Pardon us as we register some surprise, but Iowa's two-deeps for the Indiana game (pops to .PDF, courtesy of HawkeyeNation.com) don't exactly look like what we expected. Per Morehouse:
Running back Adam Robinson isn’t listed on this week’s two deeps. Safety Brett Greenwood is listed as a starter after being carted off with a head/upper-body injury. Wide receiver Colin Sandeman is listed as a No. 2 after being knocked unconscious against Michigan State.
As mentioned before, Dace Richardson is out for--at least--the end of the regular season. Other than that, no surprises.
Now, as it became evident over the course of the night Saturday, Greenwood's injury was neck-related, not brain-related; otherwise, there's no way the trainers' precautionary sensibilities would have allowed him to get off the cart, take his helmet off, and go to the locker room. Really, what happened to Greenwood is probably not dissimilar to what happened to John Clay the week prior--a hit that was more scary than harmful.
That's not to call Clay's or Greenwood's manliness into question, mind you; it's just natural that if your body moves in a way that's totally unfamiliar and seems ruinously injurious, you're going to panic a bit until the immediate pain starts going away. Greenwood's really lucky; with a couple inches' difference in the way his and Sash's heads hit (and/or a helmet from a few decades ago), he could still be hospitalized and wondering if he'd ever walk again.
The Sandeman thing, though, is a little more curious. While Greenwood's injury wasn't one that could have long-term impact on his quality of life (and, apparently, is minor enough that he can play again right away), Sandeman was absolutely KTFO when he took that helmet-to-helmet shot. His limbs were rigid and frozen in place. Bad times.
So here's the deal: we don't know a lick about advanced medicine, never took so much as an introductory course for health or doctorin' in college, none of that. If we have any of those types that read BHGP, serious question: could Sandeman's hit and subsequent involuntary physical reactions have come without a concussion or other harm to the brain? To us, it looked really, really bad--like, we had hoped during the open thread that he'd be given the rest of the regular season to recover (note: in light of recent medical opinions, we're also pretty gung-ho on giving concussion victims more than, say, the two weeks Tim Tebow got)
Rest assured: we're not accusing the Hawkeye trainers or coaches of doing anything untoward. We're only saying that our mildly educated opinion and observations led us to believe that Sandeman would not be playing tackle football for a few weeks. Could Sandeman's brain be back to 100% in time for him to practice and play Saturday?