The Walkthrough -- Hawkeyes reach out to fallen Norse

As we watch Michigan State's season teeter on the brink . . .

No rain here. Actually, a little sun. There is a mighty wind blowing out of the south fairly briskly.

(BTW, this is a combo post of Pylons and Walkthrough.)

The Rose Bowl is here. And so is the Capital One.

That's a groin pull of a door prize.

-- Team: No MLB Jeff Tarpinian. He's not even dressed.

For UW: Game-time decision for UW DT Jordan Kahout (sprained ankle). LB Mike Taylor (ankle), WR Nick Toon (thigh) and TE Lance Kendricks (ankle) are a go today.

No other surprises. Looks like G Adam Gettis over freshman Nolan MacMillan today.

Ballard is at DT with Binns at DE.

Morse is in. Marcus Coker ran a rep with the No. 1s.

Join us for chat.

Hawkeyes reach out to fallen Norse

Luther College freshman football player Chris Norton suffered a fractured neck and compressed spinal cord in a special team's collision during last Saturday's game against Central.

The former Bondurant-Farrar prep was injured on a kickoff as he attempted to make a tackle. After being treated on the field for 25 minutes, he was transported to Decorah Medical Center and eventually airlifted to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., where he underwent a three-hour surgery.

A post from his family on the Web site www.caringbridge.org said Norton got a phone call from Iowa quarterback Ricky Stanzi and offensive coordinator Ken O'Keefe this week at the Mayo Clinic.

Norton is a big Hawkeye fan, according to the site. As he was waiting to be transferred from Decorah hospital last Saturday to Rochester (while still completely paralyzed) he wanted to know what the Iowa-Michigan score was.

Norton also received a handwritten note from Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz and an autographed football.

Monday afternoon that Norton has been able to move both arms slightly and has increased sensitivity throughout his body. The family was initially told by doctors there was a three-percent chance he would ever regain function from the neck down.

Luther coach Mike Durnin told The Gazette's Jeff Johnson this week: “I'm not the important person. The important people here are Chris and his family. Things are going well. We're keeping a great positive attitude, looking at the victories each and every day and going forward.”

Here's a link to Chris' Care Bridge site.

Godspeed, young man.

-- Iowa defensive coordinator Norm Parker met with the Hawkeyes this morning before they departed CR for IC.

He said a few words to the team in CR, where Parker, 68, is rehabbing at Mercy Hospital.

Kirk Ferentz said a possible return next week. Parker is on track for that.

-- Daniel Murray is in uniform today. He's kicking right now. But, as far as I know, no change. Your kicker today is Mike Meyer. And he goes by "Mike." Trust me on this one. I went to Wahlert. I know people.

-- The Rose Bowl is here. So, the Capital One.

That's a groin pull of a deal for a door prize.

No superstitions

You can ask Iowa running back Adam Robinson about fumbles. He doesn't believe in jinxes.

"I'm not superstitious at all," Robinson said earlier this week. "I don't believe in any of that stuff. I think if you're determined to do something and work hard enough to do it, you can get it accomplished.

"That's what I do with fumbling. It's crazy. I don't even think about it when I'm running. It's just something I do."

Robinson, a 5-foot-9, 200-pound sophomore, has carried 310 times for the Hawkeyes without a fumble. He was close, once. Remember Arizona 2009? He stuck the ball out as he crossed the plane of the end zone and it squirted loose. Fullback Brett Morse recovered, but it didn't matter. Upon further review, officials ruled Robinson broke the plane for a TD.

"I had a close call, but that's the only one," said Robinson, who comes into today's game fourth in the Big Ten with 623 yards.

Upon further review, this is a skill Robinson has fully developed. He's very adept at switching the ball to the outside arm, away from potential contact. Runners are taught to do this, but not all do. Robinson does it almost subconsciously.

His short stature might help here, too. Let's face it, at 5-9 (ish), his arms are short. That makes it hard for defenders to dig between his arm and the ball.

His philosophy is as follows:

"I don't even think about holding onto the ball," he said. "It's just a natural thing, to hold it really firm and tight. I know when I get down there in traffic and people start grabbing, I hug it with two hands. I think that helps me when I get into the piles and people are trying to strip it."

The last fumble he could remember came in camp this August.

"I take a lot of pride in that," he said. "If I can hold onto the ball and not cause turnovers, that gives the offense and the team a big advantage over the other team. I think that was one of the determining factors against Michigan. They turned it over four times. We didn't turn it over. I think turnovers are huge."

Here are some fumble stats from the NFL from 2000 through 2009:

•Fumbles occur on 1.67% of all run and pass plays. About half of all fumbles are lost, for an overall rate of 0.83% per play.

•Fumbles occur on 1.16% of run plays. 55% of run play fumbles are lost, for an overall rate of 0.65% per run.

•Fumbles occur on 2.04% of pass plays. 47% of pass play fumbles are lost, for an overall rate of 0.97% per pass play.

•Fumbles occur on 18.0% of all sacks.

•Fumbles occur on 0.96% of all pass completions.

•Of all pass play fumbles, 56% occur due to sacks.

•Sack-fumbles are lost 47% of the time.

•8.5% of sacks cause a turnover.

•Fumbles after completions are also lost 47% of the time

Greene in the house

Former Hawkeye running back Shonn Greene is the honorary captain today. The New York Jets are on an idle week, so he spent Thursday and Friday at Iowa's practice.

He hopped on the team  bus for the drive down to Kinnick this morning.

"I told them forget all the ESPN SportsCenter stuff," Greene said. "I told them it's Wisconsin coming to play Iowa. Forget about what they did to Ohio State."

Greene is not even two seasons removed from Iowa City. He's still close to a lot of players on the team, including defensive end Adrian Clayborn. In fact, Greene was instrumental in Clayborn's decision to stay in Iowa City last December.

Clayborn said earlier this week that the only time he was ever close to being concussed on the field was in August 2008 when he rammed helmets with Greene.

"In camp a few years ago, we went head-to-head contact," Clayborn said. "That left me a little dizzy."

Weather watch

I received an e-mail from The Weather Channel this week. Very cool.

Here it is:

The Weather Channel Offers its Gametime Weather Index for Oct. 22-23

The Weather Channel® (TWC) releases its exclusive weather impact report, the Gametime Weather Index for this weekend's NFL and NCAA football games. TWC's Gametime Weather Index will be featured on-air and online, complete with new interactive radar maps on weather.com. Each place mark on the map indicates where this week's select NFL and NCAA matchups will be located and includes the latest forecast and weather factors for each game. Additional forecasts for games that were not highlighted below can also be found online.

The index is based on forecast conditions for the game on the field and the weather's potential to affect game play. Using a scale from 1 to 10, the index assigns a 10 for typically “perfect” weather and a 1 for awful weather -- think 38 degrees, rain and high winds.

Select NCAA games tracked by TWC's Gametime Weather Index include:

Wisconsin Badgers @ Iowa Hawkeyes

Saturday, 2:30 p.m. CT, Kinnick Stadium, Iowa City, IA

Gametime Weather Index: 6

Weather factors: Showers, some thunder with breezy southeast winds. Temperatures in the mid 60s.