Hlas: Hawkeyes have rare chance for rarefied air

INDIANAPOLIS — Much has been made in Iowa about disrespect and even so-called hate directed at he unbeaten Hawkeyes football team.

It's not the stuff of global conflict, thankfully. But it is an easy prism from which fans can view the world. Mean Them vs. Noble Us.

Maybe it's because it's more fun to process good and evil instead of nuance and gray areas. Maybe it's because we live in Iowa, where we're known mainly for corn and caucuses, not that you can distinguish one from the other.

But going into Saturday night here, the real story for the Hawkeyes has little to do with being an unappreciated underdog. It's what's on the line, what will happen if they can defeat Michigan State in the Big Ten championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium.

It's the possibility of the Hawkeyes entering a space reserved for the elite of the college game, the national playoffs. That, not hokum generated by outsiders, is what Iowa's team cares about. They haven't gotten to 12-0 with an inferiority complex.

Last year, the College Football Playoff teams were Alabama, Florida State, Oregon, and champion Ohio State. All are pedigreed in football. All are instantly recognizable to fans everywhere in America. All are national programs.

Alabama, Oklahoma and Clemson appear headed there this year. All are pedigreed in football. All are national programs.

Which means if Iowa upsets the Spartans and is part of this year's Final Four, it will be college football's story of the year. The national perception of the Hawkeyes will instantly change. They will become amazingly interesting to those who want something other than the same old same-old.

Sure, there would be some who would dismiss the Hawkeyes as party-crashers about to become victimized by a true powerhouse in the national semifinals. But beating a fine Michigan State team with so much on the line would turn many of the doubters into hat-tippers, and the profile of Iowa's program would be elevated above anything it has known in the last half-century.

What would a year of being known as 'Big Ten champion' and 'College Football Playoff participant' attached to their name tags do for the Hawkeyes? The short answer: Lots. And lots.

By the way, being in the Final Four would also mean the biggest trophy of them all is within the Hawkeyes' reach.

Of course, that could feel like a deluded dream by the end of Saturday evening. Michigan State is the best team Iowa has faced, has several defenders as good as any Iowa has faced, has the best quarterback as any Iowa has faced, and has a coach who is at his best in big games.

Mark Dantonio's program has won six of its seven games against Top 10 teams and is the only Big Ten club to beat Ohio State since Urban Meyer arrived in Columbus four years ago. Twice, in fact.

It would be no shame for Iowa to lose to Michigan State, assuming the Hawkeyes are at least competitive. But while it's true the view gets better the higher you climb, it also makes the fall harder.

Should Iowa lose Saturday after climbing this high, the fall will be hard. The Rose or Fiesta bowl will be a big deal, for sure. (The Peach would not.) But compared to what might have been, and knowing how tough it is to get to this position, a defeat here would leave quite a void.

That's not a bad thing. It means you gave yourself a chance to play for high stakes. The risk of heartache is small potatoes compared to what can be won.

'We'll live with the consequences either way,' Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said here Friday.

'I've watched the four games on the couch, in front of the fireplace. Fun to watch. But it's more fun to be here, I can promise you that.'

So, will anyone in Iowa watch this game? Rather, will anyone not watch?

l Comments: (319) 368-8840; mike.hlas@thegazette.com