Michigan State Vs. Iowa: Why The Hawkeyes Won’t Pull Down The Big Ten Leader

SB Nation’s Black Heart Gold Pants takes its weekly tongue-in-cheek look at all the reasons the Hawkeyes could lose to the Spartans this weekend:

So it turns out Kirk Ferentz is quite the rube. In week one against Eastern Illinois the Hawkeyes had completely shut down the lowly Panthers. It should have come as no surprise that the hapless Panthers would resort to deception out of desperation to get something, anything going. They settled on a fake punt from their own 20 yard line, which led to their only score. Flash forward to this past Saturday. With Iowa proving to be unstoppable offensively in the second half and with Wisconsin’s increasingly slim BCS hopes slowly crumbling with each Iowa score, Bret Beliema dialed up the exact same punt fake which led to an eventual Badger victory. Now coming into town is the Big Ten’s ultimate grifter, Mark Dantonio. Last year in desperation he ran a hook and ladder play to perfection that almost snatched victory from the jaws of defeat for his Spartans. This past Saturday he hoodwinked Pat Fitzgerald on a fake punt play called “Mouse Trap” and rallied for an improbable 35-27 victory. Earlier in the season the daring Spartans coach called for a fake field goal to beat Notre Dame, in overtime. Expect Dantonio to employ a season’s worth of trickery past Ferentz while the Iowa coach blindly whistles through this season’s graveyard.