Things You May Not Have Known About Iowa Hawkeyes Football -- Installment II: Better than Penn State on the field and overall

I'm on vacation. But the Hlog stops for nothing or no one. Let's proceed.

You know Iowa has dominated its series with Penn State in the Kirk Ferentz era. The Hawkeyes even won in State College in 2000 when they won just two other games all season. I'll always remember the one-word headline in the State College newspaper the next morning.

IOWA?

The Hawkeyes have won nine of their last 11 games against the Nittany Lions (8-2 under Ferentz). As much as you may have respected or loved the Iowa program when Penn State entered the conference, you'd have never seen a 9-out-of-11 ever coming along.

So you of the Iowa colors know that. But did you know that though the Big Ten considered Michigan, Ohio State, Nebraska and Penn State its top four programs when it divided into, uh, divisions for football, Iowa has been five games better than Penn State in the last 10 years?

If you're talking national marquee-name value, sure. But did the league make a risky assumption that Penn State will be one of the league's premier teams in the future? Maybe it will. Maybe it should. But how can you say yes for sure?

Before looking at the standings of Big Ten football 2001-2010 I'm listing below, come up with your own mental list and see how it compares. I'll post a video from one of America's greatest songwriters/musicians, then the list will follow

Here we go:

Ohio State  66-14

Iowa  50-30

Michigan  50-30

Wisconsin  47-33

Penn State  45-35

Michigan State  37-43

Purdue  37-43

Northwestern  35-45

Illinois  28-52

Minnesota  28-52

Indiana  17-63