On Iowa Daily Briefing 6.5.12 -- Trophy hunting vital this fall for Hawkeyes (with trophy poll)

I remember the questions vividly and now they seem like a curse placed upon the Iowa football program.

Before the Hawkeyes last played against Wisconsin (Oct. 23, 2010), one television personality asked just about every available player that week about Iowa's secret to winning trophy games. At that point Iowa had won eight consecutive trophy games against prime rivals Iowa State, Wisconsin and Minnesota and the last seven featured a double-digit margin of victory.

The players responded how all football players respond; they respect their opponent but it's just another game. That week in a slugfest reminiscent of the conclusion of Rocky II (except with the colors reversed) Wisconsin beat Iowa 31-30 to claim the Heartland Trophy. It was the first trophy blemish since 2007.

Now the trophy saga has shifted in the opposite direction for Iowa. The Hawkeyes have lost five straight trophy games counting the Wisconsin loss. [polldaddy poll=6289241] Twice against Minnesota the Hawkeyes have lost Floyd of Rosedale, the most storied traveling trophy in college sports. Iowa dropped a triple-overtime game to Iowa State to lose their interim trophy in the Cy-Hawk series. Iowa also dropped the inaugural Heroes Trophy to Nebraska in the season finale. Iowa didn't play Wisconsin last year and won't again this year.

Unlike Iowa's domination of eight straight trophy wins, the recent trend hardly includes poundings. Four of Iowa's trophy losses were by a combined eight points (22-21, 27-24 to Minnesota; 31-30 to Wisconsin; 44-41 to Iowa State). The other loss was more clear cut, a 20-7 fizzling defeat at Nebraska.

During the course of a season, nothing matters more to a football fan base than bragging rights at the office. That includes a year's worth of talking smack to your co-workers in Des Moines, Council Bluffs, Dubuque and Minneapolis. For Iowa that means knocking off Iowa State and Minnesota, to a lesser extent Nebraska (although in the big picture it's a bigger deal) every year and beating blood rival Wisconsin (when the games are scheduled).

For Iowa to climb back into the Big Ten's upper echelon, the Hawkeyes need to win their border battles. Former Wisconsin head coach Barry Alvarez called traveling trophies "a symbol of victory," which means it's important to both sides. There's no doubt those trophies mean something now for Iowa.

HLINKS

-- Steve Greenberg of The Sporting News wrote what a lot of us must be thinking about all the pre-playoff-format-devising yammering coming from so many corners, including the mouths of university chancellors and conference commissioners.

In the following excerpt, Perlman is Nebraska Chancellor Harvery Perlman, Slive is SEC Commissioner Mike Slive, Machen is Florida President Bernie Machen, and Delany is Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany. Let us proceed.

Perlman was full of beans about the Plus One thing, let alone the status-quo thing. Slive and Machen were full of beans about top-four-teams-or-bust. And Delany was full of beans with what, on the surface, was a “shocking” comment about his preferring the same model the SEC and Big 12 want.

They're all spewing hot, stinky air, OK?

They are negotiating in the media, which simply is how things are done nowadays. 1. Slip the media some information and rhetoric. 2. Vaguely criticize the media for its “interpretation” of exactly what you just said. 3. See how the other side responds, and gauge public reaction while you're at it so you'll know how best to pretend to care. 4. Slip the media some enhanced information and rhetoric. And so on.

-- With that in mind, so The Big Lead gives us a handy-dandy primer on how the four power conferences (sorry, ACC and Big East) feel about a playoff system.

SEC: The SEC wants a four-team playoff without a conference championship requirement. They want to improve the current formula but have not ruled out a selection committee.

Big 12: The Big 12 wants a four-team playoff. They want no conference championship requirement. They prefer a selection committee.

Big Ten: The Big Ten is open to a playoff but wants a plus-one on the table. They would not be opposed to a system that respects conference championships. They favor a selection committee.

Pac-12: The Pac-12 has kept the plus-one on the table but is open to discussion. The Pac-12 wants a conference champions requirement. They would prefer an objective formula but are willing to look at a selection committee.

But Oregon State President Edward Ray said Pac-12 presidents and chancellors aren't "digging in their heels" and want to collaborate with other conferences. Monday, Perlman said Big Ten presidents were "realistic" and would no longer be saying "over our dead bodies" in regards to a real playoff. That's what Ohio State President Gordon Gee said about three years ago.

Hlas says: None of these leagues will get exactly what they supposedly want, and none will be particularly unhappy about it.

Stewart Mandel of SI.com says Big Ten fans "embrace change and couldn't view the college football world more differently than their leagues' overlords."

But, Mandel says, "It may just be that a transparent selection committee capable of employing both freedom and logic is the bridge that ultimately brings everyone together."

-- Here's the oldest college football footage on record, Yale vs. Princeton in 1903.

There was no playoff back then.

And we liked it!