Iowa's Colin Sandeman is tackled by Arizona's Paul Vassallo duirng the first half at Arizona Stadium in Tucson, Arizona on Saturday, September 18, 2010. (Cliff Jette/The Gazette)

TUCSON, Ariz. — The really big stuff might be off the table. The Hawkeyes didn’t kid themselves about that.

So, if you were thinking national championship, No. 9 Iowa’s 34-27 loss to No. 24 Arizona on Saturday night knocked you into next season.

“Realistically, as far as the big picture is concerned, all this does is tell us two things,” guard Julian Vandervelde said. “One, we’re not going to win the BCS championship. That’s just not going to happen at this point. And, two, we have a loss on our record. We’re not perfect anymore.

“It’s up to us at this point to decide which direction we want to turn this season.”

This was around 2:30 a.m. central time and just after Vandervelde was in and out of Saturday night’s game with an ankle injury (he said he’s fine).

For the lateness and the pain, it was an amazing statement of clarity.

The Hawkeyes (2-1) would need to run the table and get some help for a BCS championship run. Not out of the question, but possibly down to one running back, the odds aren’t good.

Still, the 2010 Hawkeyes have nine games left on their regular-season schedule. They’re going to go ahead and play them.

And that’s really where they sit today. One loss, BCS title perhaps out of reach and nine games to make something for themselves.

The “trying to figure it out where this is going” tour kicks off Saturday with a bit of a rest stop against Ball State, a 1-2 team that lost at home to Liberty and fell to Purdue last week.

“We’ve got another game next week, we’ve got to bounce back,” defensive end Adrian Clayborn said. “That’s the good thing about football. We can’t dread on this too much. If we dread on this too much, Ball State will come in next week and kick our butts.”

Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz thinks most things that went kerploey Saturday night are fixable.

He has total trust in wide receiver Marvin McNutt, who bobbled a pass and then watched it go 85 yards the other way for a touchdown. In the fourth quarter, McNutt caught an 18-yard TD pass while being interfered with that pulled Iowa within 27-21.

Quarterback Ricky Stanzi, who completed 18 of 33 for 278 yards, an interception and three TDs, had stretches of unsteadiness. Ferentz isn’t worried about his quarterback, who suffered just his fifth loss in 25 starts.

“We’ll see what we’re made of,” Stanzi said.

Iowa’s special teams have Ferentz wondering a little bit. In order, the Hawks had a blocked punt that led to a score, a 100-yard kick return for a TD, a blocked extra point that kept them from the lead and a failure on a shot to down a punt inside the 5-yard line. The across-the-board meltdown has Ferentz a little nervous.

“If we keep covering kicks like that, it’s not good,” Ferentz said. “We haven’t had punt protection issues since Pitt in ’08. Those are fundamental things. If we have to worry about having punts blocked or kicks returned, not even for touchdowns, if we can’t get those things straightened out and if we can’t make a PAT … it’s going to be tough to win against good teams.”

Iowa’s defense shouldn’t be a worry. The Hawks fell to a QB who was an assassin Saturday night. Nick Foles completed 28 of 39 for 303 yards, an interception and two TDs.

“He’s a big guy, he can sit back there and see over everybody,” strong safety Tyler Sash said.

When the Hawkeyes lost to Arizona State, 44-7, in Tempe six years ago, strength and conditioning coach Chris Doyle brought a toilet into the weightroom to symbolize the Hawkeyes’ need to just flush away the game.

A flush might be coming tomorrow in the Hayden Fry Football Complex. Iowa has nine games left. The BCS title might be circling the drain, but this isn’t over.

“We can come back and run the table and go to the Rose Bowl and the Hawkeye nation will be as proud as ever,” Vandervelde said. “Or we can let this be the beginning of a downward spiral.

“From what I’ve seen of this team, that’s certainly not something we’re going to choose to do.”

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Gallery: GAME PHOTOS: Iowa vs. Arizona

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Photo: Iowa at Arizona Football