The calm before the storm.

Ryan Field is empty at just before 9 a.m. on Saturday, except for a few television crews and stadium workers. But the parking lots outside the stadium are already nearly full as the Wildcats get ready to take on Iowa, a smashmouth kind of team that is ready to exact some revenge for last year's NU win in Iowa City.

But I'm sure Wildcat fans are hoping freshman running back Adonis Smith didn't douse lighter fluid on the Hawkeyes with his comment earlier in the week that coach Pat Fitzgerald "hates Iowa."

It's going to be interesting, to say the least.