By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Senior defensive tackle Noah Shannon has played his final game as an Iowa football player.

The NCAA has updated its sports wagering guidelines, but it wasn’t what Shannon or what Iowa football fans were hoping.

The new guidelines will start with a one-year suspension for any student-athlete that bets on other teams at their school. The one-year suspension will also count against their eligibility.

So, with Shannon being a sixth-year senior, his career as a Hawkeye is over.

Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz released a statement Wednesday night in which he was critical of the decision, calling it an uneven system of justice.

He also repeated his claim that it’s peculiar the gambling investigation has focused exclusively on the state of Iowa.

“I am heartbroken for Noah (Shannon) and his family that the NCAA has come to this conclusion,” Kirk Ferentz said. “Noah did not break any laws. He did not commit any crimes. And yet he is being severely over-punished by a membership committee that refuses to see perspective or use common sense.

“I have said many times that I think it is peculiar that the state of Iowa is uniquely the focus of this investigation. Noah is being sidelined because the NCAA is ruling on an investigation that they did not instigate, using an uneven system of justice to severely punish an excellent young man. It is just wrong.”

Kirk Ferentz has said previously Shannon placed a bet on another Iowa sports team on campus, and that bet ultimately cost Shannon his final season of eligibility.

Shannon reportedly bet on one Iowa women’s basketball game last season.

The NCAA met on Wednesday to establish the new guidelines for sports wagering.

Shannon was among multiple student-athletes from Iowa and Iowa State that were suspended or dismissed from their team following an investigation into sports wagering.

Shannon was allowed to return to practice on Oct. 11, but that would be the closest he would come to playing this season.

Shannon has been open and honest about having placed a bet, but he didn’t bet on any Iowa football games, which would have been a deal breaker for Kirk Ferentz.

Shannon, who started 28 games for Iowa, also didn’t break any laws since he is old enough to gamble legally.

The Aurora, Illinois native used his free Covid year to return for a sixth season.

There was hope that Shannon would be fully reinstated after the NCAA allowed him to return to practice.

That hope has since been crushed by the new guidelines.