Saturday Hawkeyes Reading Room: Northwestern-Iowa predictions are just like Taco Bell and Subway

I tried. Oh, how I tried to find someone, somewhere who is publicly picking a Northwestern upset of Iowa Saturday in Nile Kinnick Stadium.

But the Wildcats-Hawkeyes picks in New York and Iowa and Nevada are just like the Taco Bells or Subways in those states. They may look slightly different, but they're all the same.

Newsday's Adam Abramson says Iowa, 23-6. The same publication's Mike Rose tabs the Hawkeyes by 31-13. For more of their picks to click, click here.

John Adams of the Knoxville (Tenn.) News Sentinel is a little SEC-heavy here in his picks for some reason, like, uh, being in Knoxville. But he says Iowa, 27-14.

Phil Steele of Phil Steele magazines and Phil Steele.com fame sees a close game, with the Hawkeyes prevailing, 27-20.

ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg, who has seen a lot of the Hawkeyes in person the last few weeks, expects a close game but says the Hawkeyes will pull away, 27-17.

Kirk Ferentz is always using the term "style points," usually in a disparaging manner. The National Championship Issue uses the same term, saying "The Hawkeyes know they need to start bringing it bigger if they're gonna have any shot at the title game. This is a good opportunity for them to gain some style points with the voters. The Call: Iowa by 21.

Dr. Bob Sports foresees an Iowa romp, 33-13. The good Doctor says "Iowa has only allowed an average of 15.8 points per game to teams that are considerably better offensively than Northwestern's attack, so I don't see the Wildcats getting more than 14 points here."

Finally, the odd, strange and curious combine forces at the Gazette/KCRG Pick 'Ems. All six Karnacs go with Iowa, believe it or not.

Now for some literature:

Iowa starting defensive tackle Karl Klug is playing for a team with a perfect record. So is Klug's twin brother, Kevin Klug.

Kevin's team, NCAA Division II Minnesota State is 10-0 and tries to wrap up a perfect regular-season Saturday at St. Cloud State. Kevin is a starting linebacker for the Mavericks. The Klugs are from Caledonia, Minn.

From this story in the Austin Post-Bulletin:

"I've thought about (wanting to play with Kevin) more this year than ever, probably because this is his last year of playing," said Karl, a redshirt junior, while the 6-2, 210-pound Kevin is a senior starting linebacker at Mankato. "When we played at Penn State earlier this year, I remember looking up at the 110,000 fans in the stands and thinking, 'Man, it would be cool if my brother was out here with me.' "

Finally, The Wiz of Odds led me to this Austin American-Statesman story that may grate a bit on Hawkeye fans. Texas fans are already booking passage to Pasadena for the BCS title game. An excerpt:

Southwest Airlines has been tracking the Longhorn confidence level.

"We've seen a jump in bookings to Los Angeles and Burbank after every Texas win," Southwest spokeswoman Ashley Rogers said. "The biggest was after the Oklahoma win."