Okay, here's some insight on the Iowa @ Arizona pick.... Norm Parker, Iowa's DC, who is for sure one of the top defensive coordinators in the country, will not make the trip due to his battle with diabetes. He has been hospitalized since Tuesday before the Iowa State game. Why might this be important? Well, the last time Parker was out during the season for more than two weeks (had his toes amputated) was 2004... the year we played you guys in the 2005 CapOne Bowl. He was hospitalized that year for the two weeks prior to our early season game at Arizona State. We went to the desert without him and put up our worst defensive performance in Ferentz' tenure... got beat something like 44-7... and it wasn't even that close. Unfortunately, I was there. Without Parker putting together the defensive plan, we are very nervous about this game. Thank God we have mostly seniors and juniors on the defensive side of the ball this year... ... but for oddsmakers, this would be something they would look at... Hopefully, we'll pound it out and get out of there alive, but this is a concern.
