Nov. 5, 2003
Here’s a riddle for fans of the football program at the University of Iowa and, more specifically, the home of the Hawkeyes, historic Kinnick Stadium…
Name this quarterback:
He’s a current college quarterback that most astute fans of the game figure has a better-than-average shot to be playing on Sundays.
He’s a quarterback of a team that will be ranked among the nation’s best when next week’s college football’s Top 25s are announced. That team is virtually guaranteed to see action in a post-season bowl game.
And, he’s a quarterback that enjoyed playing in historic Kinnick Stadium.
Hawk fans…name the quarterback…and, here’s a hint: He’s not — that’s right, not — Iowa signal-caller Nathan Chandler.
Stumped?
The quarterback is…Ben Roethlisberger of the soon-to-be-nationally-ranked RedHawks of Miami, who upped their record to 8-1 last night with their eighth straight victory.
You remember Miami and the RedHawks. Iowa opened the 2003 season with 21-3 victory over Miami in Kinnick way back on Aug. 30. Fans of the Hawkeyes hope to remember that game as the first of what they hope will be another season of double-digit wins for their favorite team. Fans of the RedHawks are hoping to remember that game as the only loss on an otherwise unblemished season.
Ben Roethlisberger — as he told the Cincinnati Enquirer’s Mark Schmetzer — will, as Schmetzer wrote, always have a “soft spot for Iowa City.”
“Kinnick Stadium is one of the great places to play college football,” Roethlisberger told Schmetzer shortly after he was picked off four times by the Hawkeyes in the third game in a three-game series between the two schools.
“…It’s something I’ll tell my kids and grandkids about.”
So, there you have it, Hawk fans. If you ever wonder just how special a place Kinnick Stadium is, just remember Ben Roethlisberger. He thinks it’s something special and he never played for the Hawkeyes or won a game there.