Last Call -- Wisconsin

 SpiderMan -- For one brief moment, sophomore Willie Lowe was out with the first team when the Hawkeyes went to the full-team drill during their warm-ups on Saturday. Maybe he got mixed up or maybe he jumped the gun.

Either way, he moved over when junior Amari Spievey readied himself. He was the last one out of the lockerroom before kickoff.

Spievey was one of a handful of Hawkeyes who fought through the flu during No. 7 Iowa's 20-10 victory at Wisconsin.

He's fought foot troubles all season. A little flu wasn't going to stop him.

He picked off his first two interceptions this season and was second on the team with six tackles. He intercepted Wisconsin quarterback Scott Tolzien on the Badgers' first drive of the second half, and the Hawkeyes cashed it in and tied the game 10-10. His second pick finished off Wisconsin, an incredible diving grab with 1:29 left in the game.

On the first interception, Tolzien locked on receiver David Gilreath with Spievey dropping, reading and jumping the ball. Linebacker A.J. Edds had help underneath.

"Offense got a start," Spievey said. "They moved the ball and, thankfully, they scored after that. The game just changed after that."

Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz believed that was the beginning of the big Hawkeyes' finish.

"A game of big plays, starting with the Amari Spievey pick,"Ferentz said. "We did a good job of moving the football and getting points after that. Then we were able to survive our turnover. The defense came up with three big stops and then the offense took the ball and drove it.

"I think that sequence right there is probably where the game turned."

With Spievey's two interceptions, every member of the Iowa secondary now has a pick. Safety Tyler Sash leads with five, safety Brett Greenwood has three and corner Shaun Prater had an interception at Penn State.

The Hawkeyes lead the nation with 15 interceptions, two ahead of SMU and Arizona State.

Great 48 -- It's kind of odd how 48 yards has been an elusive distance for junior kicker Daniel Murray.

In the opener, he had a 48-yarder leak left on him and the Hawkeyes barely lived to tell. Just before halftime against Michigan, Murray lined up for a 48-yarder but the Hawkeyes were called for delay of game. He missed the 53-yarder.

"It's kind of funny, because when I ran out there, I looked at (holder Ryan) Donahue and said, 'Let's see if I can make one of these for once,' " Murray said. "I was fortunate enough to actually make it, so pretty pleased with that."

It was a career long for Murray, beating a 47-yarder he made at Wisconsin in 2007.

Saturday, Murray watched running back Brandon Wegher lose 7 yards and then quarterback Ricky Stanzi get sacked for an 8-yard loss on third down. He thought maybe the Hawkeyes lost too many yards and would pass up the field goal.

"I thought, now I'm not going to be able to kick anything," said Murray, who's made six of his last seven field goals after badly pulling a 28-yarder against Arkansas State. "I think we gained 14 yards on the play before that, so I got my chance."

Murray said the preset range for him Saturday was the 30-yard line. The ball was at the 31 when Murray got his chance.

D-line help? -- Maybe, but maybe not.

Iowa D-line coach Rick Kaczenski has stuck with his horses on the D-line for most and nearly all of this season. Why not? Sound logic. Why fix it if it ain't . . . you get the picture.

Saturday, sophomore Mike Daniels got a shot at tackle, replacing Christian Ballard for a few series. With about four minutes left in the first half, Daniels blew by center Peter Konz, drilled fullback Erik Smith and dumped quarterback Curt Phillips on a third-and-2. Then, on first down of Wisconsin's final drive, Daniels got a first step and powered again past Konz for his first sack this season.

Going into Wisconsin, Iowa's reserve D-linemen had accounted for two tackles.

Will this lead to more substitution? Tough call. You know, if it's not broke . . .

Going backwards -- Not exactly a news flash, but the Hawkeyes had way too many negative rushes against Wisconsin.

Yes, this will happen with O'Brien Schofield, the nation's leader in tackles for loss, on the other side of the ball. But still, too many times it put undue pressure on Stanzi and the offense.

Stanzi's minus-20 on three sacks counts against Iowa's rush yardage. Running back Adam Robinson would've logged his second career 100-yard game if he wouldn't have lost 10 yards. He finished with 91 yards on 20 carries. Freshman running back Brandon Wegher lost 15 yards and finished with just one net yard on 11 carries.

Sure, it's easy to rail on the 1.7 yards a carry the Hawkeyes had Saturday in Madison, but they still had Robinson, who's starting to really look like a No. 1 running back for a Big Ten contender. In 108 carries, he has 520 yards and five TDs. He averages a respectable 4.8 yards a carry. Of the top four backs in the conference, Robinson ranks No. 4 with 74.3 rushing yards a game. He's also fourth on that list in attempts, trailing Wisconsin's John Clay, Purdue's Ralph Bolden and Penn State's Evan Royster.

Wegher has average 3.6 yards on 81 carries.

Now, this isn't a call for more carries for Robinson. Ferentz has made it clear that coaches love both players and this will be the course the Hawkeyes take. Wegher has showed some flair in the passing game, with two catches for 19 yards on Saturday. He has 10 catches this season for 67 yards. Robinson isn't bad here, either, with seven for 66.

Neither has fumbled. So, maybe this is another case of "if it ain't broke"?

The negative rushing plays is a unit thing. If Iowa runs the ball better, it can sustain and it will put itself in position to put away more teams.

Seems awfully early, but . . . -- The Hawkeyes are No. 6 in the first BCS poll this season, which was released Sunday afternoon.

The last time an Iowa team was ranked in the top 10 of the BCS poll was during the 2002 season. The Hawkeyes held the fifth spot in the Dec. 9th , 2002 BCS poll. That's the highest Iowa has ever achieved in the BCS poll. The Hawkeyes did reach the 11th spot during the 2003 and 2004 seasons.

Seems early, yes, but it's better to be in it than not, no?

Next -- The Big Ten's hottest team is . . . playing in East Lansing on Saturday.

The No. 7 Hawkeyes (7-0, 3-0 Big Ten) travel to Michigan State, which, yes, is only 4-3 overall, but is 3-1 in the league with victories over Michigan (26-20 OT), Illinois (24-14) and Northwestern (24-14). The Spartans' only loss was 38-30 at Wisconsin.

"The big thing I think we need to emphasize is that we're 3-1 in this conference right now," MSU coach Mark Dantonio said Sunday night. "We've got Iowa next week. We're a 4-3 football team. We've battled back from a 1-3 start. That's not easy to do, so you talk about respect, our players deserve it."

With Purdue's victory over Ohio State, the Big Ten is up for grabs. The conference leader will emerge from Spartan Stadium on Saturday night (remember, 6 p.m. kick on the Big Ten Network).

"It's a huge opportunity for Michigan State," Dantonio said. "You look at the last two games with Iowa. It was double overtime over there. Here, it was down to the last play. I know our guys understand they can play at that level. . . .

"It'll be a night game. It's a hot ticket and it'll be cranked."

"We're a 3-1 football team, which puts us in second, somehow. That's the focus. We need to capture that moment and focus on what's ahead."

Ferentz is supposed be on ESPN's College Football Live next (8:45 p.m. or so). Sounds like they just watched the Wisconsin-MSU tape in coaches' meetings at the Complex.

And this little reminder, Ferentz is 0-4 at Michigan State. The Hawkeyes haven't won in East Lansing since 1995.