Hlog: The Arizona game just got a tad easier for Iowa's football team

Many a college football team has survived the preseason loss of a wide receiver, no matter how important.

Still, it can't help Arizona's cause that senior receiver Delashaun Dean is transferring out of of Tucson before the 2010 season begins. That's one less weapon for Iowa's defense to fend off when the two teams meet at Arizona on Sept. 18.

Dean sort of got a little sideways in Tucson recently, as this passage from this Arizona Daily Star story indicates.

Tucson Police Department officers were called to an IHOP Restaurant on North Oracle Road at about 2:40 a.m. on June 19 after a patron reported seeing Dean flash a gun in his waistband, according to police reports obtained by the Star on Friday.

Dean was frisked for weapons, according to reports, but officers found nothing. Shortly thereafter, officers found two semiautomatic handguns underneath Dean's car, a late-model Chrysler 300, according to reports.

Dean was charged with one count of carrying a concealed weapon.

Saturday, Dean called the arrest a misunderstanding.

Note to all college football players: Pancakes and firearms don't mix.

Last year, Iowa caught a break when UA tight end Rob Gronkowski wasn't healthy enough to play for the Wildcats. Gronkowski was the first-team All-Pac-10 tight end as a sophomore, but ended up missing his entire junior season due to a back injury. But he was still a second-round draft pick of the New England Patriots in 2010.

The Pats are very high on Gronkowski. Arizona could have used the big fella last year, even though the Wildcats continued their improvement under Mike Stoops and reached the Holiday Bowl. Arizona's offense was feeble -- just eight first-downs -- in its 27-17 loss at Iowa.

The Wildcats could have used Dean this year, for that matter. He had 132 catches for 1,407 yards in his career.