Big 4 football: bright purple

It looks like football fans of Iowa will put aside their differences — yellow and red or black and gold — and don Northern Iowa purple.

The Panthers were the only team to win this weekend, a 31-23 decision at No. 5 Youngstown State. Northern Iowa also jumped from No. 14 to No. 7 in the NCAA I-AA poll. The Panthers are 3-0 in the Gateway Conference and look to protect that mark when they host Western Illinois in the Dome on Saturday.

Another team that was in the NCAA I-AA standings was San Diego, which handed Drake a 37-0 loss at Drake Stadium. The Toreros are ranked No. 20 in the scholarship teams’ poll and No. 1 in the Sports Network Mid-Major poll.

Makes one think about how Northern Iowa and San Diego would match up … and it could happen. San Diego could earn one of the at-large bids to the NCAA tournament. It’s a long shot, though.

If San Diego were selected for the tournament it means the second-place Pioneer Football League team would play in the Gridiron Classic.

Drake travels to Dayton this Saturday. Normally this would be a big game, but the Flyers don’t seem to be the power they once were because they have yet to win a PFL game.

After Dayton, No. 4 Drake hosts No. 9 Davidson in its final home game and it closes out the regular season at No. 10 Jacksonville. So on paper, the Bulldogs could pull off second place in the conference.

So with a lot of good luck for San Diego and a little bad luck for Iowa State, Drake could go to a bowl game while the Cyclones stay home. Iowa State lost its homecoming game 42-26 to Texas Tech, and it needs to win three of its last four games to get six wins in order to make it to a bowl game. The Cyclones travel to Kansas State this Saturday and host Kansas the following week.

Coach Dan McCarney said he isn’t worried about his job even though athletic director Jamie Pollard has already shown he isn’t afraid to terminate jobs after missing post-season play. Remember what happened when the Iowa State men’s basketball team didn’t even make the National Invitation Tournament last season. Yup, bye bye Wayne Morgan. Hello, Greg McDermott.

Well, Jamie, if you’re in the market, I hear Jim Harbaugh can create a winning program. And he’s an ex-Bears hero in the state of Iowa. You’ve got to love that.

Anyway, McCarney can avoid this situation if he can get his offensive line to protect his quarterback, and if he can get his quarterback to throw the ball to Todd Blythe. Iowa State quarterbacks have already been sacked 23 times this season by opponents and Bret Meyer has taken most of those hits.

Iowa quarterback Drew Tate won’t be taking hits or snaps when Iowa faces Northern Illinois this Saturday at Kinnick. Tate injured his non-throwing hand at Michigan where the Hawkeyes lost 20-6. Tate will have surgery on his thumb and will be expected back in practice next Tuesday. Register reporter Andrew Logue said it isn’t clear whether Tate will be in the lineup for the Iowa-Northwestern game the following week.

Iowa is 2-3 in the Big Ten Conference, and it needs to win its last three league games to keep its hope alive for a “good” bowl game. Luckily for the Hawkeyes, their fans like to travel to warm destinations during the winter months, and bowl reps like that when selecting what teams they want.

How do you think the Big 4 teams will fare for the rest of their schedules?