Stay off the Grass!

A brief message to fellow Hawkeye fans: When will you learn?

Once again, in front of the bright lights of ABC’s national audience, thousands of Iowa students poured over the stands and onto to the field to celebrate the 30-28 Homecoming victory over Michigan.

Are you kidding me?

There was absolutely no fathomable reason at all that Iowa fans should have stormed the field.

Let me remind you that the undefeated, then 12^th-ranked Hawkeyes were favored against the unranked Wolverines. But being favored hasn’t stopped fans in the past. I can recall in 2007 when a number of fans stormed historic Kinnick Stadium after a five-point victory against Minnesota.

Great, we won the Floyd of Rosedale, but here’s the catch. Minnesota had one win the entire season!

I understand that it’s exciting that the Hawkeyes are 7-0 for the first time since before most students we’re born and that the game was nationally televised , but if Iowa is going to be taken seriously as the No. 7 team in the country (No. 6 in the BCS) and as a Big Ten title contender, fans need to act like we’ve been here before. Storming the field every time Iowa wins a game is utterly unacceptable.

Storming the field makes our fans and our team look like we don’t compare to the upper-tier teams in the Big Ten and in other major conferences. It gives off the impression that we as fans weren’t expecting the win the game.

Think about how many times fans of USC, Florida, or Texas have stormed the field. Storming the field is meant for teams like Rutgers, Temple, Iowa State (gasp), and Florida International.

Let’s be associated with the former and not the latter.

So here you go Hawkeye fans, here’s the proper field storming etiquette. When you’re thinking about heading down to the turf, revert back to these three rules.

If it doesn’t fall under one of these categories, stay in the stands.

1) If you’re an underdog: Case and point the Penn State game in 2008. It’s fine to storm the field when you’re team is unranked and they knock off the No. 3 team in the country.

2) Last second victories: This one needs a little bit of explaining. This is for game winning plays against teams of equal or greater playing field. No storming the field when it takes an unprecedented play to save us from a major upset – i.e. Northern Iowa (at least we did that one right).

3) Capping off a historic season: In 2002-2003, Iowa went into its final home game with a record of 9-1, competing for a spot in BCS. In the final home game, Iowa defeated Northwestern 62-10, and fans poured onto the field to celebrate with the team that eventually earned a bid to the Orange Bowl. If the Hawkeyes are undefeated or even a one-loss team heading into the final home game (knock on wood), feel free to join Pat Angerer, Ricky Stanzi, and Adrian Clayborn on the turf to celebrate the magnificent season.

If we want to be taken seriously as a year-in, year-out contender and not just a one-hit wonder, keep it in the stands fans, keep it in the stands.