The Quickest Slant -- It's the chippy part of the season

College football on a national level is in a very dark place right now.

There has been a failure of morality, due diligence and humanity at a place that, just a week ago, was considered a bastion of such virtue.

There is an inherent clause in every coaches' contract that demands a they carry their place in the community with grace, honor and dignity. Think about that. Coaches without those usually don't see the end.

There's legal and there's moral. Can the structure of college football separate the two?

We're about to see what people really remember.

Read Rob Howe's post on this matter on HawkeyeInsider. It brings the issue home with personal perspective, and it kicks the door in, grabs its lapels and shakes it within an inch of its dirty, dirty, cowardly, horrific life.

I understand that not everyone shares my perspective. All I ask is that you share my concern for children and attempt to protect them from predators. It is both our legal and our ethical duty.

Curley, Schultz, the graduate assistant, and Paterno himself had an opportunity to do something. They decided to protect their own interests instead of the innocent. That sent the only message that matters.

On to matters of football, Iowa and Michigan State.

Here's a summary of MSU coach Mark Dantonio from the Big Ten teleconference:

Opener: Great job responding emotionally against Minnesota. Look forward to Iowa.

On Kirk Cousins, difference between well and struggle: It's a team football game. Pressure has a lot to do with it. When we protect him, good things happen. When he gets pressured, it's tougher sledding for him. It's a team game. QB has a lot to do, but everyone has to run correct routes and block the right protection.

On Dan Conroy (kicker): Every point is critical obviously. Games hang in the balance. The margin of error is so small for every team in this conference and country makes the ultimate difference. So, he's critical.

Scares and off field, focus on task: If you've got great assistants and if they have great relationships with players, that's the first step. They can calm the storm. If you have a system, everything has a chance to stay consistent. Usually, go one way or the other. You thrive and fight back or you let it take you over. Our players used it to their advantage [last year during his health scare].

Iowa: Playing at Iowa City is a challenge. Offensive line good. Great in red zone on defense. Quarterback and passing yardage is No. 3 in conference. McNutt is a challenge, closing in on 1,000. Coker is leading rusher, leads conference. Six guys back. Binns and Daniels a lot of football. Hyde and Prater are excellent. Coach Ferentz has been there a long time. He has a system. They don't beat themselves.

Iowa rivalry: I think in terms of rivalry game, we have a great deal of respect for how Iowa does its business. When we can in, we look at people and see how they did it. They have some of the same challenges. We look at Iowa and try to be like them a little bit. -- We compete against them a lot for players. They've recruited players from out east. They recruit Ohio. There are guys who have opportunities at either school.

Prepare emotionally: We try to do different things. We critique what we do. We ask ourselves if it was appropriate what we did. You're just not getting on the bus on going [to IC]. To me, it's how are we going to be emotionally going into the game. We need to play through that storm. That will be our focus.

Isaac Lewis -- He was a four-star. [Referenced star system? I don't hear too many coaches do that.] Big hitter. Hunt you up. Very exciting. Be a great one for us.

NY Times on Joe Paterno days and weeks left: I'm not qualified to speak on the situation, but in regard to coach Paterno he's an outstanding role model. He's seen it change to the magnitude the game carries now. He's been able to deal with the change. That speaks volumes to the longevity of the man.

MSU in IC last year head scratcher: Yeah. A lot of expectations going in. Slow start. Ball turned over. Big plays against us. 17-0 after end of 1. We've got to play through the storm. We've got to be better than that. Same exact thing at Penn State in '08. Been in situation before and experience should help in that area.

Here's Kirk Ferentz from the Big Ten teleconference:

Opener: Happy to get win. Hard fought against Michigan. Now we face another challenge. Very strong team in all areas. Tough challenge.

One dimensional: I think most defensive teams take that approach. Tougher when team is balanced and Michigan State is balanced.

MSU defense: We haven't seen a weakness. Secondary great. Linebackers active. All starts up front. Their players play it very well. Good players and they play very well.

Kirk Cousins: He's a tremendous football player. Beyond that, Big Ten luncheon, great insight into what kind of young person he is. He's a strong leader. That means an awful lot to a football team. That kind of makeup, that's a nice thing.

Multiple injuries Iowa D-line: I think injuries are the hardest things for coaches and players to deal with. Players invest an awful lot to make it out to the field. Coaching-wise, they tend to run in one position. Your best plans never seem to work out. You need to adjust or adapt. -- Limit practice -- Certainly. Numbers dictate that and injuries add to it.

Must win, lesson learned last year's struggles: We'll see. Struggled last year, we'll see.

Lean on leadership: Yes and no. It goes on all season long, the leadership. That's the beauty of football. All 12 games significant. So much talk about divisional, but in the end, the more you win the better off you are, the more you lose, the worse off you are.

On Coker: Pleased with his play the past 4-5 weeks. Slow start. A lot written locally. Nicked up quite a bit in camp. Players can't practice in consistent manner, show up in performance. Tremendous young guy. Great team member.

Division races, still in contention: It's different with two races this year. Simple as the more you win, the better off you are. Last week we were toxic and now people are talking about conference races again. -- I'm guessing they look at the papers. Retract, they look at the internet. I'm sure they're aware, but we all realize we have a tough game this week.

Ferentz on Penn State: What can you say?

And that was that.

Injuries: Of course, Dominic Alvis is out with a torn ACL. LB Jim Poggi has been back the last couple of weeks and has a chance to return to action by the end of the season. OL Nolan MacMillan is at about 50 percent and likely won't play this year.

The "walk off" Topics were: 1) I asked about Joe Uselman. I will tell you what I can remember of him later. 2) Kirk Cousins. 3) CJF. 4) Marcus Coker, big topic this week. 4) I asked about the fullback: "It's not as big of a story as you're making it out to be." 5) In 10 years, what will you think or say about Joe Paterno: "Come and see me in 10 years."

DT Carl Davis might play more this week. Might. He's been injured, I believe it's a knee.

Lebron Daniel worked on his technique through boxing and martial arts during the offseason.

Ferentz said the intent was there to play McCall, he just couldn't pull the trigger. Said he needs a push. Apparently, he doesn't have Twitter.

Make no mistake, there's a rivalry here, Iowa and MSU.

Adam Gettis' mom makes a meal -- M-E-A-L -- after home games for her son and a few other players. Pigs feet are involved, a Mike Daniels' favorite apparently.

Coker has been growing his beard since the end of October. He likes it without the mustache. Also, he is aware, as an astronomy-physics major, of the asteroid that will narrowly miss Earth. He promised me we're all safe.

Fullback Brad Rogers and Marcus Coker are close friends. They seem to work well together.

Kind of a moody Ferentz today.

BTW, HawkeyeInsider Rob Howe told me he was told that Ferentz's son, Steve, plans to walk-on at Iowa. Steve is a senior at City High.