Iowa safety Tyler Brown out for a while, Ferentz says

Ferentz's Tuesday press conference had 2 injury notes heading into Floyd of Rosedale week, and the first one is the one that stings.

That's the part that should worry Hawkeye fans. Ferentz isn't saying Brown is iffy for Saturday or that it's day-to-day. He's saying it's long enough that asking every week isn't worth it. When a coach this guarded with injury info decides to take a question off the table, he's telling you there's no good news coming for a while.

This has dragged on all season. Brown has played in only 2 of Iowa's 6 games. He looked like he was limping at times in the 20-19 win at Michigan, Ferentz called him iffy before Ohio State, and he was ruled out the next day. Since then, Iowa has started Anthony Hawkins and Xavier Styles in the back end without him. Hawkins, a Villanova transfer, has started 3 of the 4 games Brown has missed.

The second update wasn't as bad, but it still hurts.

Wilson is the starting left guard, and Will Hahn shows up on the depth chart for the first time this season to replace him. The good news, if you want any, is that Wilson's injury didn't sound like a long one. Losing a starter on the offensive line on the road in a rivalry game is still a problem, especially for an Iowa offense that has never had much room for error.

Now the stakes. The pig is in Iowa City, and the Hawkeyes have won 10 of the last 11 against Minnesota, including 5 straight in Minneapolis going back to 2016. Kickoff is 2:30 p.m. CT Saturday at Huntington Bank Stadium. Iowa's defense has kept winning without Brown, so for now this is about depth, not a crisis. Still, every week Phil Parker has to piece the secondary together is a week that depth gets tested, and Ferentz just told everyone not to count on Brown anytime soon.