BCS game or not, what a year for Hawks

I've witnessed a few of these University of Iowa football seasons now, and this has easily been my favorite year.

Big Ten title? Nope. Rose Bowl? Uh uh. It might even end in a non-BCS bowl against an undistinguished also-ran from the SEC.

But no Iowa season has been like this one. I'd bet few schools have ever known a year like Iowa's.

After Iowa defeated Indiana, 42-24, for the last of its nine straight wins to start the season, Kirk Ferentz said he didn't know of a team throwing five interceptions as Ricky Stanzi did that day, and still come out on the winning end.

“I don't know if it's ever happened,” Ferentz said. “That's a tough one to survive. Almost impossible.”

That phrase stuck in my head. I thought if Iowa went on to win the Big Ten, that would be the title of the story of its season. “Almost Impossible.”

You know the litany of moments, beginning with the blocking of consecutive field goals in the game's last seven seconds to stave off Northern Iowa, 17-16.

There was the Hawkeyes' late interception to hold off Michigan, 30-28. The 10-0 hole they were in at Wisconsin before dominating the Badgers in the second-half for a 20-10 win. Stanzi-to-McNutt for the last-second TD pass that beat Michigan State at East Lansing. The insanity against Indiana.

Then, Stanzi got his ankle mashed and Iowa lost to Northwestern. The Hawkeyes were set up to fail at Ohio State, but freshman quarterback James Vandenberg and the team put on a spirited performance at the Horseshoe in one of the most-memorable games an Iowa team has been involved in during the Ferentz era.

But the Hawkeyes lost in overtime, and a Rose Bowl berth slipped away.

So, unlike in most good stories, there was no payoff for the buildup. In the raw reality of a football season, Hollywood endings are rarer than having interceptions returned for touchdowns in three different games yet winning each of them.

But this story isn't over. Iowa takes the field one more time this regular-season. Even though it enters with a two-game losing streak and all those dreams of roses and even barging into the BCS title picture have faded, there still is a possibility of something big.

If the Hawkeyes beat Minnesota, they maintain at least a puncher's chance of getting into a BCS bowl, perhaps the Fiesta.

But even if Iowa lands in a non-BCS bowl, nothing can take away from all the frenetic finishes, the clawing to find ways to get a lot of wins, and a highlight reel as long as Derrell Johnson-Koulianos' 99-yard kickoff return at Ohio State last Saturday.

There was Adrian Clayborn's punt-block for a touchdown at Penn State, Tony Moeaki's great TD catch at Wisconsin, Stanzi's back-to-back passes (after his fifth pick) that totaled 158 yards for two touchdowns that turned the Indiana game on a dime.

Holding Arizona to one offensive touchdown before the Wildcats averaged 34 points a game in Pac-10 play. Beating Penn State, Michigan, Wisconsin and Michigan State in the same season.

Bouncing back to win in eight games in which they were behind, and four in which they trailed entering the fourth quarter.

What a year to cover week after week, disciplined lunacy and ragged glory. It's my favorite year. I'd bet many of you would say the same thing.