So, it's been a crappy year. All the build-up, the expectations, the swagger and we end up with a forgetable season topped off by the Insight Bowl, the DJK arrests, and the AIRBHG sparing Hampton and Wegher from future pain. But we should try to look on the bright side. For instance, we aren't Northwestern. And Ricky Stanzi proved himself to be one of the best quarterbacks in the Big Ten, even if he lost a little bit of his 4th quarter magic touch, and continues to be a class act. He was really one of our season's bright spots. I think the man deserves a little final recognition and a chance to cement his place in history as America's Quarterback, by leading Team USA in the next American Football World Cup. 

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The weekend before the Iowa-Iowa State game, Iowa AD Gary Barta calls a meeting with Iowa State AD Jamie Pollard. This is an account of how the meeting went...

 Thanks for meeting with me, Jamie. It's not often we meet face to face.

 Not a problem. When you called and it wasn't some kind of prank, I was relieved.

 Um, yeah. So listen, I wanted to talk about our schools' rivalry. With both of our conferences going to 9 games, it might be in the University of Iowa's best interest to drop the series and schedule other opponents.

 Well, it's Iowa State's biggest game every year and we really wouldn't want to lose it. UNI keeps calling and asking if we've canceled the series yet.

 I know how you feel, a lot of Hawkeye fans feel that the ISU game is easily one of their top 10 favorite games every season. The problem is that we also have rivalries with Minnesota and Wisconsin, a new rivalry with Nebraska, and now the world knows about my feud with that bastard Morgan Burke and Purdue. That's why we are ready to take steps to make this game a bigger deal.

 You're going to get us into the Big Ten?

  No, it's never going to happen. Give it up already. What I mean is we're going to finally get rid of that awful Cy-Hawk Trophy.

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