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Iowa 42, Indiana 24. Hey, the Hawkeyes covered the 17-point spread with almost 500 yards total offense to move to 9-0! That was easy, huh? This 'undefeated' thing is no sweat.

But in the fourth quarter, for Iowa, it's always easy:

• Trailing 13-10 against Northern Iowa, the Hawkeyes finished a long scoring drive early in the fourth quarter to go ahead, then blocked consecutive winning field goal attempts on the last plays of the game to win, 17-16.
  • Down 10-5 and going nowhere on offense at Penn State, the Hawkeyes blocked a Nittany Lion punt and took it for a touchdown to take the lead, then forced turnovers on three straight PSU possessions to kill the clock on a 21-10 win.
  • Down 10-3 at the half and tied at 10 entering the fourth quarter at Wisconsin, the Hawkeyes scored twice in the fourth quarter and held the Badgers to 58 total yards in the second half on the way to a 20-10 win.
  • Down 13-9 after 58 minutes without a touchdown, the Hawkeyes drove 70 yards in the final 1:32, had a game-ending interception wiped out on a holding call and hit the winning touchdown pass with two seconds on the clock to escape, 15-13.

At this point, rising from the death bed in the fourth quarter to pull victory from defeat is the Hawkeyes' specialty; it's what they do, and that doesn't include the non-comeback nailbiters over Arkansas State (24-21) and Michigan (30-28). This is an icy, cold-blooded team. But never at any point in any of those harrowing, often improbable victories, was Iowa quite as dead as it was at the start of the fourth quarter today, sitting at its own eight-yard line with a basketcase quarterback and lucky to only be trailing by 10 points against one of the conference's true bottom dwellers. If not for an impossible, fluke-y, four-carom interception and subsequent runback by Tyler Sash that turned pending Hoosier points into an Iowa touchdown that cut IU's lead to 21-14 in the third quarter, the score wouldn't have been that close.

And that figured, really: What karma gives against the best teams on the schedule, it takes away against one of the worst, and the Hawkeyes officially revery to the realm of overachieving but not-quite-talented-enough mediocrities.

To put into context how stunning the subsequent four-touchdown rally was at the start of the fourth, consider that Ricky Stanzi's third quarter was the stuff of cautionary legend. Years from now, little school children across the state would gather round every Halloween and listen to the horrifying tale of how the haphazardly shaven junior who tried with all his might to give away the Hawkeyes' undefeated season with ugly interceptions on four straight possessions in one quarter. "Remember, children," the adult would say as they stared vacantly into the distance, nearly frozen by the traumatic memory, "never throw deep into the wind."

Flip the field and turn the quarter to '4,' though, and Stanzi instantly cemented his status as scruffy, clutch folk hero with a 92-yard catch-and-run to Marvin McNutt and a 66-yard, go-ahead strike to Derrell Johnson-Koulianos that visibly broke Indiana's will. It was deja vu for the Hoosiers, too, after blowing a 28-3 lead last week against Northwestern. Both teams ultimately were today what they are, generally: For Indiana, a scrappy but overmatched outfit that doesn't respond well to adversity; for Iowa, a scrappy and endlessly resourceful outfit that seems to respond only to adversity. The difference is surprisingly close, especially when you consider that the latter set of virtues still includes "national championship contender."