Big 10 Football Tour

Having lost Jeff & Wes, Drew wanders around the stadium in hopes of finding the Nile Kinnick statue.  It wasn't hard to find on the south side of the stadium.  All Iowa fans were struggling to touch the statue in hopes of good luck for the Hawkeyes on this very evening.

(Now a Drew commentary as he is venturing by himself).  Right off the bat, I saw why college football doesn't like to see many of it's games later in the afternoon on evening.  As I walked in, there were already two gentleman in handcuffs being escorted out.

Not knowing where Jeff or Wes was, I tried to rush to my seat as I heard the intros were interesting.  Unfotunately, there were so many people in the concourse that you literally had to push/shove your way through.  After about 5 minutes, I finally made it through the melee and began sprinting to my seat.  The run was well worth it because what I witnessed next, in attending over 100 professional/college sports venues, was one of the top 5 coolest intros I've ever seen!

As I look out onto the field, I hear not hip-hop music, but "Back In Black" by AC/DC and everyone, not just a few here and there, are shaking their pom-poms to the beat.  I was one of those "goosebump" moments.  Shortly after, it changed over to "Enter Sandman" by Metallica and the Hawkeyes came running out.

Prior to kickoff, another amazing moment as they play the Nile Kinnick acceptance speech for the Heisman trophy.

Finally reunited with Jeff and Wes at the seats, we get ourselves ready for kickoff.  By now the temperature is hovering around the freezing mark, but you'd never know it by the sound output of the fans.

In what seemed like the first minute of the game, Iowa quarterback Ricky Stanzi threw a completion to Michigan defensive play Donovan Warren and Michigan led 7-0.  Stanzi later made up for it with a 34 yard pass to Tony Moeaki to tie the game.

Passing through the concourse, there are many great sights to see.  The first being the brick wall that has a brick for every Iowa win and the score.

Next is another "statue" of Nile Kinnick, where is shows him scoring the game winning touchdown against Notre Dame.  Nile Kinnick is such a big deal that the Iowa football stadium is the only stadium named after a Heisman trophy winner.

Also found on the concourse are commenorative plaques of the Big 10 championship teams.

Beyond that are plaques of former Iowa players that made it into the NFL.  Who could forget Reggie Roby, or when Robert Gallery was hyped to be a top pick.  Nate Kaeding is making noise in the NFL and probably the best known current Hawkeye, Dallas Clark.

This game was nationally televised on ABC, an honor that Kinnick hasn't received too often.  So some temporary equipment was brought in and raised up to accommodate the above field cameras.

The teams continued to trade scores and it was suddenly 23-21 with Iowa leading.  Iowa marched down to the 1 yard yard with a 4 & 1 opportunity to seal the game.  The video below illustrates an argument between Drew and Wes on how many yards there were to go and then Michigan intercepting a pass to keep their hopes alive.

Tate Forcier, a San Diego native, apparently didn't handle the cold weather too well and was pulled in the 4th quarter in favor of Denard Robinson.  The other freshman, Robinson, lead Michigan to a touchdown, but when it counted most at the end of the game, was intercepted by Brent Greenwood to seal the victory for the Hawkeyes. 

As the game ended, the fans realized a few things.  They had beaten a rather formiddable Big 10 opponent.  They have spent the coldest day of the football season tailgating for hours.  The Hawkeyes were off to their best start since 1985 and were the only unbeaten team in the Big 10 (6-0).  While the field goal posts automatically went down, the fans still stormed the field to celebrate!

Finally .... A conference win for the Big 10 Tour !!!!

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