The Wiz of Odds

Iowa Nice Guy, Halloween Edition

This is what Halloween looked like at Scott Siepker's house.

Reporters Notebooks

Mike Vorel, Casper Star-Tribune: Wyoming's Dave Christensen named Jamar Cain interim defensive coordinator after he fired Chris Tormey. Cain is the third defensive coordinator to serve under Christensen in his less than five seasons at Wyoming.

Dan Wolken and Rachel Axon, USA Today: New Mexico State and Idaho should be competing on the same level as Alabama and Florida State, according to NCAA Division I Board of Directors chairman Nathan Hatch. A faculty group has been lobbying for change.

John Canzano, Oregonian: A former Oregon player has a message for Duck fans: "Go (bleep) yourselves."

Joel A. Erickson, AL.com: Arkansas' Bret Bielema is raising a stink over the film exchange with Auburn.

Kurt Kragthorpe, Salt Lake Tribune: Instead of having his Wisconsin team in position for a strong finish and a BCS invitation, former Utah State coach Gary Andersen could be enduring a miserable season at Colorado or California. Or he could be in Logan, which is somewhere in between.

Zach Buchanan, Arizona Republic: Arizona State announcer Tim Healey is returning to the booth after he was diagnosed with transient global amnesia.

Reporters Notebooks

Joe Juliano, Philly.com: Classless act of the week: Urban Meyer called timeout to challenge the spot of the ball after a Penn State fourth-down reception resulted in a first down during the third quarter of Saturday's game. The Buckeyes were leading by 49 points.

Jon Solomon, AL.com: Why Oregon is better positioned to play Alabama than Florida State in the Bowl Championship Series title game.

Chris Hine, Chicago Tribune: The father of Illinois quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase is facing a charge of resisting arrest after an altercation involving fans during the Fighting Illini's 42-3 loss to Michigan State.

Chris Dufresne, Los Angeles Times: The West is the late-night place to be. Stanford's win over Oregon State and Fresno State's overtime defeat of San Diego State weren't widely seen but could have a big BCS impact. Plus, the week ahead.

Lee Barfnecht, Omaha World-Herald: Nebraska athletic director Shawn Eichorst isn't talking, but the ice beneath Bo Pelini appears to be thin.

Jimmy Burch, Fort Worth Star-Telegram: Baylor's season will be defined by a stretch of games in November.

Snapshots of the Past Five Weeks

A look back at the past five weeks, thanks to the terrific 30fps. Click an image to enlarge.

Overtime Pays Off for Iowa Against Northwestern

Perhaps there was no better place to be Saturday than Iowa City, where the Iowa Hawkeyes engaged the Northwestern Wildcats in one of those old-style, slug-'em-out Big Ten games. Wiz correspondent Greg Laughlin took in the festivities, which ended with a 17-10 overtime victory by the hometown Hawkeyes.

There are more images after the jump, none of which involve the Iowa teaching assistant who accidentally emailed nude pictures of herself to math students earlier in the week.

Columnists Corner

Tom Shatel, Omaha World-Herald: It's time to point the finger, and there aren't enough fingers in the good state of Nebraska to single out the culprits in an unthinkable 34-23 loss to Minnesota. Only one finger will be necessary, however. This is Bo Pelini's program.

Patrick Reusse, Minneapolis Star Tribune: In 12 games played between Nebraska and Minnesota between 1969 through 2012, the Cornhuskers scored 568 points and the Golden Gophers 86. But that all changed Saturday as Nebraska was absolutely mauled by Minnesota.

David Teel, Newport News Daily Press: Duke had lost 59 consecutive games away from home against ranked teams, and 47 straight overall since a 1994 home win over No. 13 Virginia. Then came Saturday's stunning 13-10 victory against No. 16 Virginia Tech.

Bryce Miller, Des Moines Register: After another blowout loss, can Iowa State's Paul Rhoads keep his team together?

Bryan Burwell, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Once again, Missouri has found another way to disappoint.

David Climer, Tennessean: Tennessee brought a toothpick into a knife fight and never stood a chance against Alabama.

David Jones, PennLive.com: The bottom line: Ohio State has weaponry at every position of its offense that simply cannot be defended by a resistance as lightly equipped as Penn State's.

Chris Murray, Reno Gazette-Journal: Nevada has more talent than Nevada Las Vegas. It was playing at home, with one of the largest crowds in Wolf Pack history (32,521) on its side. And it laid a penalty-filled egg.

Jon Solomon, AL.com: Sunday Rewind: The Missouri epic collapse edition.

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