So forget about the, "It’s hot out here, but there’s no humidity" stuff.

The Chamber of Commerce can tell it to somebody else. I’ve spent so much time out here lately—five trips since January to visit Aunt Mary, who’s been sick—that I’m no longer classified as a tourist.

They tell me the weather is still great back home. Good. We deserve it.

Oh, I realize that by the time I get back there in a week or so it’ll be 45 degrees with a 20-mile-per-hour wind out of the northwest.

The Dallas Cowboys’ 24-7 victory over Emmitt Smith and the Arizona Cardinals was the big sports story here yesterday. Somehow it edged out Kerry Wood and the Cubs in the baseball playoffs.

To prove to myself that I wasn’t turning into some sort of sun-worshipping desert creature, I participated in the Big 12 Conference football coaches’ teleconference this morning at 9:10 Arizona time.

Unfortunately, the news wasn't good if Iowa State fans were scoring at home. Coach Dan McCarney had to summarize his team’s brutal 53-7 loss to No. 1-ranked Oklahoma, then was questioned about the Texas Tech offensive machine his Cyclones face Saturday night in Lubbock.

"Texas Tech’s quarterback, B. J. Symons, is playing unbelievable—at a level I don’t know that I’ve seen in a long time," McCarney said. "It’s going to take a great team effort by our defense."

Symons set a Big 12 record for the third consecutive week Saturday by passing for eight touchdowns in a 59-28 Tech victory over Texas A&M.

Symons completed 34 of 46 passes for 505 yards and didn’t even play in the last 11 minutes 46 seconds. For the season, the Heisman Trophy candidate has passed for 2,467 yards and 24 touchdowns.

Mike Leach, his coach, said he thinks Symons is the best player in the country. At this stage and with his numbers, who’s going to argue?

McCarney said Symons is part of a group of Big 12 quarterbacks that’s "the best this league has had since its inception."

When a guy asked McCarney if there’s any way to stop Symons, McCarney said, "B. J. is just unconscious right now. Twenty-four touchdowns in just five games—I don’t know that I’ve ever heard of anything like that. His receivers are just outstanding."

However, don’t look for Kirk Ferentz to fire O’Keefe anytime soon.

"I take full responsibility," Carr said following Michigan’s 30-27 defeat.

Carr said he told his team after the game that "it was my fault, I told ‘em that they played hard and they played well enough to win with the exception of the mistakes that we made with the punt team."

When asked if he’d ever said before that it was his fault Michigan lost a game, Carr answered, "I don’t think that matters."

Let’s see, if I remember correctly, I wrote in a column last week that I wasn’t counting Iowa out of the game because Carr would be coaching in it.

Frankly, now I hope he stays at Michigan another 10 seasons.

Not as far as I’m concerned.

The guy who came within an eyelash—well, 24 hours anyway—of becoming the successor to Hayden Fry at Iowa has it all, and his future in football is unlimited.

I went to Iowa City with my sons, Mark and Kevin. They used my season tickets at Kinnick Stadium, I was in the press box.

But, actually, the day began much earlier for me than the 2:30 p.m. kickoff time.

My publisher had scheduled an 11 a.m.-to-2 p.m. book-signing at the Hawk Shop across the street from the stadium. I arrived at 10:30, looked at the huge pile of books the manager had stacked on the table, and thought to myself, "Well, this is going to be a challenge."

I’d already been through one signing for "Tales from the Iowa Sidelines." It was on Sept. 20—prior to the Hawkeyes’ victory over Arizona State.

Gary Dolphin and Ed Podolak, play-by-play announcers on the Iowa radio network, sat in with me at that one at Iowa Book L.L.C. in downtown Iowa City.

We did well there. Matt Lage, assistant manager at the store, told me "Tales from the Iowa Sidelines" is the No. 1 seller at his store.

So now to the Hawk Shop signing. This time I invited Ron Gonder of Cedar Rapids, the easy-going former Iowa radio play-by-play and sideline announcer, as my signing partner.

Gonder stayed the full 3 hours with me at the Hawk Shop. It was fun to observe him reacting to black-and-gold clad Iowa fans after they came into the store. Many of them talked to us about present and past Hawkeye players and coaches, many of them bought books.

They came from Omaha, Mitchellville, Council Bluffs, Des Moines, Iowa City, Sidney, Mason City, Spencer…..all over the map. The whole Midwest appeared before our eyes and signing pens.

I finally got across the street to the stadium as the public address announcer was saying that the alumni band was ready to engage in its pregame performance.

There’s nothing quite like the alumni band at homecoming.

The 3-hour signing, the bands, the Iowa victory over Michigan, the marvelous weather, the screwups by Lloyd Carr, the fans storming the field afterward…..it all made for a sensational day at ol’ Kinnick Stadium.

Afternoons in an Iowa autumn don’t get much better than that.

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