Hlas column: Is Hawkeyes' season on the line vs. MSU? Well, uh, er ... yeah

Life isn't fair.

Had Ohio State played Michigan State's schedule and was 8-0, the Buckeyes would be ranked No. 1 in the nation. The 8-0 Spartans are No. 5.

What's in a name? A lot. You begin a season having earned a winning reputation, and things get handed to you. You begin a season without that kind of rep and you must scratch for everything you get.

Iowa knows the drill. The Hawkeyes were 7-0 when they went to East Lansing last year. They were ranked seventh. They left with a memorable, 15-13, win and the next day were ranked ... seventh.

Iowa was ninth in the preseason AP Top 25 this year because it had won 11 games and the Orange Bowl last season. Michigan State, 6-7 last season, was unranked in the preseason.

There are no fresh starts in college football. There are only pecking orders you have to fight to change.

Anyone who has watched the Spartans closely knows they're very good.

But here's what Las Vegas Hilton oddsmaker Jay Kornegay told the Detroit News:

“I'm not saying it, but in a lot of peoples' eyes out here, Michigan State is fool's gold. When you go on the road and win, that means a lot. They did go on the road but were fortunate to win. They got really lucky to beat a mediocre Northwestern team.”

The Spartans have been listed as underdogs by a touchdown all week.

“My response is ‘What tapes are they watching?'” Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said. “That's a pretty good team.”

With a pretty good coach. Mark Dantonio is in his fourth year at MSU, and the program is possibly in the best shape it's been since George Perles was the coach in the 1980s. The immortal Nick Saban had a five-year run at State from 1995 to 1999, and only won more than seven games once.

Dantonio laid the foundation at Cincinnati that Brian Kelly used to turn that program into a two-time Big East champion.

“I think they basically, that whole staff went intact (to MSU), great cohesiveness, continuity,” Ferentz said. “They had a staff in place, unlike when I came here. We had guys coming from all different directions. We had to create our own playbooks and all those type of things, but they had all that in place.

“They have recruited well, they coach well. And what's happened is, to me a predictable outcome.”

Dantonio had a mild heart attack in September, missed some coaching time, and the Spartans kept functioning. Impressive.

When the Big Ten announced its football divisional alignments for next year and beyond, Iowa fans focused on Nebraska and Michigan. But you get Michigan State, too. Every year.

Iowa was fortunate to get out of Spartan Stadium with a last-second, 15-13, win last year, but paid a physical price. That game would have been rated R for excessive violence. It took the Hawkeyes three quarters of the following game to come to life against 17-point underdog Indiana.

This year's MSU game is Iowa's season. How's that for overheated hyperbole?

I'm not talking league-title hopes, either. There would still be a huge bridge to cross for that to happen. Namely, Ohio State three weeks from now.

No, I'm talking about reality. You fall to 5-3, you lose back-to-back home games, and the air is completely out of your blimp. Gone. What you're playing for after that is to run the table just to have the kind of finish you had in 2008. Not exactly the 2010 scenario many had pictured, is it?

This isn't the best week for Iowa to line up against a physical, talented, confident, hungry opponent that seeks to avenge its loss to the Hawkeyes last year. Not after that emotional all-in scrum against Wisconsin a week ago.

But if Iowa is everything it was supposed to be this season, it gets its act together today on offense, defense and special teams.

It has no choice. If you believe this can still be a special season for Iowa, then the season is on the line. And those guys wearing white and green are good.