Last Call -- Northwestern

"November is for contenders, we always say that," Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said. "It's hard to get too ecstatic right now because you know the Hawkeyes are coming to town."

What will the offense look like -- Hard to say what Iowa's offense will look like under quarterback James Vandenberg. Going off what the Hawkeyes did Saturday, don't expect sweeping changes for No. 10 Ohio State (8-2, 5-1 Big Ten).

The Hawkeyes were pretty much the Hawkeyes, when the redshirt freshman replaced injured starter Ricky Stanzi.

If you can pick up anything from Vandenberg's 45 snaps in Iowa's 17-10 loss to Northwestern, the No. 15 Hawkeyes (9-1, 5-1) might run more shotgun formations.

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz noticed that's what Northwestern did with quarterback Mike Kafka, who nursed a sore hamstring through the second half on Saturday. Northwestern just kept Kafka in the shotgun and didn't ask him to do much with his legs.

Vandenberg earned a scholarship by directing a fast-paced, shotgun spread offense at Keokuk. But Ferentz fell in love with him when Vandenberg went under center for the 2008 Shrine Bowl all-star game without missing a beat. Saturday, he threw out of the shotgun 14 times, including nine straight times down the stretch when Iowa absolutely had to have it but didn't get it against a stubborn Northwestern defense.

"That might be a possibility," Ferentz said after making note of what NU did with Kafka.

Iowa did everything else it usually does.

Johnson-Koulianos said he didn't see any difference in Iowa's playcalling with Vandenberg, saying he thought it was "aggressive."

Ferentz said it changes when a younger player enters the game.

"Quarterback, it's a little more magnified than other positions," Ferentz said. "But at the same time, we have to play. We're going to have to go over there and try to be aggressive and see if we can't score points, because it's going to be tough.

"It's going to be tough with just 10."

That was the referenced to the 10 points the Hawkeyes scored against Northwestern. They all came in the first five minutes, before Stanzi suffered a high-ankle sprain early in the second quarter.

Vandenberg led eight drives. The closest Iowa came to scoring was a nine-play, 43-yard drive that ended on Daniel Murray's 46-yard field goal attempt that sailed wide left. 

Vandenberg was under center the majority of the time. He threw from three-, five and seven-step drops. He threw two play-action passes, one of which was intercepted. He completed the one play-action bootleg Iowa tried, a 13-yarder to Derrell Johnson-Koulianos.

He finished 9 of 27 for 82 yards with an interception and a pass efficiency of 52.99.

His interception came on his first pass attempt. From under center, Vandenberg faked a hand off to running back Brandon Wegher, turned his back to the defense and planted on a seven-step drop. He never saw linebacker Quentin Davie, who got excellent depth on his drop, forcing Vanderberg to clear the linebacker and find the Iowa receiver under the safety.

Iowa had "max protect" on for a few of Vandenberg's plays, leaving him with only two receivers in route. Iowa went to a five-receiver spread formation from one shotgun snap. Vandenberg hit Johnson-Koulianos for a 12-yard gain.

When protection broke down, Vandenberg threw the ball away. When forced to scramble, he showed decent quickness. He needed to make the decision on when to cut and run a little faster, but everything was so sped up Saturday. 

He showed pretty good understanding of run checks. On his second snap, he audibled to a Wegher run for a 10-yard gain.

Ferentz twice lamented the fact that Vandenberg wasn't able to see much action this season because of the Tupperware-tight games the Hawkeyes have battled through. Going into Saturday, all Vandenberg had on his resume was 2-for-3 against Iowa State on week 2.

"The only probably unfortunate part of the whole thing, he hasn't had a chance to get in and play much," Ferentz said. "Only comment I can make there. He played a little bit in our second game. Since, he'd been doing a nice job in practice."

He added, "He'll be a better player next week and he'll be better the week after."

Vandenberg's arm strength seemed fine. He had a few throws that fell short, but that was with pressure in his face. Iowa offensive coordinator Ken O'Keefe called a lot of out patterns. Vandenberg made those throws.

"He's a smart guy," Johnson-Koulianos said. "He knows a lot about sports in general and especially football. He's a heady kid. He's always trying to get better.

"He pushes Rick at practice. He makes some throws that Rick can't make, sometimes, which surprises people. He's been preparing and he knew this could happen. He prepared that way.

"It'll be interesting to see how this unfolds with him and how he can finish. We've faced a lot of adversity this year. We've faced everything you can face. I think this one right here tops them all. So, pray for James."

Pressure on the O-line -- Ohio State is in position to win its fifth straight Big Ten title and it has nothing to do with quarterback Terrelle Pryor.

Ohio State is the best defense in the Big Ten. Iowa's is in the discussion, certainly, but the numbers say the Buckeyes are the best.

Ohio State leads the Big Ten in total defense, rush defense and turnover margin (plus-9). It's second in scoring defense (11.2 points a game), pass defense and pass efficiency defense. The Buckeyes' 27 sacks are fourth in the Big Ten.

Iowa's O-line is in the spotlight this week.

Yes, it will have to protect Vandenberg. And yes, it will have to do better than the 2.4 yards a carry the Hawkeyes managed against Northwestern.

But what's mostly at stake is dimension. It's unlikely the Hawkeyes will be able to manufacture a running game this week. Iowa is ninth in the Big Ten with 119.2 yards a game and 3.4 yards a carry. Iowa has been held to less than 100 yards four times this season, the most since it was held to under 100 four times in '07.

The Hawkeyes are going to have to milk the running game, get what they can out of it. If they get too one-dimensional, the Buckeyes will tee off on Vandenberg.

"We have to give him as much protection as we can when he's throwing the football," offensive tackle Bryan Bulaga said. "He knows what he's doing. He's a smart guy, he's a learner. We're going to have to pick everything up and give him some protection. And we've got to get that running game going."

And right on cue, OSU defensive end Cameron Heyward was named Big Ten defensive player of the week. He made a team-high and career-best 11 tackles, including three tackles for loss and a career-high two sacks against Penn State. Ohio State's last defensive POW? End Thaddeus Gibson just two weeks ago.

On the hold -- Center Rafael Eubanks was called for a hold when Wegher broke a 64-yard run.

Did he hold?

Eubanks was locked up with defensive tackle Adam Hahn and driving him to the left. Hahn's shoulder turned and Eubanks drove him into the turf. The block happened right in front of Wegher. He ran outside of it, made a cut and sprinted into the end zone untouched.

The flag came from umpire Jim Shaw. He had an excellent angle, watched the engagement the entire way and threw the flag just after Hahn hit the deck.

Eubanks had leverage, but Hahn had his outside arm free and seemed to be in position to make the play until he was his shoulders were spun and he went into the turf with Eubanks on top of him. 

 Eubanks had a conversation with referee Dennis Lipski and Shaw.

He asked Shaw what he saw.

"He said, 'I understand he's going down, you've got to let him go, you can't finish the action,' " Eubanks said. "I had some questions for him. I felt like I was inside. I was running my legs, there wasn't any separation or jersey pull or stuff like that. He said, 'I understand that, but if a guy's going down, you have to let him go. You can't pull him down.'

"Whatever he saw, he saw and he had to make the call. As much as I feel it wasn't maybe a hold, he made the call and it's a good call. A huge call, but I must've held. As frustrating as it is, that's the way it goes."

Not happening, probably -- Johnson-Koulianos did play quarterback at Cardinal Mooney High School in Ohio . . . just spitballing here.

"Ricky is so tough, you kind of start to feel he's been healthy for so long, you can never imagine that," Johnson-Koulianos said. "You never even think of the possibility of being without him and then it happens. You're just kind of like, my God, what are we going to do now?

"I got it in my head I was going to go over to coach O'Keefe and say, 'Let me run the wildcat.' I just wanted to win the game."

Not going to happen, probably.

Inside the numbers

1,000 -- Adam Robinson still leads the Hawkeyes with 629 yards. Wegher has 502. The Hawkeyes will likely finish without a 1,000-yard rusher for the third time in the last four seasons. Of course, Shonn Greene set the season record with 1,850 last season, but the last 1,000-yard rusher before him was Albert Young's 1,334 in 2005.

2,000 -- With Stanzi at 2,189 yards, the Hawkeyes have had a 2,000-yard passer in eight of the last nine seasons. Last year, Stanzi finished with 1,956 yards. The QBs who have hit that milestone are Stanzi, Jake Christensen, Drew Tate (three times), Nathan Chandler, Brad Banks and Kyle McCann.

113 -- Johnson-Koulianos now has 113 career receptions, ninth on Iowa's career list. Kevin Kasper is Iowa's career receptions leader with 157. Five players among Iowa's top 10 are from the Kirk Ferentz era (Kasper, Kahlil Hill, Clinton Solomon, Scott Chandler and DJK).

6 -- Safety Tyler Sash's six interceptions are the my by an Iowa defensive back since Jovon Johnson picked off six in 2003.

7.5 -- Defensive end Adrian Clayborn's 7.5 sacks are the most by an Iowa player since Bryan Mattison had nine in 2007. The last season Iowa had a player finish with double digit sacks was 2004, when Jonathan Babineaux had 11.

3 -- Iowa tight ends Tony Moeaki and Allen Reisner have caught three passes total in the last three games. Both were shut out against Northwestern. Moeaki caught one against Michigan State, two against Indiana and was targeted three times against Northwestern. Reisner hasn't caught a pass since Wisconsin. Perhaps this is a product of max protection, when one or both tight ends block instead of going into route.

Next -- Ohio State, 2:30, ABC.

Winner will take a one-game lead in the Big Ten going into the last week of the season.

The Buckeyes are coming off maybe their most impressive performance of the season, a 24-7 victory over Penn State.

Heyward earned Big Ten defensive player of the week. Return specialist Ray Small helped was special teams player of the week with seven punt returns for 130 yards, including a pair of returns more than 40 yards to set up Buckeyes touchdowns. The senior wide receiver averaged 18.6 yards per punt return and also added a seven-yard reception and a 13-yard reverse.

Quarterback Terrelle Pryor finished 8 for 17 passing for 125 yards, and rushed for 50 yards and a 7-yard TD on five carries.

Iowa hasn't won at Ohio State since 1991 and has won in Columbus just twice since 1987.

Ferentz's teams are 0-for-4 at Ohio Stadium with a combined score of 91-27. Iowa's 33-7 victory over Ohio State at Kinnick in 2004 snapped a streak of eight OSU victories.

"November is for contenders, we always say that," Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said. "It's hard to get too ecstatic right now because you know the Hawkeyes are coming to town."