the loose ball for the Wildcats' first touchdown.

"Anytime you lose your quarterback, that's not good," said Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz.

It's even worse when it give the other team points and momentum. Northwestern again scored on a turnover when Drake Dunsmore gobbled up a touchdown pass from four-yards out. The play was set up by a Iowa fumble.

Northwestern finished the scoring when Stefan Demos nailed a 47-yard field goal with just over 13 minutes to go.

"It's hard to win football games against good, competitive teams, and that's basically everybody in our conference, if you're going to turn the ball over," Ferentz said. "If you do that week in, week out, you're not going to win many football games. That's what has allowed us to be successful. We have to get back to that formula."

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