Sunday Hawkeyes Reading Room - Iowa will be 9th in today's BCS standings

The BCS Guru, right on the money all season so far, projects Iowa to fall from fourth to ninth in today's BCS standings.

Says the Guru here:

1. Florida, 2. Alabama, 3. Texas, 4. TCU, 5. Cincinnati, 6. Boise State, 7. Georgia Tech, 8. LSU, 9. Iowa, 10. USC, 11. Ohio State, 12. Oregon, 13. Pittsburgh, 14. Utah, 15. Houston.

The Los Angeles Times' Mike Hiserman gave Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz credit Saturday after the Hawkeyes' 17-10 loss to Northwestern. An excerpt:

Last week, when the Hawkeyes were still undefeated yet dropped one spot (to No. 8) in the Associated Press media poll after an 18-point victory over Indiana, the Iowa sports information office set out a snippy e-mail asking reporters to "get the facts straight on Iowa football."

Ferentz didn't pile on. "Usually the first team to complain is the first team to get beat," he said.

Funny how that works out.

For the full story, most of which isn't Iowa-related, click here.

Sports Illustrated's Andy Staples suggests the lack of a bye week in Iowa's schedule wore down the Hawkeyes. Says Staples:

The Big Ten's decision to implement a permanent bye week came one year too late for Iowa. Beginning in 2010, the league will add a week off during the eight-game conference schedule. This is a wise move, and it may someday help an elite team avoid a letdown, stay undefeated and eventually reach the BCS title game.

Unfortunately for the Hawkeyes, they have to play all of their 2009 schedule in a 12-week slog. And after several far-too-dramatic wins, all the tight games finally caught up with Iowa. Maybe if, at some point in the past 10 weeks, Iowa had taken a week off, Hawkeyes players would have been mentally refreshed and not have let their guard down against Northwestern and stumbled to a 17-10 loss.

So that's what got Ricky Stanzi hurt. His blockers weren't mentally fresh.

Adam Rittenberg, ESPN.com's ultra-thorough Big Ten blogger, has seen a lot of the Hawkeyes during the last month in person, including Saturday's game. Part of his postgame take:

The fourth-ranked Hawkeyes lost their quest for perfection Saturday, unable to summon enough magic without Stanzi as they fell 17-10 to Northwestern at Kinnick Stadium.

"That was always in the back of my mind, something I really wanted for everybody," (Derrell) Johnson-Koulianos said of going undefeated. "It's never been done here. We had the opportunity to do something prestigious.

"Now that dream, in a blink of an eye, is gone."

Dave Curtis of The Sporting News says it succinctly here.

Beat Iowa at Ohio Stadium next week, and OSU will do no worse than the Rose Bowl this postseason. The victory, seemingly a sure bet with Iowa QB Ricky Stanzi expected to miss the game, will also bring a fifth straight year of the Buckeyes at least sharing a conference crown. The Midwest's dynasty will not die in 2009.

If full-strength Penn State, in front of 110,000 fans in Beaver Stadium, couldn't prevent one of those, shorthanded Iowa has no chance.

Finally, Sports by Brooks suggests Stanzi got face-masked before the ankle thing and the fumble thing. Video is included.

Click here for the frame-by-frame clip. But know that doing so won't cause the official to throw a penalty flag and negate Northwestern's first touchdown.