Hawkeyes’ scenario: Beat Indiana and be somebody. Or don’t, and don’t.

College football people are fond of saying they only get 12 guaranteed opportunities a year, but the real number is even smaller.

Not every game the teams play is a chance to stamp themselves as somebody, and everybody wants to be somebody.

In Iowa’s case, a couple games a year are automatic victories. This year they were Albany and Massachusetts, absolutely forgettable affairs with no meaning at the time they were played and somehow even less today.

A few other games are potholes to be avoided. Avoiding potholes is a major part of becoming somebody. For Iowa, one such contest was last Friday at Rutgers. The Hawkeyes passed the test with a 38-28 triumph after falling behind 28-24 with 9:44 left.

Potholes can tear you up. Iowa stayed intact.

Other potholes remaining are at flailing Wisconsin, and at home against Minnesota and Michigan State. Iowa needs to sweep them to be somebody and to make their moments of truth even bigger possibilities.

The moments of truth are subject to change, but Iowa has five left, with one already played. That was the 16-13 loss at Iowa State. Others on the horizon are at home against Penn State and Oregon, and at USC and Nebraska.

The only one that matters now, of course, is Saturday at home against Indiana.

Is this a monster game for the Hawkeyes with two Top 5 teams still to visit Kinnick Stadium in Penn State and Oregon? Realizing this is a plunge into Lake Hyperbole, yes, yes it is.

Why, beside the fact a loss would get Iowa fans with resources planning a December trip to the inconsequential Las Vegas Bowl?

You know why. Indiana has been the talk of college football this week, No. 11 in the nation with a bullet after beating then-No. 9 Illinois from pillar to post last Saturday in Bloomington, 63-10.

Win this game, and the Hawkeyes are somebody again. They go into their bye week 2-0 in the Big Ten with the warmest of feelings. Enthusiasm for the rest of the season will run high.

Lose it? They fall off the face of the earth. They go to 0-2 in the Moments of Truth League and their week off proves absence doesn’t necessarily make the heart grow fonder.

Making the College Football Playoff is nothing but a dream right now for the Hawkeyes, but it can’t even find its way into Fantasyland if they have two losses before Penn State and Oregon come to town.

On top of that, there would be the questions and complaints about how Indiana has gone from ground zero to a potential second-straight CFP berth while Iowa remains in the big batch of Big Ten bridesmaids.

So, you want to be somebody, Hawkeyes? Shut down all the noise about the upstart Hoosiers. Your noisy home crowd will do all it can to help.

Indiana is 15-2 under Curt Cignetti, but it’s only 3-2 on the road. The three wins were against teams that finished last season with losing records.

Take a pelt from Indiana, win at Wisconsin, and Iowa goes into the Penn State game here on Oct. 18 with a 5-1 record. There might not be a bigger game in the nation that day/night, especially if the Nittany Lions down Oregon in this weekend’s biggest clash.

Dan McCarney is Iowa’s honorary captain for this game. McCarney, now retired in Florida, has to be at least slightly mystified by what he’s coming back to in his hometown and home state.

Indiana is the ranked team, not Iowa, where he was a player and assistant coach. Iowa State, where he was head coach for 12 years, is 4-0 and ranked No. 14 after finishing last season with 11 wins and ranked 15th.

The Cyclones are coming off a bye week after struggling to beat Arkansas State two weeks ago, so there hasn’t been much noise about them in that time.

It’s understandable. Iowa State had an unusually demanding first month, going to Ireland and beating Kansas State, getting past Iowa two weeks later, then going down to Arkansas. The Cyclones needed the week off when it came. Now we’ll how see if the reboot is a refresher.

With a home win over 3-0 Arizona Saturday night, Iowa State continues to be somebody. Everybody wants to be somebody, but there’s only so much room.

Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com