The good, the bad and the ugly: Big 4 football

We'll start with the good. Drake beat Morehead State 33-7 in its homecoming game to improve to 2-0 in the conference. More good news for the Bulldogs. Dayton lost at Butler, although Drake travels to Ohio to face the ranked Flyers this season. But a blemish on Dayton's record will help Drake's chances of claiming the Pioneer Football League championship, which is awarded to the team with the best record in the conference. The league is now a round robin format, so there is no more PFL championship game. New this year though, the winner of the PFL will meet the Northeastern Conference champion in the Gridiron Classic. While not sponsored by the NCAA, it's the closest thing to a DI-AA nonscholarship championship game. The Bulldogs have a tough road ahead of them as it was just announced rookie quarterback Derek Retherford will be out for the rest of the season with an injury from the Morehead State game.

Maybe the Bulldogs will get the luck Iowa State had on Sept. 30 when it squeaked by I-AA Northern Iowa 28-27. The Panthers' kicked broke his streak of almost 20 made field goals by booting a 51-yarder wide right with 6 seconds remaining. The win would have been great for Northern Iowa but detremential for Iowa State and possibly could have cost Dan McCarney his job.

Do you think it was a good thing for Northern Iowa to make Iowa State squirm a little bit, especially after the Cyclones' AD Jamie Pollard made the Panthers and Bulldogs share the state stage earlier this season?

Iowa did not have any luck at all vs. top-ranked Ohio State, even with the College GameDay crew in town, the largest crowd at Kinnick Stadium and Lee Corso's nod donning the Herky head. Drew Tate threw three interceptions and Scott Chandler let one get away for a fumble.

Do you think Iowa learned any lessons? How do you think the Hawkeyes will fare against Purdue at home? Iowa State faces Nebraska. Lets hope the Cyclones were preparing for the Cornhuskers when they were supposed to be focusing on the Panthers. Drake host Waldorf — it's last nonconference game of the season. And Northern Iowa is back on its conference schedule vs. Gateway foe Missouri State.