Friday Hawkeyes Reading Room -- Iowa-OSU is SI's Game of the Week

Iowa-Ohio State is Sports Illustrated's Game of the Week. Cory McCartney writes:

The Hawkeyes fell out of favor after falling to Northwestern and losing Stanzi, both with the pollsters -- who dropped them from eighth to 13th in the AP and sixth to 13th in the coaches -- and in Vegas. Iowa opened as a 15-point underdog to Ohio State, and that number has swelled to 17 at some sportsbooks.

Caesars bookie Mark Tutino, who boasts 20-plus years in the business . . . said most bettors believe Ohio State will cover. But as one Big Ten defensive coordinator told me, "Iowa's got a great defense. They're rough, physical. There's no way they'll lose by 17."

Bruce Hooley of Foxsports.com (and the author of "Great Moments in Buckeyes Football History") obviously disagrees with the unnamed coordinator. Says Hooley:

There's only one Hawkeye who could address every problem Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz is fretting over in advance of a winner-take-Rose-Bowl berth showdown Saturday at Ohio State.

And it would stretch even the bounds of his considerable medical talents for Dr. Hawkeye Pierce to do that.

At 9-1 overall and 5-1 in the Big Ten, Iowa has the record of a league championship contender, but the look of the 4077th M*A*S*H unit as it heads for Columbus.

There are programs built to handle such midseason upheaval - places where the talent is stacked so deep the next man in is often as good, and sometimes even better, than the one he replaces.

Unfortunately for Ferentz, Iowa is not one of those places.

And even worse for him, Ohio State is exactly that sort of place.

OK, let's hear from some Buckeyes before they try to defeat Iowa in Saturday's battle for the Big Ten's Rose Bowl berth.

"You're definitely salivating to get to the quarterback," Buckeyes defensive end Cameron Heyward said.

That passage was from Associated Press' story on Ohio State's fast and furious pass rush.

Some more from that story, this from OSU safety Kurt Coleman:

"Oh, my goodness. The front four, or front eight -- how many ever they rotate in -- they're absolutely unreal," he said. "It's made my life back there so much easier."

"You know, you don't want to get a quarterback starting (fast). We allowed that against Purdue and he was able to make plays as the game kept going," Heyward said, referring to a 26-18 Boilermakers upset engineered by Joey Elliott. "It's going to be critical for us to get pressure early."

Can you handle more on the OSU defense? ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg provides some here:

The Buckeyes' defense is nicknamed "The Silver Bullets." And this season, the bullets are flying from every angle.

"Playing different positions, there's nothing like it," Buckeyes defensive lineman and co-captain Doug Worthington said. "[Ohio State] always had a lot of versatile guys, but this defensive line is showing how versatile it really can get."

The line leads one of the nation's most dominant defenses, a unit that owns three shutouts on its résumé and nearly had a fourth last week against Penn State. The front four ranks third nationally against the run (85.4 yards per game), hasn't allowed a 100-yard rusher in 20 games and has recorded 20 sacks in Big Ten play, which ties Purdue for the league lead.

Looking for a positive omen for Saturday, Iowa fans? The home field hasn't meant a lot in the Big Ten this season. Home teams have won 18 of the 34 league games. Iowa has contributed to the balance by winning all three of its conference road contests.

ESPN.com's Jeffri Chadiha has this story about former Hawkeye tight end Dallas Clark entitled "Tragedy spurs Clark to excel." Here's the start of the piece:

The high-pitched shriek rattled Dallas Clark and sent him racing through that small white house in Livermore, Iowa.

He was only 18 then, a bright-eyed high school senior just three days from graduation and a long way from NFL stardom. But when Clark burst into his garage back in 1998, he saw how fast he was about to grow up: His 49-year-old mother, Jan, had stopped breathing. She had collapsed while cleaning up for Dallas' upcoming celebration.

Clark instantly spun back toward the house. He charged inside to call 911, then returned moments later to try resuscitating his mother with the help of his aunt, Judy Jacobson. Paramedics would tell Clark later that Jan wouldn't have survived the heart attack even if she'd been transported to the hospital located 10 miles away. To this day, Clark figures that's what medical technicians tell teenagers who have just watched their mothers die in their arms.

That's the first thing to understand about Clark -- the pain of that moment will never pass. It was right there in his face a few weeks ago as he leaned against a wall at the Indianapolis Colts' training facility. Clark choked back tears as he recounted the memories, fully aware that his path to becoming one of the league's best tight ends began when Jan died.

"I keep thinking it would be nice for her to see me doing these things," Clark said.

As if being a win Saturday from a fifth-straight Big Ten football title wasn't enough, Ohio State has what USA Today is calling the nation's best men's basketball recruiting class for 2010.

Ohio State signed six players. Four of them, Jared Sullinger, J.D. Weatherspoon, Aaron Craft and Jordan Sibert, were on an AAU team, All-Ohio Red, that was 201-9 the last three summers. Sullinger, a 6-8 forward, and Weatherspoon, a 6-5 forward, also played for Northland (Columbus) High, last season's Ohio champion.

Speaking of basketball, Buckeyes quarterback Terrelle Pryor was a pretty good high school basketball player. At 6-foot-6, he was one of those players opposing Pennsyvlania prep teams hated to face as the video below will show.

During his senior year for the Jeanette Jayhawks, Pryor averaged 21.9 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. The 25-4 Jayhawks won the Class AA state title. He finished his career with 2,285 points.

Against Beaver Falls in the district championship, Prhor had 39 points, 24 rebounds and 10 blocks.