Iowa gets rolled after Stanzi rolls ankle

The cardiac kids of college football, otherwise known as the #4 ranked Iowa Hawkeyes, suffered their first defeat of the season at the hands of Northwestern 17-10 on Saturday. It was over when Iowa starting quarterback Ricky Stanzi rolled his ankle early in the second quarter on a play in which his fumble was recovered in the end zone by Northwestern’s Marshall Thomas for a touchdown. Stanzi was out for the game and second stringer James Vandenberg was 9 of 27 for 82 yards and 1 TD in relief.

More than likely the injury to Stanzi brings to an end the Hawkeyes dreams of representing the Big 10 in the Rose Bowl. Next week’s game versus the Buckeyes in Columbus, is for the Big 10 championship and without Stanzi the Hawkeyes chances of winning are about as good as Sarah Palin starting a book club.

As LSU learned on Saturday at Alabama and Oklahoma learned earlier this year, in college football, there’s a big difference in your number one and number two quarterback. Unfortunately, for LSU, Oklahoma and Iowa, losing their starting quarterback, if even for just one half of a game, has cost them a shot at the national championship.

What’s rare in college football, but not so much in the NFL, is the backup quarterback that’s able to step right in and be as productive as the starter. No doubt NCAA limits on the amount of practice time has something to do with this but think about it, where would Florida be without Tim Tebow or Texas without Colt McCoy? Probably not as bad as Iowa without Ricky Stanzi, but they wouldn’t be the favorites for the BCS title game, that much is for sure.

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