Ferentz top 10 -- The Last Call

So, we didn't see eye to eye on a lot of the top 10 games from the Kirk Ferentz era.

I see that I was the only one who had the 2001 Indiana game. I guess you had to be there. And, really, that's the perspective I took into my top 10. I was there for all of these and not just there, working and observing. You put away scenes in your head or notebook. Eventually, you get a chance to use them.

I can't believe you guys left 2002 Minnesota off the list. And I can't believe I haven't heard from a million people claiming to be in the picture of the fallen goalpost. I saw them go down, but didn't see the revolving door incident. I was up in tunnel, half in prep for interviews, half to get away from that noise and half in fear.

Readers really impressed me with the 2000 Michigan State pick. I thought that was forgotten, but a lot of you have a special place for it. It was fun to look back at that one. A nutty game with a lot of twists and turns. And just the season before in East Lansing, that same Spartan team whipped Iowa, 49-3.

I was also impressed you picked 2001 Alamo Bowl. And thanks for picking 2003 Michigan, a game that, I have to admit, was lost to me.

I've had a few requests for the lists from me, Scott and Mike. I'll attach them at the end of the post.

Also, I've had a few readers use points systems to determine the overall top 10. You'll find those here, too.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for your participation in this. Without you, none of this would be here, including me.

I hope you enjoyed the series. We're rounding the corner and getting into the season, but we'll find something we can call vote on and argue about next summer.

Thanks again.

My Ferentz era top 10

1) 2004 Penn State

2) 2004 Wisconsin

3) 2002 Michigan

4) 2008 Penn State

5) 2004 Ohio State

6) 2002 Minnesota

7) 2002 Purdue

8. 2005 Capital One Bowl

9) 2009 Michigan State

10) 2001 Indiana

Mike Hlas' top 10

1) 2008 Penn State

2) 2009 Ohio State

3) 2005 Capital One Bowl

4) 2002 Michigan

5) 2009 Michigan State

6) 2000 Penn State

7) 2009 Penn State

8. 2002 Iowa State

9) 2003 Michigan

10) 2002 Purdue

Scott Dochterman's top 10

1) 2010 Orange Bowl

2) 2004 Penn State

3) 2005 Capital One Bowl

4) 2009 Ohio State

5) 2004 Wisconsin

6) 2009 Penn State

7) 2002 Michigan

8. 2004 Outback Bowl

9) 2008 Penn State

10) 2006 Alamo Bowl

Readers' top 10

1) 2005 Capital One Bowl

2) 2008 Penn State

3) 2002 Michigan

4) 2010 Orange Bowl

5) 2002 Purdue, 2009 Penn State

6) 2009 Michigan State

7) 2004 Wisconsin

8. 2004 OSU, 2004 Outback, 2000 MSU

9) 2001 Alamo

10) 2003 Michigan

Points systems

From Twitter pal Croquet037:

1) 2005 Capital One 29 points

2) 2008 Penn State 28 points

3) 2002 Michigan 27 points

4) 2004 Wisconsin 19 points

5) 2004 Penn State 19 points

6) 2010 Orange Bowl 17 points

7) 2009 Ohio State 16 points

8. 2009 Penn State 15 points

9) 2009 Michigan State 13 points

10) 2002 Purdue 11 points

Croquet's scoring: Even weighting w/ you, mike, doc, & "readers" each as a Unit. 10 pts for 1st place down to 1 pt for 10th. Much like AP polls.

From e-mailer Alan:

I went through the numbers now that you, Mike Hlas, Doc and the readers have all submitted their votes for the top 10 games in Kirk Ferentz's era. Using the raw numbers, 10 points for a first place vote, 1 for a 10th, I've found the top ten games in the Ferentz era combining all four lists.

                          Doc  Morehouse Hlas Readers        Total points

1. '05 LSU      8       3                      8       10                   29

2. 2008 PSU 2       7                     10    9                      28

3. 2002 UM  4       8                     7       8                      27

4. 2004 Wis  6       9                     0       4                      19

5. 2004 PSU 9       10                  0       0                      19

6. 2010 GT    10    0                     0       7                      17

7. '09 OSU      7      0                     9       0                      16

8. 2009 PSU  5      0                     4       6                       15

9 2009 MSU  0      2                     6       5                       13

10. 2002 Pu. 0      4                     1       6                       11

11. '04 OSU     0      6                     0      3                         9

12. '04 Fla       3      0                     0      3                          6

13. '02 Min.    0      5                     0      0                          5

14. 2000 PS   0      0                     5      0                          5

15. '02 ISU      0      0                     3      0                          3

16. '00 MSU    0      0                     0     3                           3

17. '03 UM      0      0                      0    2                           2

18. 2001 TT    0      0                      0    2                           2

19. '06 Tex       1      0                      0    0                           1

20. '01 Ind.      0      1                      0    0                           1

More Alan: I noticed a few things. The readers had the top three pegged perfectly, albeit close votes. The recent Georgia Tech victory was the lowest of all the top picks falling in at 6th and the 2009 OSU loss came in the highest of all the losses at 7th, both only receiving two votes.

My cutting room floor

My initial list had 18 games on it.

Instead of changing this to Ferentz's top 18, I edited out the following:

2000 Michigan State -- A toughie. Sprained something crossing that one off.

2000 Penn State -- I remember giant jet plane flying over the stadium, just as OT started. I remember thinking, "bet that's Iowa's charter." Only time I've stayed in State College. The rest have been off to Altoona.

2000 Northwestern -- I remember my story was about how the scout team imitated Northwestern's spread, which tore apart the Big Ten. Until that dreary day in Iowa City.

2001 Alamo -- First bowl victory and Ferentz's "turn the corner" game.

2002 Penn State -- Everytime this sucker is on in rerun, you should drop what you're doing. Unless you're carrying a baby or handling fine china.

2003 Michigan -- Reading up on this game, it was outstanding. I also turned "Iowa" into a verb in the game story. How 'bout that?

2004 Outback -- This was the Zook/Florida whupping. This game has merit in that I'm not sure anyone, except the Hawkeyes, saw it being a blowout.

2009 Indiana -- Astounding comeback with a pretty simple lesson for Stanzi, don't throw into a hurricane.