3 and Out: Hawkeye backfield finally loaded

1. Iowa running back should be fully operational

- The Gophers won't let Mark Weisman beat them. Not again, right? This will be the senior running back's third game against Minnesota. He's had four-star days in the last two games, combining to rush for 324 yards on 45 carries. That's 7.2 yards a carry, and, goes without saying, Iowa won both games.

Minnesota is playing solid run defense. They know Weisman is coming like a winter storm front. The Gophers won't let this happen again. No way, right?

So, what else does Iowa have at running back? More than it did last week.

Freshman Akrum Wadley burst on the scene with 106 yards and a TD on 15 carries against Northwestern last week. It was his first time doing anything. He's in the mix. How much? He did fumble last week. He is a 5-11, 180-pounder. It is Iowa on the road in a Big Ten West Division separation game. We'll see.

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said on his radio show last night that junior Jordan Canzeri has practiced all week and will be able to play today. He suffered an ankle sprain at Maryland and missed Northwestern. Freshman Jonathan Parker is more of a kick return/jet sweep specialist, but he also should be fully operational this week. He left Northwestern shortly after slamming into a road case on the Wildcats sideline after a 54-yard kick return to open the game.

Senior Damon Bullock is the third-down running back. He's a pass catcher more than running back. He has 24 carries for 56 yards, that's fewer yards than quarterbacks Jake Rudock and C.J. Beathard.

It's short resumes after Weisman, but Iowa has no idea what it might have in Wadley and now is as good of a time as any to find out.

2. Ed Podolak's 400th broadcast

- When Ed Podolak puts on the headphones in the TCF Bank Stadium press box today, it will mark his 400th broadcast of an Iowa football game.

That's a mighty number. This is his 33rd season as Iowa's radio analyst. Of course, a lot of you first met Podolak, 66 and a native of Atlantic, as a do-it-all quarterback for the Hawkeyes from 1966 to 1968. He accounted for 4,214 yards in three seasons (1,710 rushing, 2,316 passing, 188 receiving). This was a forgettable period for Iowa football on the recordbooks, however, with a an 8-21-1 mark.

OK, ready to have your mind blown? Podolak went on to have a highly productive and successful career in the NFL. He's been in the Kansas City Chiefs ring of honor since 1989 and has his bust displayed in a Chiefs museum next to Arrowhead Stadium.

He's in the Chiefs ring of honor, but he's not included in the Kinnick Stadium Wall of Honor, which was unveiled last year and includes nine former players.

For consideration, players must be a member of the UI Varsity Club Hall of Fame and meet one of the following three criteria: 1. Member of both the National Football Foundation College Football Hall of Fame and the Helms Athletic Foundation Hall of Fame; 2. Member of one of the two above mentioned nationally recognized Halls of Fame, and a consensus All-American; 3. Two-time Consensus All-American.

Podolak wasn't an all-American, so there's that. Apparently, there's no room for common sense on the wall, either.

Podolak punched in as a player, has spent 30-years in the Iowa broadcast booth and has been an ambassador of everything Hawkeye during this run. Stadium Wall of Honor, jersey retirement, something.

Snip some red tape and honor his man, Iowa. You know you want to.

3. Pigs, Axes and Bulls

- Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin are tied together by proximity, history and rivalry. Even with the wildest conference realignment scenario (and there aren't any hot ones right now) would have these three schools arm wrestling each other for eternity.

Each of the three games comes with a trophy, too. Of course, it's the Floyd of Rosedale bronze pig for the Hawkeyes and Gophers this week. Iowa and Wisconsin play for the Heartland Trophy, a bronze bull. Wisconsin and Minnesota play for the comically large Paul Bunyan Axe, something the UW has held now for 10 consecutive seasons.

No, this point isn't about the aesthetics of the trophies. It's about what's at stake now in the new Big Ten West. Basically, if you beat your neighbors, you are something. You're, at the very least, playing in the Big Ten title game, a spotlight Wisconsin has enjoyed and parlayed into recruiting gold. And then, beyond Indianapolis, who knows?

Beat your neighbors and you're in the game. This throws the onus on Minnesota to keep pace. The Gophers haven't toted that crazy axe since 2003. Iowa has beaten Minnesota in 10 of the last 13 seasons and is 22-10 against the Gophers since 1982.

'If you're going to win the Big Ten and our side of it, you've got to beat those two schools,” Minnesota coach Jerry Kill said. 'I don't think there's any question. That's why they're supposed to be called rivalry games. If there's going to be a rivalry, you've got to win.”

l Comments: (319) 398-8256; marc.morehouse@thegazette.com