Some detail on the red, white and blue Tiger Hawk

IOWA CITY -- The University of Iowa athletics department knew it wanted to do something to honor Veterans Day. The when was the hard part.

Veterans Day actually was today, but the Hawkeyes wore a tribute to the military for last week's victory against Michigan. Saturday is Iowa's annual senior day and coach Kirk Ferentz wanted to keep it traditional Tiger Hawk.

The Hawkeyes black helmet featured the Tiger Hawk logo on the right temple in red, white and blue and not the normal gold. This was to recognize the men and women in all branches of military around the world who have served or are serving their country.

The left side of Iowa's helmet was left black without a logo in honor of those who gave their lives in the line of duty.

The idea was hatched by Paul Federici, Iowa's director of football operations, with an assist from head coach Kirk Ferentz.

The players didn't know the helmets were going to look like that until they saw them last Saturday morning.

"It's exciting, a change of pace and I thought it was a good tribute to veterans and everyone serving overseas right now," center James Ferentz said.

Kirk Ferentz has always bristled at any uniform alteration, even in the face of the wave of funky college football uniforms. This idea was a green light all the way.

"That's not really my dad's style, he doesn't like to change a whole lot," James Ferentz said. "When you look at it, though, what we're doing here isn't very significant compared to people who are putting their lives on the line for our freedom. They're doing the important, significant work in life."

It was a one-week only appearance. Kirk Ferentz said on his radio Wednesday that the school hadn't considered selling them to raise money for veterans' organizations, but it might be a future possibility.