Wherever it leads, the road hits the Hawkeyes now

Finally, here's that road schedule that was the national talking point when it came to the Iowa Hawkeyes last summer.

You know the drill. Someone on ESPN, the Big Ten Network or whatever talks glowingly about Iowa and then finally remembers the road schedule to oblivion. That was always the caveat during preseason Iowa chatter. Now it's here.

The Hawkeyes (3-0) travel to State College, Pa., for No. 5 Penn State (3-0) Saturday night. Yes, the road will be ridiculously difficult for Iowa, but hey, at least it's finally here.

“Yeah, it's going to come sooner or later,” Iowa quarterback Ricky Stanzi said. “It's going to be a tough thing, whether you play it now or later. You just want to play football and play against the best teams. We have that chance.”

Iowa has that chance this weekend at Happy Valley. The road picks up again Oct. 17 in Madison for Wisconsin. Right after that, it's off to East Lansing and Michigan State. The road finally ends Nov. 14 in Columbus against Ohio State.

You know, that is a tough road schedule.

“It's certainly significant,” Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said. “But I would think it'd be a mistake to go much beyond that because there's only so much you can do about it or say about it.

“It helps if your team is a little bit more mature, has some experience, and it helps if you have concentration and mental toughness, too. Those things are important if you're going to win on the road. We have one down and four to go, and they're all going to be very difficult.”

Not to alarm anyone, but the Hawkeyes under Ferentz are 6-10 at these four particular Big Ten stops. Looking for trends? Iowa has dropped its last four games at these places, too.

You heard the man. It's going to be very difficult.