Iowa Escapes Snow but Worries About Huskies : Rose Bowl: Coach Fry brought the Hawkeyes to California early because drifts collapsed the bubble over their practice facility.

Iowa Coach Hayden Fry believes that Washington might be college football’s finest team. Certainly, the Huskies would be ranked No. 1 right now had they managed to avoid a late-season upset.

“I’m not so sure that Washington is not the No. 1 team in the nation,” Fry said Monday upon his team’s arrival in Los Angeles 15 days before it faces the Huskies in the Rose Bowl game. “On film, they’re without question the finest football team we’ve seen, including Miami (which beat the Hawkeyes, 48-21, on Sept. 29).

“They have more speed than Miami, and we didn’t think that was possible.”

Washington, the Pacific-10 Conference champion, is ranked eighth. The Huskies (9-2) were ranked second before losing to UCLA 25-22 on Nov. 10. A victory probably would have boosted them to the top of the rankings because top-ranked Notre Dame lost to Penn State that weekend.

Fry said he wants his team to take in the sights and have a good time in California, but quickly added that the primary goal is to get ready for the game on New Year’s Day and win it.

The Hawkeyes arrived in California earlier than originally scheduled because the bubble on their indoor practice facility collapsed under heavy snowfall.

“It’s a vinyl cover over 120 yards of artificial surface we practice on,” Fry said. “So much snow got on the roof that it just collapsed. That’s kind of a blessing because it gave us an excuse to come out here early.”

The 17th-ranked Hawkeyes will represent the Big Ten in the Rose Bowl despite having lost two of their final three games.

At 6-2 in the conference and 8-3 overall, they tied with Michigan, Michigan State and Illinois for the Big Ten title but beat all three of those teams to earn the right to face Washington.

“You can argue it any way you want to, but if they were so good this year, they should have beaten us,” Fry said of the two Michigan schools and Illinois.

Fry said his team hadn’t practiced since losing to Minnesota, 31-24, on Nov. 24.

“Now, we’ll really get into football,” he said. “We’re getting well; that’s the most encouraging thing. The last few ballgames, we were beaten up pretty good. The Big Ten is a very physical conference.

“We were very fortunate up to the Ohio State game, then we suffered some injuries. But we’re getting healthy again.”

Iowa was 5-0 in the Big Ten before losing to Ohio State, 27-26, beating Purdue, 38-9, and losing to Minnesota.