This game wasn’t pretty. Actually, it was downright brutal at times. There were nine turnovers in total, but this isn’t to say either Indiana or Iowa’s defenses were stellar. Indiana exposed the Hawkeyes’ defensive weakness throughout the first three quarters. Yet, Iowa’s offense exploded out of nowhere in the fourth, leading their team to a 42-24 victory.

Nevertheless, people will continue to downgrade Iowa’s high ranking. Now with a 9-0 record, it’s tough to devalue their season. We’ll see how the rest of today’s games play out, but Iowa is currently one of seven undefeated teams in the Top 25. They don’t demonstrate great football by any means, but damn are their games exciting to watch. They have trailed in eight of their nine competitions this year, and have managed to come back to take each one.

Nevertheless, Iowa and quarterback Ricky Stanzi were shoddy at best until the fourth quarter. People will cite this as justification to knock Iowa down a few slots in the rankings. I completely agree with that sentiment. Iowa, the No. 4 team in the nation, should not trail a meager Indiana squad for most of the game. Stanzi threw five (I know) interceptions today. That’s inexcusable — he would be benched if it wasn’t for their record. But how in the hell have they managed to remain undefeated? The fourth quarter.

Somehow, Stazi came out with an undeterred confidence and immediately connected with star receiver Marvin McNutt for a 92-yard touchdown pass. Minutes later, Stanzi found Derrell Johnson-Koulianos for a 66-yard touchdown. By then, Iowa had found their groove. Stanzi continued to feed the ball to running back Brandon Wegher, who is subbing for the injured Adam Robinson. Wegher exceeded expectations, scoring three touchdowns on 119 yards and 25 carries.

While Iowa fans are drunk on happiness, detractors of the BCS system are fuming. With their improbable season, Iowa’s game against Ohio St. is going to be essential viewing. Who expected that?

No. 7 Iowa was dealt a blow on Tuesday when head coach Kirk Ferentz announced that top running back Adam Robinson will miss the rest of the regular season due to an ankle injury.

From SI.com:

Coach Kirk Ferentz said he was hopeful Robinson can return for a bowl game after suffering a high left ankle sprain in last week’s 15-13 win at Michigan State. The back said he rolled the ankle late in the game.

The loss of Robinson, who rushed for 629 yards and five TDs, shrinks what’s already a slim margin of error for the 7th-ranked Hawkeyes, who rank 86th in the nation in scoring offense.

Iowa (8-0, 4-0 Big Ten) will replace Robinson with fellow freshman Brandon Wegher, who has for 321 yards in relief of Robinson this season. Iowa hosts Indiana on Saturday.

The Hawkeyes are big on Wegher, although he hasn’t flashed the top end speed that he did coming out of high school. But now that he’s going to be the primary back, he’ll have the opportunity to get into a groove and pick up the tempo of the game. He certainly has a ton of talent, and Iowa will be relying on him heavily the next two months.

This is a huge blow, but Iowa has overcome adversity and battled all season.

Even those that think they’re the most overrated team in college football have to admit how remarkable the Iowa Hawkeyes have been this season.

No. 6 Iowa stayed perfect on the season thanks to an improbable 15-13 win over Michigan State on Saturday. Both teams struggling generating any kind of offense until less than three minutes remaining when Iowa took a 9-6 lead on a 20-yard Daniel Murray field goal.

The Spartans then marched up the field (thanks to a great hook-and-ladder call) and scored on a 30-yard touchdown pass from Kirk Cousins to Blair White with only 1:37 remaining in the game to put MSU up 13-9. Iowa answered back with a drive of its own, capping it off with a 7-yard touchdown pass from Ricky Stanzi to Marvin McNutt on a 4th and goal as time expired.

Iowa is 8-0 on the season and in all but one of those wins (a 35-3 rout of Iowa State), the Hawkeyes battled some kind of adversity. Whether they’ve been trailing at the start of the game, at halftime or late in the fourth quarter, Iowa has found a way to win and for that, voters must keep them ranked high.

I would be willing to argue with anyone who said Iowa isn’t impressive. Are they dominating opponents? No. Are the playing top-notch teams every week? No. Should they have probably suffered a loss at this point? Yes, if not several. Did Michigan State choke several times on the final drive? Absolutely.

But isn’t the point of the lame, stupid, idiotic BCS system to win games? Isn’t the point to treat every week like it’s a playoff game where victory reigns supreme? It’s not like the Hawkeyes play in the Big East or the Mountain West – they play in the Big Ten, where Ohio State has made a living off playing in BCS games or the national championship with one or no losses.

Iowa could lose next week and be dropped so far down in the polls that they would need a sniper lens just to see the top. But for now, they’re undefeated, are the team to beat in the Big Ten and will continue to be in BCS contention.

No. 11 Iowa had to overcome an early 7-0 deficit to narrowly beat Michigan last week, a 10-0 deficit on the road to beat Penn State in late September, and also needed to block two last-minute field goals to avoid a shocking upset to Northern Iowa in the opening week.

So is anyone surprised that the Hawkeyes once again had to overcome adversity to beat Wisconsin on Saturday?

Iowa owes much of its 20-10 victory over the Badgers today to its defense, which was amazing in the second half. Pat Angerer and Adrian Clayborn essentially took the game over as the Hawkeyes shut the Badgers out in the second half.

Quarterback Ricky Stanzi also played a key role in Iowa’s victory. Despite leading the Hawkeyes to an undefeated record, Stanzi has been often criticized by fans and college football pundits this year. And while his final numbers (17 of 23, 218 yards, 1 TD) weren’t eye-popping, the junior quarterback never panicked despite facing the early deficit and turned in a solid second half performance.

Wisconsin once again shot itself in the foot with turnovers and the inability to move the ball offensively in the second half. After looking great in the first quarter, Badger signal caller Scott Tolzien was brutal in the second half and was the main catalyst in Wisconsin’s collapse. He continues to waste solid performances by sophomore running back John Clay.

With Ohio State’s loss to Purdue on Saturday, all eyes are now on Iowa in the Big Ten. It’s the Hawkeyes’ conference to lose and outside of a pivotal game in Columbus in November, Iowa doesn’t face many roadblocks the rest of the season.

Thanks in large part to Shonn Greene’s three touchdowns, the Iowa Hawkeyes dominated South Carolina 31-10 in Thursday’s Outback Bowl. The win will be the last one for Greene in a Hawkeye uniform, because the 2008 Doak Walker Award winner has decided to forgo his senior season at Iowa and enter the NFL draft.

Built ideally at 5′11/235, Greene took home the Doak Walker Award in 2008 and eclipsed 100 rushing yards in every game as a junior to set the school’s single-season record with 1,850 on 307 carries. Having started for one season at Iowa, Greene has fresh legs and late first-round pick potential for next April’s draft. Springs workouts will be key for Greene because he is not known as a burner. He also has very little experience as a pass catcher.

NFL teams would be wise not to judge Grenne mostly on his 40-time because this kid can flat out play. He’s a strong runner and depending on his draft status, he’ll likely be a steal for a team come April. He would have definitely been one of the leading candidates to win the Heisman had he returned for his senior season.

- Raise your hand if you thought Stanford would upset USC again when the score was tied 17-17 at halftime. (Hand raised.)

- Not that a ton of people care about Conference USA, but what a statement by Houston. I don’t know what was more impressive, the fact that the Cougars scored 70 points or that they held Tulsa to only 30 points.

- Iowa’s Shonn Grenne (30 carries, 211 yards in a 22-17 win over Purdue) is a legit Heisman candidate for 2009.

- What happened to Kansas? I realize they didn’t play any of the top teams in the Big 12 last year, but they’re better than 6-5 aren’t they?

- They might have won 34-7, but Penn State’s win over Indiana was the least impressive 34-7 victory in some time.

- One of the more underrated rivalries in college football is Georgia-Auburn. And the Tigers easily have one of the more underrated defenses in the nation.

- Early upset watch for Week 13: Nevada over Boise State. The Wolf Pack’s offense is good enough to keep pace with the Broncos’ explosive attack and Boise hasn’t faced a tough opponent all year. (Unless you consider when they faced Oregon and their fourth string quarterback a tough opponent.)

- Worst…Michigan…season…ever.

- Underrated game of the week: No. 14 Ball State at Central Michigan next Wednesday.

- College football fans were cheated by not getting to see Beanie Wells run for a full season. He was amazing against Illinois.

- How about Troy hanging with LSU in Baton Rouge? Had they not turned the ball over three times, the Trojans could have pulled off one of the best upsets in college football this season.

College football fans that didn’t want to see a Big Ten team play for a nation championship can celebrate tonight as unranked Iowa upset No. 3 Penn State 24-23 with a last second field goal.

This all but guarantees that the Nittany Lions won’t play in the title game since they don’t face another ranked team the rest of the way. If Alabama and Texas Tech fall too, PSU still has a shot. But losing to LSU or Oklahoma State is certainly different than losing to an unranked Iowa team.

This was obviously a devastating loss for PSU, but many pundits saw this coming. The Big Ten is so even with talent this year that it’s not surprising that a decent Hawkeyes team could knock them off in Iowa City. The good news is that with the Lions falling, there will be less controversy than if they had gone undefeated and didn’t wind up playing in the title game. The bad news is that BCS supporters will use this game as an example to say, “See – college football does have playoffs! The regular season is the playoffs!”

But I don’t want to hear it. This was an impressive win and a great upset, but it’s still just a regular season game. If this was a playoff game, than the result still leaves me unfulfilled and I want more. I want a true playoff system.

Getting back to the result of this game, if Alabama loses to LSU (they’re tied at 21-21 as of this post) than the Texas Tech-Oklahoma State game gets even bigger than it already is. Regardless of crappy the BCS system is, this is shaping up to be a great day in college football.

Here is who the top six BCS teams currently have left to face:

1. *ALABAMA: at Louisiana St.; Mississippi St.; Auburn
2. *TEXAS TECH: Oklahoma State; at Oklahoma; Baylor
3. PENN STATE: at Iowa; Indiana; Michigan State
4. *TEXAS: Baylor; at Kansas; Texas A&M
5. *FLORIDA: at Vanderbilt; South Carolina; The Citadel; at Florida St.
6. *OKLAHOMA: at Texas A&M; Texas Tech; at Oklahoma State
*-may also play in league championship

Just based on the remaining schedule, it looks like the title game will probably come down to the league championship weekend, which only benefits Penn State since the Big Ten doesn’t have a championship game.

But what’s interesting is that all six of these teams have potential pitfall games that could sink them before championship weekend. ‘Bama has the toughest road to travel with LSU and Auburn still left on its schedule, while Texas Tech has two dangerous games back to back in OK State and Oklahoma, while Florida-Florida State is always interesting. Penn State and Texas have arguably the easiest schedule, although Iowa and Michigan State could catch the Nittany Lions napping.

Something I don’t want to hear this year his how championship week is essentially a playoff. That is the most exciting week in college football, but it’s not a true playoff system and it’s a joke when BCS supporters try to pedal it as such.

FORBES.com put together a collection of the best and worst college football coaches for the money.

Jim Tressel
No. 1 Most Underpaid
Ohio State University, Buckeyes
Conference: Big Ten
Score: 122
Record since 2005: 33-5 (1-2 in BCS bowl games)
His teams have finished ranked in the top five in five of the past six years, while his $2.6 million salary was lower than eight of his peers last season.

Pete Carroll
No. 4 Most Underpaid
University of Southern California, Trojans
Conference: Pac-10
Score: 114
Record since 2005: 34-5 (2-1 in BCS bowl games)
Carroll has led the Trojans to unmatched success this decade, including two national championships, yet he is 14% underpaid despite being college football’s highest earning coach at $4.4 million.

Kirk Ferentz
No. 1 Most Overpaid
University of Iowa, Hawkeyes
Conference: Big Ten
Score: 71
Record since 2005: 19-18 (1-2 in bowl games)
Ferentz has posted a mediocre record over the last three seasons but still pocketed $3.4 million last year.

Charlie Weis
No. 3 Most Overpaid
University of Notre Dame, Fighting Irish
Conference: none
Score: 84
Record since 2005: 22-15 (0-2 in BCS bowl games)
Last year’s three-win season–the worst for the Fighting Irish in 44 years–was the second in a 10-year contract extension for Weis, reportedly worth between $30 and $40 million over the length of the deal.

Interesting figures. It’s hard to blame a university like Notre Dame for doling out big bucks to try and turn around the football program. At the same time, ND’s season last year was a joke and Weis had more than a few boneheaded calls.

One thing Forbes forgot to mention about Tressel is that he’s absolutely owned Michigan during his tenure – something that means even more to Buckeye fans than finishing in the top 5 every year.