By Pat Ruff
Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN 

Lately, Karl Klug hasn't been able to help it.

The 6-foot-4, 260-pound University of Iowa starting defensive lineman keeps wishing his twin brother Kevin was out there on the field with him.

He's longing for the days of old, when the Klug brothers dominated together as members of the Caledonia football team. As much as both wished to wind up at the same place, it didn't work out. Karl accepted a Division I scholarship to Iowa his senior year at Caledonia, while Kevin was never recruited by the Hawkeyes or any Division I program. Instead, he grabbed a scholarship to Minnesota State, Mankato.

"I've thought about (wanting to play with Kevin) more this year than ever, probably because this is his last year of playing," said Karl, a redshirt junior, while the 6-2, 210-pound Kevin is a senior starting linebacker at Mankato. "When we played at Penn State earlier this year, I remember looking up at the 110,000 fans in the stands and thinking, 'Man, it would be cool if my brother was out here with me.'"

The truth is, while both agree that roaming the same field would be perfect-world stuff, what they've experienced respectively and together this year has been awfully tough to beat.

Simply, these have been perfect seasons for them both. Iowa is one of the surprises of college football, unbeaten at 9-0, including rugged roads wins at Penn State, Wisconsin and Michigan State. It's brought the Hawkeyes a BCS ranking of No. 4 in the country.

Twin pefection

Kevin can relate to that. His Mavericks are also spotless, at 10-0 and with one regular-season game at St. Cloud State left. That has also lofted them to a No. 4 national ranking, in Division II.

The programs' perfection has accomplished one more thing. It's brought twin brothers who were already incredibly close, all the closer. As thrilled as they are about their own achievements, they're relishing each other's successes just as much. Twice-weekly phone calls between them start and often end with football talk.

And Saturdays start and end with them living and dying with the fate and future of not just one team, but two.

"I'm always pulling so hard for Iowa to win," said Kevin, who's seen about one-third of Karl's games on television this season, watching them when Mankato's and Iowa's starting times are vastly different. "I get a little bit nervous watching him. But I get really excited when he makes plays."

Karl, who like Kevin is in his first year as a college starter, relates to the emotion of seeing his brother have success. The undersized but speedy Kevin has had plenty of it this season, ranking third on his team in total tackles.

"He definitely makes me proud," Karl said. "It's really fun for me, because I've gone to (Mankato's) spring football game the last couple of years and gotten to know some of the guys on their team pretty well. It's neat to know that those guys and my brother are undefeated."

Dan Klug, Karl and Kevin's father, has seen first-hand how close these brothers are -- now more than ever. Two weeks ago, Dan was in Mankato watching Kevin's team beat Southwest State. Karl's girlfriend of over a year was also there, supporting Kevin.

Once the Mavericks' game was done, all of them raced to a television to watch the Iowa-Michigan State game.

Once that was over, Iowa winning in hair-raising fashion, the phone rang. It was Karl. He wasn't looking to talk first to his girlfriend. No, he was looking for Kevin. There was football to celebrate.

Dan, smiling, understood. But he wasn't so sure Karl's girlfriend did.

"Business is business," Dan said with a laugh. "I had to walk her through it."

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