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If nothing else, the 18 Hawkeye seniors who will be honored prior to the start of Saturday’s football game with Michigan State can be labeled resilient.
Many players in this year’s class had to wait until late in their careers to make a significant impact on the field during games but their contributions are noteworthy.
“A lot of guys didn’t make it to this point,” offensive lineman Adam Gettis said. “It’s not easy, but it is pretty rewarding for those of us who have made it to the finish line.”
Defensive back Shaun Prater expects plenty of emotions this week as Iowa prepares for its final home game of the season.
“The focus has to stay on Michigan State. We have a lot to play for,” Prater said. “But, you do think about this being the last time your going to go through that tunnel and go out onto the field on game day. It goes by fast and now, it’s almost over.”
Defensive tackle Tom Nardo, one of the seniors who is seeing his first extensive playing time this season, said that determination is a hallmark of the seniors who will be recognized Saturday.
“We never gave up, never gave in and at the end of our careers we found a way to get on the field and help the team. This is a smaller senior class, but we’re tight. We stuck together and because we did, we’ve given ourselves a chance to do good things.”

Iowa players were towing the company line today.
To borrow a Hayden Fry line, they were “like an old mule with blinders on,” not getting too far ahead of themselves.
Both teams that will be on the field Saturday at Kinnick Stadium control their own destiny in the Legends Division race, but that race isn’t anything the Hawkeyes are thinking about – at least not for public consumption.
“We’re nine days removed from a reality check,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said, referring to his team’s loss at Minnesota.
Last weekend’s win over Michigan changed the complexion of November for the Hawkeyes but it did nothing to reduce the importance of looking no further down the road than the upcoming weekend.
“We can’t get too far ahead of ourselves,” offensive guard Adam Gettis said. “If we don’t come out with that one game at a time mentality, we’re asking for trouble. It’s all about this week.”
Michigan State has adopted that same bunker mentality, although its players aren’t being allowed to say it.
Coach Mark Dantonio has pulled the plug on media availability for his players this week, a tactic he successfully used prior to a win at Ohio State earlier this season.
But like Ferentz, he made it clear that the emphasis isn’t on the league race, just getting through the week.
“We’re not thinking about division race at all. It’s about Michigan State. Right now, that’s all that matters,” receiver Marvin McNutt said.

Dominic Alvis’ ACL injury has forced several changes on the defensive depth chart as the Iowa football team begins preparations for Saturday’s 11 a.m. game with Michigan State.
Lebron Daniel is listed as the starter at the end position Alvis filled, with Steve Bigach listed as the back-up there and Carl Davis moving into the back-up tackle role that Bigach has filled in recent weeks.
On offense, Brandon Scherff is now listed as the starter at left guard ahead of Matt Tobin, while C.J. Fiedorowicz, who made his first start last weekend against Michigan, is listed as the starting tight end. Zach Derby and Brad Herman now share the No. 2 position at tight end.

In other Iowa football news Monday, Iowa kicker Mike Meyer was named one of 20 semifinalists for the Lou Groza Award which goes to college football’s top kicker.
Meyer has successfully hit 13-of-17 field goal attempts and all 34 of his PAT kicks this season. He leads Iowa in scoring with 73 points.
The starting time for Iowa’s Nov. 19 game at Purdue has also been set. That game will kickoff at 11 a.m. and will be televised by the Big Ten Network.

Marcus Coker etched his name into the Iowa record books as the owner of the 17th 1,000-yard season by an Iowa back today.
James Vandenberg topped 2,000 passing yards as well – the 21st time that has been accomplished by an Iowa quarterback.
Both are mileposts on a longer, more meaningful journey the Hawkeyes now find themselves a part of after today’s 24-16 win over Michigan.
“This was a good start to November,” Vandenberg said. “But, there is still a lot of football left.”
Meaningful football, thanks to the solid all-around effort against the Wolverines and Northwestern’s three-point win at Nebraska.
The Hawkeyes now find themselves as part of a three-team logjam in second place in the Legends Division standings.
The team ahead of them, Michigan State, visits Kinnick Stadium next weekend.
“We’re not getting ahead of ourselves,” Coker said. “We came out, had a good week of practice, prepared for Michigan. Now, we’ll do the same to get ready for Michigan State.”
It’s that type of lazer focus that gives a young Iowa team a chance to hang around in the division race.
It’s that type of lazer focus which allowed Iowa to move beyond its loss at Minnesota.
“We didn’t let that one loss beat us twice,” Vandenberg said. “That was big this week. We had to find a way to move on, and get ready and now, we have to do the same.”
Iowa, which could still play its way to the inaugural Big Ten title game, isn’t alone in that situation.
As Michigan travels to Illinois and Nebraska visits Penn State next week, the Spartans will be eying separation as they arrive at Kinnick Stadium.
Iowa, as it did against the Wolverines, will be eying only Michigan State.
Coach Kirk Ferentz will talk to his team about that on Sunday.
Asked following the game if he wanted his team to starting thinking about how three more wins could mean a division title, his response was to the point.
“Only if we’re idiots,” Ferentz said. “What we’ve got to do is worry about next week, so I hope we don’t have any idiots on our team. We’ll talk about that (Sunday), but we’ve got a tough game coming in here next Saturday. I know that.”
Ferentz doesn’t think that will be an issue with an Iowa team that probably matured a bit with today’s win.
“Wins stay longer with immature teams, but I don’t think we have an immature team right now.”

If he had to do it all over again, Kirk Ferentz said he would have called a timeout when he noticed Minnesota lining up in a different formation prior to the onside kick which led to the game-deciding touchdown last Saturday in Minneapolis.
“I’ll take that one,” Ferentz said, saying he should have paid closer attention to what he noticed going on around him before the Gophers kicked off.
“Just as soon as he started making his approach, I almost called timeout. I’m standing next to an official. I should have in retrospect, but I didn’t. That’s the way it goes.”
You know the rest of the story.
Ferentz said he has seen general improvement from the Hawkeyes special teams over the course of the season, particularly from return and coverage units which got off to a shaky start early in the season.
“On special teams, I feel like we’ve been gaining ground. Yet at Minnesota, we didn’t get out of special teams what we needed to get out of them to win, if that makes any sense.”

Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz shot down the notion that recently-fired Arizona coach Mike Stoops would be joining the Hawkeye coaching staff.
The latest rumor of the week floating around in cyberspace entertained the idea that Stoops, fired last month as the Wildcats’ coach, could even join the Iowa staff yet this season.
Never mind the fact that there is no opening on the Hawkeye coaching staff and that the NCAA legislates how many assistants can be on college coaching staffs.
Asked about the latest rumor, Ferentz shook his head.
“What, Dan McCarney’s not available? We actually have a former receiver I was thinking about getting him maybe to come back and be a staff member. I hadn’t been thinking about that one,” Ferentz said about the Stoops rumor. “I don’t respond to that stuff.”
The McCarney reference dates to a few years ago after Iowa State had ousted the former Hawkeye and former Hawkeye assistant as its head coach.
Fans at that time suggested that McCarney would be a perfect fit for an opening that didn’t exist on the Iowa staff.
“I remember that one,” Ferentz said. “The latest one is new to me.”