Original Found Here (Daily Iowan)
BY DI STAFF | NOVEMBER 10, 2009 7:20 AM

YES

Hawkeye backup quarterback James Vandenberg receives preferential treatment among students on campus because of his “ability” to throw a football.

But with all the amenities afforded to football players at the university, a performance like the one Vandenberg turned in on Nov. 6 gives plenty of reason to criticize the redshirt freshman.

An interception on his first throw followed by a series of worm-burners that failed to reach even his receivers shoelaces on a fly was an absolute joke.

There is something to say about the pressure on a backup to keep a 9-0 team undefeated, but isn’t that why he’s in Iowa City in the first place?

On a team where roles are followed very closely, Vandenberg seemed to have forgotten his against a Northwestern team that was blowout-bound in the second quarter.

If he were a poor walk-on thrown to the lions, or Wildcats in this case, it would be hard to be critical.

But the fact remains he is a Kirk Ferentz investment, one meant to help the team win games, and on Nov. 6, he failed to do that.

Sure, he was one of the most prolific passers in Iowa high-school football history, but the display against the Wildcats looked more like the part of a bad intramural football player on the Hawkeye Recreational Fields than a Division-I quarterback playing in front of 70,000-plus fans .

The Hawkeyes don’t need another Jake Christensen. They just need Ricky Stanzi back.

— by Jake Krzeczowski