Tuesday talk

Good to go -- Wide receiver Marvin McNutt (thumb) and running back Brandon Wegher should be good to go for Saturday's game at Michigan State, Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said Tuesday.

On McNutt (15 catches, 278 yards and two TDs): "He jammed his thumb Thursday I guess somewhere during practice. I can't tell you when. But he had a shot. He didn't catch the ball very well in pregame. I think we're all on the same page there. It might not be in his best interests to be out there. But he's made improvements since Saturday. We don't anticipate this thing being big at all."

Ferentz joked about the Wegher injury and how it mushroomed outside of the complex to a major, out-for-the-season type of injury. It's a bruised left hand, BTW.

"Yeah, I think they're taking the cast off tomorrow. I'm joking. I'm joking. (Laughter).

"One of our coaches (Lester Erb) was asked on an interview yesterday about the cast on his hand. And Lester's response was no, it was really his right leg, I think you're misguided where the cast is. Apparently it's one of the Internet phenoms. I haven't had a chance to catch up this week. We expect him to have a better than fair chance to play Saturday without any cast or other things."

On the non-joking side, running back Jeff Brinson has his right leg in a boot and is on crutches. He's probably done for the regular season.

Five players were likely to leave practice early Tuesday because of a late-afternoon test.

Jurassic Park -- That's been the long-standing gag about Iowa's 49-3 drubbing at Michigan State in 1999, the Hawkeyes' worst loss of the Ferentz era. The size and quality of Michigan State's players that day were ridiculous, including Plaxico Burress, linebacker Julian Peterson and defensive tackle Robaire Smith.

"I remember (offensive coordinator) Ken O'Keefe saying he thought we were in 'Jurassic Park' when he saw Plaxico Burress running up in warm-up drills. That was a pretty good description.

"It was all downhill from there. They had Plaxico Burress and Julian Peterson, who has played pretty well in the NFL. I think the gap certainly has been closed. But we haven't been able to get it done up there and it's to their credit and something we'll have to straighten out this week."

Shining on -- Ferentz was asked if was surprised at the 7-0 with running back Jewel Hampton going down with an ACL injury in June.

He brought up the New Orleans Saints as an example of a team just kind of getting a long at running back.

"They're getting it done. In the NFL typically they say you can get a good back in the third, fourth round. I think it's good for us because we don't get many first round picks at Iowa."

On the OTs -- Iowa's offensive tackles Bryan Bulaga and Kyle Calloway have been under siege the last two weeks dealing with outstanding defensive ends from Michigan (Brandon Graham) and Wisconsin (O'Brien Schofield).

Ferentz was asked Tuesday how the tackles have played.

"I think they're behind," he said. "I that's what we're seeing when they do struggle. It hasn't been that much, but they're not at mid-season form yet. We're working through it."

Bulaga missed the three weeks with the thyroid illness. Bulaga and Calloway missed "significant" time in camp, Ferentz said. They missed so much time that Ferentz said he couldn't remember when they were out there.

"They're both playing catch up. I think they're both close to where we want to get and that's going to help us."

Big Ten and night games -- Look for the more premier Big Ten games to come earlier in the season because of the Big Ten rule of no November night games. This will be a TV-driven possibility.

Ferentz kind of shrugged, "If that's the case, I hope we're in night games, because that means we're OK."

Ferentz would like to see the conference shape a policy on how many night road games teams have to play. Ferentz said this Saturday's night game was kind of "snuck" in by the conference. It is Iowa's third night game of the season and second conference game with a primetime kickoff.

Ferentz would've liked to have been asked if he would've wanted to play two Big Ten road games at night.

"You ought to consent to play two road games at night," he said. "I would've appreciated someone asking, hey, how do you feel about this? But I understand we're in a conference and I'm not trying to get a pain in the neck, but it would've been nice to at least be able to get a phone call.

"I read about it. That's like getting fired over the radio. You'd at least appreciate a call, hey, by the way . . ."

When ESPN called about the night game at Penn State, the network joked and said, please, not another 6-4 game. Well, the first half did end 10-5.

"During the game, I thought to myself, what if it ends up 10-5?" Ferentz joked. "I guess that's four or five points better. I did have that moment during the game. Sometimes I let myself have a laugh."

Iowa has the most conference night road games this season with the two (Penn State and Michigan State). The Hawkeyes also hosted Michigan at 7 p.m.

Fourth quarter muscles -- Ferentz was asked if Iowa's strength and conditioning has come through for it during the fourth quarters of games this year, specifically in last week's game at Wisconsin.

"I don't know if it's the sole reason, but we think that's an important part of how we're built," Ferentz said. "Since we're not a finesse outfit, that has to be part of how we think and operate. I think our strength-and-condition staff have done a good job, but I think our players have showed good mental toughness during the course of a game. That's a big part of it, too, hanging in there."

Ferentz feels it's something the Hawkeyes have rediscovered after losing it during the 2006-07 seasons.