Stanzi's injury too much for Iowa to overcome against Northwestern

CoreyWotton's fumble-inducing sack of Ricky Stanzi in the Hawkeyes' end zone early in the second quarter of Northwestern's 17-10 upset of the BCS's fourth-ranked team completely changed the scope of the game and, ultimately, Iowa's season. Marshall Thomas recovered the fumble for a Wildcats touchdown -- and Stanzi stayed on the ground, eventually limping off with an ankle injury that would leave him on crutches the rest of the day.

Prior to that play, the Hawkeyes led 10-0 thanks in part to a 74-yard Stanzi touchdown pass on the third play of the game. With the Wildcats' own quarterback, Mike Kafka, slowed by a hamstring injury (he wound up leaving for several series), and Iowa's defense largely stifling the Wildcats' offense, it looked like the Hawkeyes might finally enjoy a comfortable victory.

Then Stanzi went down, and Iowa's BCS championship hopes -- and possibly even its Rose Bowl hopes -- gradually went down with him.

With little-used redshirt freshman James Vandenberg pressed into action, the Hawkeyes, after scoring 10 points and gaining 118 yards on their first two possessions, went scoreless with just 162 yards the rest of the way. Vandenberg went 9-of-27 for 81 yards. His very first pass attempt was intercepted by Northwestern's Quentin Davie, setting up short a field for the Wildcats' first and only touchdown drive. Iowa never came close to scoring again.

The oft-criticized Stanzi committed a combined seven turnovers over the past two weeks, but he was the unquestioned leader of Iowa's offense. His game-winning touchdown pass against Michigan State averted one scare, and his fourth-quarter eruption last week against Indiana helped Iowa survive another. His injury transformed what looked like a possible yawner early into one of the biggest upsets of the 2009 season.

By knocking off Iowa for the second straight season and fourth time in the past five years, Northwestern (6-4) -- whose lone previous conference wins required enormous comebacks against Purdue and Indiana -- assured itself a second straight bowl berth for the first time since its back-to-back Big Ten title seasons in 1995 and '96. It's a huge victory for fourth-year coach Pat Fitzgerald.

Iowa (9-1), on the other hand, is suddenly in danger of seeing its storybook season end in nightmarish fashion. The Hawkeyes travel to No. 15 Ohio State next week. If Stanzi can't play, it's tough to imagine Iowa beating the Buckeyes. And a second Iowa loss would almost certainly send the winner of Saturday's Buckeyes-Penn State game to Pasadena.

The Hawkeyes have overcome no shortage of hurdles so far. They may be about to face their biggest one yet.

Published Nov 7, 2009

STEWART MANDEL

Senior Writer, Sports Illustrated Stewart Mandel first caught the college football bug as a sophomore at Northwestern University in 1995. "The thrill of that '95 Rose Bowl season energized the entire campus, and I quickly became aware of how the national media covered that story," he says. "I knew right then that I wanted to be one of those people, covering those types of stories." Mandel joined SI.com (formerly CNNSI.com) in 1999. A senior writer for the website, his coverage areas include the national college football beat and college basketball. He also contributes features to Sports Illustrated. "College football is my favorite sport to cover," says Mandel. "The stakes are so high week in and week out, and the level of emotion it elicits from both the fans and the participants is unrivaled." Mandel's most popular features on SI.com include his College Football Mailbag and College Football Overtime. He has covered 14 BCS national championship games and eight Final Fours. Mandel's first book, Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls: Tackling the Chaos and Controversy That Reign Over College Football, was published in 2007. In 2008 he took first place (enterprise category) and second place (game story) in the Football Writers Association of America's annual writing contest. He also placed first in the 2005 contest (columns). Mandel says covering George Mason's run to the Final Four was the most enjoyable story of his SI tenure. "It was thrilling to be courtside for the historic Elite Eight upset of UConn," Mandel says. "Being inside the locker room and around the team during that time allowed me to get to know the coaches and players behind that captivating story." Before SI.com Mandel worked at ESPN the Magazine, ABC Sports Online and The Cincinnati Enquirer. He graduated from Northwestern University in 1998 with a B.S. in journalism. A Cincinnati native, Mandel and his wife, Emily, live in Santa Clara, Calif.

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