Hlas: It is a crazy dream, but is 12-0 impossible?

When does the other shoe drop? How can Iowa's 6-0 football team keep nudging past opponents instead of shoving them out of the way?

You flip a coin enough times, won't it stop coming up heads?

The law of averages is a pesky thing that hangs over the Hawkeyes' heads today in Madison like flaming cheese. (Flaming cheese? Hey, dark clouds have been done to death.) But who's to say Iowa can't keep winning squeakers all the way to 12-0?

I'm posing this now because the Hawkeyes' Magical Mystery Tour of a season could encounter banana peels and razor blades in Camp Randall Stadium. If the Hawkeyes lose to the Badgers as Las Vegas projects, Iowa becomes a darker dark horse in the Big Ten title race and that crazy dream of a perfect season is punctured.

So let's get this out there before kickoff and pretend it was never written if the Hawkeyes fall today: Can Iowa go 12-0 and be America's college football darlings of 2009?

Why not? Stranger things happen all the time. Just look around your workplace, your neighborhood, your federal government.

Everyone who has paid a whit of attention to Hawkeye football since summer knows the main story line of the season. It's the schedule. How do the Hawks get past Penn State, Wisconsin, Michigan State and Ohio State on the road?

One down, three to go. The funny thing is, the Penn State win didn't have a frightful finish similar to what Northern Iowa, Arkansas State and Michigan staged at Kinnick Stadium.

So here are (Reaching For) Rays of Optimism Nos. 1 and 2: The Hawkeyes have played with focus in their two road games, and have focused best when the opponents were better.

Now then, are Wisconsin, MSU and OSU absolutely fabulous?

(Reaching For) Ray of Optimism No. 3: The Badgers had a moment-of-truth game last week at Ohio State. They held the Buckeyes to eight first downs and still lost by 18 points. That's not the stuff of a superpower.

Ray No. 4: Michigan State knows how to lose. It's already done so three times, including at home to Central Michigan.

Ray No. 5: If Wisconsin could limit Ohio State to 184 yards at Columbus, couldn't Iowa do the same? Plus, the Buckeyes had their own surprisingly difficult home game in September, against Navy.

Oh yeah, the Hawkeyes also play Indiana, Northwestern and Minnesota at home. Northwestern won its last two games at Kinnick.

Look, I already gave you five rays of optimism. What more do you want from me?

OK, here's one more. You really can keep winning close games if your team is good.

The 2002 Hawkeyes, 8-0 in the Big Ten, beat Penn State in overtime and escaped Purdue by three points.

The 2004 Hawks, Big Ten co-champs, won three conference games by two points each and capped the season with a Capital One Bowl victory on a last-play semi-miracle.

The coin can come up heads 12 times in a row as long as you rely on being good instead of being lucky. Iowa has to be very good at Wisconsin to keep its Magical Mystery Tour rolling.

A little luck wouldn't hurt, though.