Really wonder what the fallout would have been had Barta taken the hard line and said, "go ahead and sue." I mean, business is business, right? In any event, allowing Pollard to essentially undermine Iowa's best scheduling interests without any consequence--assuming that's the case--raises a few questions about the craftiness of Barta's leadership. Surely Barta had to know going in that Pollard would reject such a proposal outright, barring some sort of alternative. There was a lot at stake here for Iowa, if this account is true. Was there any attempt to negotiate a compromise? Not securing high-profile games against ND not only hurt Iowa, but helped a division opponent who doesn't need the help. That had to make Pollard very, very happy (he came to ISU from Wisconsin, BTW). You can't really blame Pollard for saying no if it was a simple appeal to his better side. Did Iowa consider offering a financial incentive to ease the "pain" for ISU? And/or possibly help ISU find a suitable alternative opponent for those two years? Where there's a will, sometimes there's a way. Given this outcome, seems to me that from Iowa's perspective, there ought to be consequences going forward. Something tells me that there simply isn't that kind of competitive commitment from the current athletic administration but who knows? There's more going on behind the scenes than we'll ever know, I'm quite sure of that.