On Iowa with Marc Morehouse

Radio show . . .

Devan Moylan (groin) is out again. That's three weeks for both. It will take sometime, now, to get them back into football shape when they're ready.

It sounded like things picked up for tight end Tony Moeaki, who suffered a dislocated elbow and broken hand three weeks ago. Ferentz said things ramped up for him today in practice. He said possibly next week but more likely the week after for a return.

Ferentz also said Pat Angerer injured a hamstring in practice today. Angerer has been injured (mono, shoulder) pretty much all season.

The Illinois ambush . . .

Some 3,500 Illinois fans ambushed Carver-Hawkeye Arena for the 2005 Iowa-Illinois basketball game. The Fighting Illini were riding high, ranked No. 1 and steaming toward a run in the NCAA tournament that ended as national runner-up.

Illini fans came into Carver dressed in black. They peeled that layer off and flew their orange.

The Illini won, 75-65. Their fans chanted, correctly, "NIT, NIT, NIT."

It honked off former Iowa coach Steve Alford.

"Why are there 5,000 opponent fans in here? Why can't some of those tickets be held back for our fans?" he asked. "If fans are not buying, find ways to reduce the cost. It's a home environment, it's not a neutral environment.

"When we go to Purdue, there weren't 5,000 Hawkeye fans in there."

But the truth is there was supply for the Illinois demand. The Iowa ticket office doesn't vet potential ticket buyers. If it has the supply, it will fill the demand.

"Tickets are for sale," shrugged then-AD Bob Bowlsby.

Why am I bringing this up?

You might've noticed, Illinois is having a breakout year in football. Ron Zook's Illini are 5-1 (3-0 Big Ten) heading into Saturday's matchup at Kinnick Stadium.

The Illini are up. The Hawkeyes have lost four straight. Going into the 2005 hoops game in IC, Illinois was up and Iowa was NIT.

Can the same thing happen at Kinnick?

Not unless a few thousand of you sell your tickets to Illini fans at Kinnick on gameday or on eBay. Just now on eBay, I checked and there were 33 entries for Iowa-Illinois tickets and/or parking passes.

Iowa sets aside 4,000 tickets for the opposing teams. Otherwise, Saturday's game is a sell out. All tickets, save for a few singles, are spoken for.

If there is Illini demand, there is no Iowa ticket supply.

"You're not going to have big numbers like we did for that basketball thing," Iowa associate director of athletics Mark Jenning said Wednesday. "The tickets were available. They're not available for football like they were for basketball a couple years ago."

So, don't expect a similar ambush, at least not in the Kinnick bleachers. It's up for grabs on the field, though.