What's that? You didn't know that Iowa running back Shonn Greene had a Heisman campaign? Well, at least two-thirds of the Iowa student section would like to open your eyes.With Iowa grabbing a national TV spotlight this afternoon as the Hawkeyes try to stifle Penn State's national title hopes, the students instituted a "Greene Out" to plug their beloved RB.
UI students are encouraged to wear green to the Hawkeyes' game against No. 3 Penn State on Saturday in support of Iowa running back and Heisman hopeful Shonn Greene, who is the third leading rusher in the nation. A "Blackout" is scheduled for the rest of the stadium.
"We are embracing the 'Greene Out' of the student section primarily because of the peer-to-peer nature of the effort ... students showing support for another student," Iowa Associate Athletics Director Rick Klatt said. "We like the grass-roots feel of that."
This is all well and good, except for two things:
1. Not only was this just a student section phenomenon, meaning that 60,000 or so fans were not a part of it - but the student section participation appeared limited, with a lot of the kids there opting to participate in the Black Out.
2. Shonn Greene is not a Heisman candidate.
Perhaps the order on those points should have been different ...
That's not a knock on Greene. Heading into today's game, he had 1,257 yards - third-most in the country - and 11 touchdowns. Great numbers.
But Iowa does not get a lot of national publicity and, should the Hawkeyes lose today, they'll only be 5-5. Those two things take away from the fact that Greene has topped 100 yards in every game prior to this week and scored in eight of nine games - a stat that includes Greene's four touchdown explosion in a win over Wisconsin.
Back to the "Greene Out". This is, to my recollection, the first time that a team has hosted one of these "(Insert Color) Out" performances specifically tailored to one player. Granted, there probably aren't a lot of even borderline Heisman candidates with colors - or varied spellings of colors - for last names.
This is, however, not a good sign for those of you hoping that the Color Out phenomenon was going to die down soon.
