Post-facto, Iowa an ex-BCS contender

Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz sounded like a coach with a sinking feeling.

Last week, when the Hawkeyes were still undefeated yet dropped one spot (to No. 8) in the Associated Press media poll after an 18-point victory over Indiana, the Iowa sports information office set out a snippy e-mail asking reporters to “get the facts straight on Iowa football.”

Ferentz didn’t pile on. “Usually the first team to complain is the first team to get beat,” he said.

Funny how that works out.

Northwestern scrambled Iowa’s national championship hopes Saturday, first knocking out its quarterback and then knocking off the Hawkeyes, 17-10.

A couple of facts the Iowa sports information office might find interesting:

Northwestern had not defeated a top-10 team since 2004.

Northwestern was routed in its previous game, 34-13, by Penn State -- which lost at home to Ohio State, 24-7, Saturday.

You have to feel for Ferentz, though, who was realistic all along.

Two weeks ago, when Iowa was ranked No. 1 in the nation by all but one of the Bowl Championship Series computers, Ferentz reacted by saying, “Computers have not seen us play. If they had eyes, they would say: Are you kidding me?”

Iowa quarterback Ricky Stanzi was forced from the game when he suffered an ankle injury in the second quarter, a play on which Marshall Thomas recovered a fumble for Northwestern’s first touchdown.

Stanzi is expected to be out of action for more than a week -- especially bad news for the Hawkeyes because they play at Ohio State on Saturday with a Rose Bowl berth on the line.

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Trivia

Speaking of the Rose Bowl, which was the last Big Ten Conference team to win one, and when?

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Trivia II

After completing 20 of 22 passes for 312 yards and four touchdowns in a 52-0 win over Wyoming, Brigham Young’s Max Hall now holds Mountain West Conference records with 82 career touchdown passes and 18 300-yard passing games. Whose records did he break?

Hint: It was another BYU quarterback.

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That was big

Ohio State snapped a big-game losing streak by defeating Penn State. The Buckeyes had lost their previous six games against teams ranked ahead of them.

It was the first regular-season matchup of coaches who had combined for more than 600 college wins. Ohio State’s Jim Tressel has 226, Penn State’s Joe Paterno 391.

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Tough love

Heisman Trophy-winning alum Charles Woodson said last week that “it’s hard to watch” Michigan play football.

And not getting any easier.

Purdue’s 38-36 win over the Wolverines was its first in Ann Arbor since 1966, when its quarterback was Bob Griese.

That means another tough week for Michigan Coach Rich Rodriguez, whose team has lost five of six after a 4-0 start.

Rodriguez took a hit immediately after the game from Purdue Coach Danny Hope, who brought lineman Zach Reckman over and said, with just the right touch of sarcasm, “Thanks coach, we appreciate what you did.”

Rodriguez says Hope blames him for a one-game suspension Reckman served earlier this year after Rodriguez brought a late hit he had seen on television to the attention of Big Ten officials.

As for Woodson, he says he and former Michigan teammate Marcus Ray exchange messages about their once-proud program.

“I won’t share the texts with you,” he said.

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Streaky

Pittsburgh has won seven of eight in its rivalry with Syracuse. Before that, Syracuse won 11 of 12.

Pitt also is 8-1 for the first time since Dan Marino was the Panthers’ quarterback 27 years ago.

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Friends and foes

To say Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops and Nebraska’s Bo Pelini renewed acquaintances Saturday would be accurate figuratively and literally.

A few of the things the coaches have in common:

They grew up, seven years apart, in Youngstown, Ohio.

Both attended Cardinal Mooney High, where Stoops’ father, Ron, was defensive coordinator.

Both were defensive backs at Big Ten schools.

Both started their coaching careers as graduate assistants at Iowa.

Both were defensive coordinators for national champion Southeastern Conference teams -- Stoops at Florida, Pelini at Louisiana State -- before getting their first head coaching jobs with rival Big 12 teams.

Stoops’ first defensive coordinator: his brother, Mike.

Pelini’s defensive coordinator: his brother, Carl.

Carl Pelini, as a graduate assistant at Kansas State, even lived with Bob Stoops.

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Trivia answer

Wisconsin won the Rose Bowl in 2000, beating Stanford, 17-9.

Since then, the Big Ten is 0-6.

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Trivia answer II

Not Steve Young, or Jim McMahon, or Ty Detmer or any of the Cougars’ other All-American quarterbacks who played when BYU was a member of the Western Athletic Conference.

John Beck had 79 career touchdown passes and 17 300-yard games from 2003 to 2006.

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Scoop or dupe?

Even the cops are picking on poor Hawaii.

Included in the Honolulu Police Department’s incidents report last week: The bogus listing of a “suspicious, unknown, white powdery substance” found on the team’s practice field, purportedly prompting the suspension of workouts and an FBI investigation.

“After a complete field analysis,” the report continued, “the FBI determined that the white substance unknown to the players was the goal line. Practice was resumed when the FBI decided that the team would not be likely to encounter the substance again.”

Very funny -- but not so far from the realm of possibility that a couple Hawaii radio stations broadcast the report over the air until realizing it was a joke.

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mike.hiserman@latimes.com

The Associated Press contributed to this report.