Go Iowa Awesome - For Noah Shannon and Iowa Football, the Gut Punch Parade Continues
What good is restoring Noah Shannon's eligibility if the NCAA can't even figure out how to do it in time?
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The Big Ten citing the overhead view of DeJean's gesture as proof of a good overturn will live in CYA infamy.
But at least it's an attempt.
The NCAA, on the other hand, offers not even an acknowledgment that any athletes' eligibility is hanging in the balance. Certainly no sympathy, or better yet urgency.
Perhaps it is better that Ferentz's weekly Hawk Talk radio show is off for the bye week; on a regular week's cadence, he would have been going on the air with less than two hours to process the NCAA's postponement, and there's no telling what trouble his candor could have led to.
After all, we're certainly not suggesting the NCAA has essentially tacked one more game onto Shannon's suspension as a way to spite Ferentz for being insufficiently grateful for its reconsideration (and for daring the Big Ten to fine him with his post-loss referee comments Saturday). There's no evidence that suggests that's what the NCAA is doing here.
Nonetheless, some Iowa fans may undertake a thought experiment about how this would look any different if the NCAA were operating out of spite.
Hypothetically, of course.