SB Nation - Shaun Prater

Not the 12-0 We Wanted Most, But a 12-0 We'll Gladly Take

Oops Pow Surprise — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 23:05:29 -0000

by Charlie Neibergall - AP

WHO WANTS STEEL RIBS OR STEEL HAM? (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

So. A month ago, if you'd been told that "12-0" was happening today, you'd probably be getting all giddy and buying a ticket for Pasadena. Of course, that 12-0 didn't come to fruition, on account of the Stanzageddon and all, but we do have the next best thing: Iowa 12, Minnesota 0.

Was it ugly? Christ yes, it was ugly; Iowa was 1-12 on 3rd down conversions, and theirs wasn't even the ugliest offense of the game.

Minnesota's offense, on the other hand, was one of the worst we've seen all season long. The two Minnesota quarterbacks - Adam Weber and MarQueis Gray - combined to go 14-42 through the air for 153 yards and one interception. That's an average of 3.6 yards per attempt, which is melt-your-retinas ugly. Oh, and Weber lost two of his three fumbles. Yes, Minnesota accounted for more yards than Iowa--201 to 171--but they needed 18 more plays to do so, meaning Iowa's own train wreck of an offense was at least more efficient. Sort of.

As for that Iowa offense, what's there to say? They clearly missed Adam Robinson's running ability when he went down with a re-injury of his ankle; he should be back in plenty of time for the bowl, so no real harm done here. But Brandon Wegher, from Dakota Dunes, South Dakota, one of the great town names in America (/Musberger'd), is really not an every-down back yet, and has no business trying to fill that role right now. That's not to say he's a bust or anything nearly as dour; it's just that there's a reason why, if all the tailbacks were healthy, he'd be about 4th or 5th string right now (Jewel Hampton, Robinson, Jeff Brinson, and maybe Paki Bomb). He's just a true freshman. Most true freshmen aren't ready to run the rock 25 times in a game--especially when they're evidently so green with the playbook that they're telegraphing every run play before the snap.

In fact, if this game proved anything, it's that injuries have wrecked any hope or semblance of consistency for the Iowa offense; James Vandenberg was the 20th different player to start on offense for Iowa this season. For the Iowa defense? 15--and two of those extra four starters were at the same position (Greg Castillo and Willie Lowe, for Shaun Prater at LCB). That's remarkably important; continuity is a big deal in a team sport like football, and as much as Kirk Ferentz and his staff preach the importance of the "next man in," with the notable exception of Riley Reiff, there's always been a marked dropoff in performance from starter to backup.

Thus, getting healthy for the bowl game and getting the best possible lineup (Bulaga, Dace Richardson, Rafael Eubanks, Reiff, and Kyle Calloway on the line; A-Rob and Brett Morse in the backfield; Trey Stross, Derrell Johnson-Koulianos, and Tony Moeaki as receivers) would be a welcome development for the offense. How many times has that ideal lineup been healthy and starting all at once? Twice: at Wisconsin and about the first 10 minutes of at Michigan State.

And let's not even get started on losing Hampton and Brinson before the season.

Yes, the above lineup is pretty unimpeachably Iowa's best; while Marvin McNutt is obviously talented, he's done his best as the third receiver instead of starting at wideout--think back to Mo Brown in 2002, for example. Unless something bad happens in practice between now and the bowl game, the Iowa offense is going to look a lot better, and it'll be independent of the playcalling (which always looks a lot better when the players can reliably execute it).

As for the defense, they were utterly lights-out; Weber was harassed throughout the day, and it's to his credit that he was "only" sacked five times. The Iowa defensive line combined for 7.0 TFL and 4 of the 5 sacks, and they abused the offensive line so thoroughly that Bob Griese was left questioning everything about the Gopher unit and their commitment to the sport. That was nice.

Really, this was as vintage a 2009 Iowa game as any this season. The offense struggled through injuries to key contributors but put up enough points to take a double-digit lead, and the defense choked the opposing offense to death long before the final whistle sounded. It's never been pretty, but at the end of the day, you cannot argue with this: it's another 10-win season for Kirk Ferentz and the Iowa Hawkeyes. Well done, men. Well done indeed.

Now let's go cook up some steel bacon for dinner.

The Takeaway: Michigan State

Oops Pow Surprise — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 06:53:15 -0000

Sure, Iowa just squeaked by the Spartans, 15-13. But how much do we really know? What was really important about beating Michigan State? What does it all mean, Basil? The Takeaway has the answer.

Did we have to jump over the sad Jerel Worthy? Doesn't that seem like rubbing it in? Oh well; at least Micah Hyde didn't sneak in a few rib kicks.

50/50. Going into the game, with the betting line oscillating somewhere between Iowa -2 and MSU -2 (recall that HFMR called it a pick'em and nobody complained), this game was essentially a 50/50 affair. Heads, the Hawks win; tails, we crawl into an oven and have a sympathetic friend turn it to 350 degrees (you'd think as high as it can go, but broiling humans doesn't really do the trick as elegantly; the skin chars too quickly and actually let's go ahead and drop this subject now).

Sure enough, for all the drama packed into the first 59 minutes and 45 seconds, it all culminated in Iowa down four points, ball on the MSU seven yard line, and one timeout. Not a gimme, certainly not impossible. 50/50.

After three unsuccessful throws, the Hawkeyes called time out and Ken O'Keefe called... a fade route. Yes, we know what happened on the play, but KOK called a fade. Let's let Marvin McNutt tell the story:

McNutt told offensive coordinator Ken O’Keefe that cornerback Chris L. Rucker lined up on his outside shoulder, giving McNutt, with the steps and technique, an open release to the inside, the quick slant. McNutt told O’Keefe he could win with the fade, but that Rucker was on the outside.

"If you have a bad release, you’ve got to go to the other side," said McNutt, who played just two plays against Wisconsin the week before because of a jammed thumb . "I came off him. I think they put another DB on me. The last couple times I ran a fade. I told coach that he was playing off me and on the outside.

"I told him I could win on the slant. He trusted me enough to call the play where I was isolated on the slant. And we won."

Just like that, it turns into a play where it's just one man against another, and whoever makes the play wins the game. 50/50. And though it's already a constant staple of coachspeak, there's rarely so vivid an example of how one player can affect one play, one game, and one season.

Are we officially calling this play "Seven Gets Six"? Because if so, that's fine, but one more vote here for "McNutts in your motherfucking mouth." Although we guess that one's more of a mouthful. Doesn't roll off the tongue. Pause.

Lest we forget, both McNutt and Ken O'Keefe deserve credit for that play call. McNutt's credit needs no explanation, but KOK listening to McNutt's observation and adjusting the play call instead of pulling a "you're run the play I fucking told you to run"--which a lot of coaches would probably do with the game literally on the line--is commendable.

Further, recall that this would not be the first time an Iowa player has affected the call of a play that ended up deciding the ballgame. Back in Week 1, after these refs were out to get our boys, Jeremiha Hunter told the team that the UNI kicker was firing line drives over the middle. Iowa adjusted to overload the middle and swatted the potentially fatal kick away.

Think about that. Obviously, all teams have smart players and all coaches encourage their players to be observant and everything. But to have a coaching staff that trusts its players enough to change their last calls of the game--twice--is a special situation.

Ugh.

Fare thee well, Dace Richardson. Broken ankle, says the QC Times, and fuck that sucks. While Dace didn't have the spate of random injuries plaguing him like Tony Moeaki, what he did have was a knee that betrayed him with a drunk ex-wife's malevolence. With that knee healthy, Richardson was back in business this season, and had been Iowa's steadiest, best performer on the line through the first seven games. He was a mid-season All-American, and nobody flinched.

One freak play later, Richardson was on the ground, having been rolled up from behind. Just like that, his regular season's definitely over, and January's completely in doubt as well. In other words, Richardson's star-crossed career with the Hawkeyes may already be over. If so, what a damned shame.

Julian Vandervelde was fine, we suppose, but he's not Dace, and that's just one more area where Iowa's going to have less of an advantage than they would have preferred. Fortunately...

It looks like Bryan Bulaga is back. Maybe it's just because he wasn't facing guys like O'Brien Schofield or Brandon Graham. Maybe it's just because the coaches fixed something in his mechanics coming out of his stance. Maybe that thyroid still had a little bit of recovery to do. Whatever. Dude come to play last night, and thank God--it was agony to see him fall off so badly and struggle against the type of player he would normally eat for breakfast. We didn't get any "put Riley Reiff back in there already" texts this weekend, and it's not only because Reiff's holding it down at right guard.

It's doubly a shame that Richardson went out, because it looked as if Iowa had the front five it had wanted all season long, with this fourth version of the starting o-line (Bulaga, Dace, Rafael Eubanks, Reiff, and Kyle Calloway) starting its third straight week--and, it would appear, its first with Bulaga back to his usual self. Now, we prepare for the fifth iteration.

That hook-and-ladder was awesome. Boo Michigan State and all, but yeah. That's all. Nice call, Dantonio.

And finally, this time the breaks didn't go Iowa's way, and it was still okay. For as much of a dynamic playmaking unit the defense has been all season long, this week served as proof that there is a bit of luck to creating turnovers. Three times, the Hawkeye defense basically had a ball in hand and each time, they failed to turn it into Iowa ball.

Just before the half, Kirk Cousins threw an insanely ill-advised out route, one that bounced off Hunter's hands. If he catches it, it's either six points or Iowa in easy field goal range. Incomplete, and the half ended without incident.
In the third quarter, Adrian Clayborn chases down Larry Caper and strips the ball inside MSU's 20 yard line; though Clayborn falls onto the ball, he doesn't gain possession of it, and MSU eventually recovers. The Spartans would keep this drive alive and kick a field goal to gain a 6-3 lead.
Later in the third quarter, with MSU again inside their own 20 yard line, Cousins lofted a pass under duress; the ball floated on Cousins and hit a diving Shaun Prater in the hands before harmlessly falling incomplete. It would take seven snaps and three first downs for Iowa to get to the field position they'd have had if Prater had caught the ball.

Yes, it would have been the toughest of these three plays, but does this reaction look like Prater had no shot at it?

Now, this isn't to say that Iowa deserved to win by bigger or that MSU had no opportunities to force a turnover or whatever. It's just that there were three moments at which the Hawkeye defense had its hands on the ball and couldn't give Iowa (at least) a very short field by hanging on. That Iowa still won is a testament to the mental toughness of both sides of the ball.

Not every team comes away from those missed golden opportunities with a win. And for Iowa, until that clock hit 0:00 with the ball in McNutt's hands, that was a 50/50 proposition.

[Photo credits: Top: the AP; 2, 4, 6: The Gazette, 3,5: Iowa City Press-Citizen]

Preview: Michigan State vs. Iowa

LVS — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 23:32:02 -0000

[Given the time constraints, shorter than usual. --LVS.]

Your MICHIGAN STATE SPARTANS vs. the IOWA HAWKEYES

SPARTAN STADIUM, EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN

7:05 PM ET, BIG TEN NETWORK

WEATHER: 42 DEGREES, 30% CHANCE OF RAIN

Operation "make the season respectable" has largely succeeded following wins in the last three weeks. The opportunity to make the season special begins this week, as a win on Saturday would essentially put MSU in command of the Big Ten title race. The first two years under Mark Dantonio have yielded little grist for complaints; one of the legitimate gripes, however, is that we haven't played well in "big" games -- namely, those in which we're less talented but not absolutely overmatched. (Last season's debacles against Ohio State and Penn State being examples 1 and 1A, of course.) Well, the biggest opportunity of all has arrived. Iowa is undefeated but not unbeatable, and has historically struggled in East Lansing. A win on Saturday would not merely confirm a complete 180 in the season's fortunes -- not unlike what Iowa did last year, by the way -- but also signify a giant step forward for the program as a whole. Can we do it? I'm not wholly optimistic, but a big result isn't out of our reach.

WHEN MICHIGAN STATE IS ON DEFENSE: . . . they're playing a offense whose statistical mediocrity perhaps belies an ability to get things done when it's most needed. Iowa is currently sixth in the conference in both passing offense (47th nationally) and efficiency 58th nationally), and ninth in the league (93rd nationally) in rushing. But, 2 things: having a great defense certainly can make up for mediocre offensive play, and when Rick Stanzi is on, this isn't a terrible offense after all.

And unfortunately for us, Stanzi's coming off probably his most consistent game of the year: a 17/23, 218 yard performance against Wisconsin which included an absolutely gorgeous touchdown throw to Tony Moeaki. The STANZIBALL meme is justified; just ask BHGP:

But holy smokes, is Ricky Stanzi ever trying to raise peoples' blood pressure. For the second straight week, Stanzi threw what we considered his worst, most definitive, Stanziest of the STANZIBALLs, this one a game-opener to Donovan Warren who, with a different set of rules, could have crawled into the end zone unmolested. [ . . . ]

Stanzi's antics have now directly cost the Hawkeyes a touchdown in three of the last four games, a Jarrett Lee-like display that ended a whole lot worse for LSU last season than it has for Iowa thus far. In those three games, each of whom was an unranked opponent now and at kickoff, the average margin of victory has been five points. Obviously, you can't take points off the board in the middle of the game and expect the rest of it to play out exactly the same, but if Iowa wins all three of those games by an average of 12 points instead, we've got a much better comfort level and maaaaybe a better ranking thus far. Probably a moot point unless Iowa wins in Columbus, but something worth pointing out all the same.

That was following the Michigan game, in which Stanzi hit the STANZIBALL nadir by throwing an absolute gift to Donovan Warren; our defense hasn't been the greatest at forcing turnovers, but if one comes gift-wrapped, that could make a big difference in the game.

Stanzi's primary receivers are WR Derrell Johnson-Koulianos and TE Tony Moeaki, both of whom had big games against Wisconsin: DJK (easier this way) had 8 catches for 134 yards, while Moeaki had 3 catches for 55 yards. Moeaki, in particular worries me; we've had all kinds of trouble defending good pass-catching tight ends this season (Kyle Rudolph and Garrett Graham, in particular) and Moeaki is probably better than either--he's finally showing the potential that's been wasted by injuries during the past few seasons, and in 4 games this season, he has 20 catches (to lead the team!) for 247 yards and four touchdowns. He's a very difficult matchup for our linebackers and safeties (6'5", 250); hopefully we have some sort of scheme to slow him down.

MSU linebacker Greg Jones said the plan of attack is pretty straight forward for stopping a duel-threat like Moeaki.

"He can only do so many things at one time - he's (either) gonna block or go out for a pass," Jones said. "He's gonna use his size to his advantage, and if I was that big I would too, so it's gonna make it pretty simple."

Do your thing, Greg.

Meanwhile, in the wake of Shonn Greene's departure and Jewel Hampton's season-killing injury, Iowa has done a passable job in the run game -- led by freshmen Adam Robinson and Brandon Wegher:

RUSHING	GP-GS	Att	Gain	Loss	Net	Avg	TD	Long	Avg/G
Robinson, Adam	7-6	108	541	21	520	4.8	5	43	74.3
Wegher, Brandon	7-0	81	327	36	291	3.6	3	28	41.6

Robinson's statistics include a 91 yard, 1 TD performance against Wisconsin. Given the way that Jerel Worthy and Colin Neely have been playing the past few weeks, I definitely think we can stop Iowa's ground game. I'd just rather that we don't make the mistake Michigan did and sell out to get there:

Speaking of the rush, hello half of the state of Michigan: if Michigan's game plan was explicitly "Make Stanzi beat us," they went about it the correct way. Adam Robinson and Brandon Wegher were effectively minimized as threats, combining for 91 yards on 23 carries. Worse, the two garnered only three first downs on the ground (all Robinson in the third quarter), with Stanzi registering three of his own. That's not exactly the type of production that usually leads to Iowa scoring 30 points.
Fortunately, with Michigan putting 11 players, 4 couches, 3 cheerleaders, and Sad Michigan Girl in the box, that left the secondary very susceptible to big plays, and Moeaki's delay routes as the receivers ran off coverage led to two easy, easy touchdowns, the second of which accounted for Iowa's last points of the day.

Given our relative strength on run defense and the secondary's previous troubles, I'd much rather we do the converse: focus on stopping the pass and make the two freshman running backs beat us. (Sounds a lot like Iowa's probable game plan.) Of course, the two aren't mutually exclusive: cranking up the pass rush has gone a long way toward helping the secondary do its job; getting pressure at the line of scrimmage will obviously be beneficial for the run defense as well.

Finally, it's worth noting that we have 21 sacks in 7 games, and Iowa has allowed 15. Bryan Bulaga, Iowa's huge offensive lineman, is beastly when healthy, but he hasn't been all season, and looks to be a shadow of his former self. Please, please, please, get pressure on Stanzi.

Not our offense, but who cares!

WHEN MICHIGAN STATE IS ON OFFENSE: Ugh:

Big Ten Pass Efficiency Defense:

Rank	Name	Gm	Patt	Pcomp	PaPct	Int	IntPct	Yds	Ydsatt	Tds	TdPct	Rating	Win	Loss	Ties	Natl Rank
1	Iowa	7	215	106	49.30	15	6.98	1169	5.44	5	2.33	88.69	7	0	0	5

Big Ten Turnovers Gained:

Rank	Name	Turnovers Gained
1	Iowa	22

Big Ten Passes Intercepted:

Rank	Name	Passes Intercepted
1	Iowa	15

. . . and that's my agita about this game distilled into three tables. Iowa's pass defense forces tons of turnovers and makes good quarterbacks look absolutely horrible.

Darryl Clark's statistics are particularly scary. This is a very, very, very good Iowa secondary. Amari Spievey is an NFL player, Shaun Prater is solid and is additionally some sort of talisman for the defense (he didn't play in the defense's worst outings of the year), and the two safeties -- Tyler Sash and Brett Greenwood -- have combined for 8 interceptions. Combine that with two excellent linebackers (A.J. Edds and Pat Angerer) and a havoc-wreaking defensive end (Adrian Clayborn) and . . . uh, yeah, you'll understand my pessimism during the BHGP podcast.

Giving Cousins time will be absolutely key; 3 of his 4 interceptions this year have come when he's pressured. If he's hurried, he's going to make mistakes and Iowa will capitalize. If he has time . . . it's not going to be pretty but I have enough faith in Cousins to believe that he'll be able to move the ball. Iowa only has 13 team sacks on the year -- not an overwhelming number for a defense of this caliber -- and we'll need to minimize that number on Saturday night.

Iowa's defense, on the other hand, can probably be run upon:

OPPONENT	ATTEMPTS	YARDS	TOUCHDOWNS
Northern Iowa	32	84	0
Iowa State	34	190	0
Arizona	25	148	0
Penn State	33	109	0
Arkansas State	25	80	0
Michigan	45	195	3
Wisconsin	33	87	1

(N.B.: John Clay wasn't exactly himself for most of the game last week.) Those aren't horrible numbers by any means, but they aren't lights-out, either -- sixth in the conference. If there was one week where we'd massively benefit from a breakout game by Larry Caper -- yep, this is it. If we can start picking up some yards on the ground, we might be able to get Greenwood and Sash to cheat up and thereby take away their ability to snag Cousins' passes away. (Also a worry: the ability of our freshman RBs to hold onto the ball. Please, no fumbles.)

That, ultimately, is my key to the game: we have to get something done on the ground; we weren't great last week against Northwestern, and that isn't going to cut it this week. Our passing game is very good, but their pass defense is better, and if Cousins has to throw the ball 40 times, this game is not going to end well.

FINAL PREDICTION: A few weeks ago, before Michigan went to Iowa City, Brian wrote this:

The prediction below is weird: it builds in what appears to be a 50-50 shot at Iowa having one more game-crippling mistake than Michigan. I think if M gets that game crippling mistake they will be in it at the end with a chance to win, possibly attempting to defend and Iowa game-winning drive. If they don't I think they end up in a hole and threaten to break out of it from time to time but never actually do so, with the cold and the crowd and the Iowa defense finally reining in Forcier when the game's on the line.

Of course, Michigan did get that game-crippling mistake, and Iowa still won. Iowa's resiliency has been remarkable. They were down early to Wisconsin, Michigan, and Penn State, and yet, they didn't panic: they let their defense assert itself and chipped away until the other team, battered and broken, had nothing left. This is an awfully impressive team: by far the best we've played. They're not unbeatable, and we've been pretty resilient ourselves: we were 1-3, and now, if we win tomorrow, we're probably the favorites to win the conference. But to get there, we'll have to play much better than we have at any time this season -- a Michigan game-type effort, minus the 4th quarter collapse -- and we will have to be there to take pick up and take advantage of the giveaways that Iowa will almost inevitably make.

It's a night game, the team will be hyped, the atmosphere will be unbelievable, and we've got something BIG to play for. I wouldn't be at all surprised if we pulled this game off -- a la Wisconsin in ~~'05~~ '04 -- but to predict a win is just a step too far, I think. Iowa 24-23.

The Takeaway: Michigan

Oops Pow Surprise — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 00:51:24 -0000

More photos » by Charlie Neibergall - AP

2 months ago: Iowa's Tony Moeaki (81) runs for a 34-yard touchdown reception in the first quarter of this NCAA college football game against Michigan, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2009, in Iowa City, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Browse more photos »

Sure, Iowa just won a slugfest with Michigan, 30-28. But how much do we really know? What was really important about beating Michigan? What does it all mean, Basil? The Takeaway has the answer.

Hey Ricky: Cut that out. Iowa did win, of course, and sandwiched between MIchigan's two scores was a 30-14 drubbing that could have been worse. But holy smokes, is Ricky Stanzi ever trying to raise peoples' blood pressure. For the second straight week, Stanzi threw what we considered his worst, most definitive, Stanziest of the STANZIBALLs, this one a game-opener to Donovan Warren who, with a different set of rules, could have crawled into the end zone unmolested.

It's absolutely worth pointing out, of course, that from that point on, Stanzi put together a solid performance while Tate Forcier was effectively bitchmade by the Iowa defense - making the Hawkeyes 3-3 on bitchmaking whenever Shaun Prater's in the lineup. No coincidence, that.

That all said, Stanzi's antics have now directly cost the Hawkeyes a touchdown in three of the last four games, a Jarrett Lee-like display that ended a whole lot worse for LSU last season than it has for Iowa thus far. In those three games, each of whom was an unranked opponent now and at kickoff, the average margin of victory has been five points. Obviously, you can't take points off the board in the middle of the game and expect the rest of it to play out exactly the same, but if Iowa wins all three of those games by an average of 12 points instead, we've got a much better comfort level and maaaaybe a better ranking thus far. Probably a moot point unless Iowa wins in Columbus, but something worth pointing out all the same.

Ta-ta, streak. Whatever. It was pointed out before the game that despite Iowa's impressive streak of 33 quarters without giving up a score, the Hawkeyes' rush defense isn't really that great; they were 50th in the nation coming into the MIchigan game, and the 195 yards they allowed on the ground probably didn't help matters that much.

Sure enough, in the first quarter, Brandon Minor punched one home from inside the 5 yard line, and that was that. Michigan scored twice more on the ground, which is overkill guys, because come on, the streak's already done. There's little shame in giving up 195 rushing yards to Michigan, though, considering how helpless Robinson and Forcier were made to look in the aerial attack. 319 yards on 68 plays, after all, isn't that shabby a performance.

Now that the streak is gone, then, we can look at the Iowa rush defense without that veneer of impenetrability that the overall stats belay even while the streak was alive. The Hawkeyes still struggle against mobile quarterbacks, which is probably in some part due to the linebackers' responsibilities far away from the line of scrimmage and in some part to more easily favorable matchups when a rush play isn't automatically 9 players blocking 11. This is an enviable situation, mind you, but Iowa hasn't had that kind of personnel since Brad Banks. Oh well.

Also, the linebackers' lateral quickness leaves a little bit to be desired.

Speaking of the rush, hello half of the state of Michigan: if Michigan's game plan was explicitly "Make Stanzi beat us," they went about it the correct way. Adam Robinson and Brandon Wegher were effectively minimized as threats, combining for 91 yards on 23 carries. Worse, the two garnered only three first downs on the ground (all Robinson in the third quarter), with Stanzi registering three of his own. That's not exactly the type of production that usually leads to Iowa scoring 30 points.

Fortunately, with Michigan putting 11 players, 4 couches, 3 cheerleaders, and Sad Michigan Girl in the box, that left the secondary very susceptible to big plays, and Moeaki's delay routes as the receivers ran off coverage led to two easy, easy touchdowns, the second of which accounted for Iowa's last points of the day. This forces us to put 4 1/2 words together that we're not really comfortable saying: ~~I have swine's flu~~ Nice job, Ken O'Keefe. Okay, that's that, let's move on.

Oh, and KOK deserves credit for this one too. Good show, old bean.

Opportunities lost? Yeah, we've both got them, so shut up: Maize-n-Brew published an abortion of a recap titled "Michigan defeats Michigan, Iowa something something." Actually, we stopped reading at about the third letter in the third word of the title, because holy go fuck yourself are you wrong. For example:

Team A: 367 yards, 2/3 RZ opportunities for 10 points, 6 points scored off 5 TOs
Team B: 319 yards, 3/3 RZ opportunities for 21 points, 7 points scored off 1 TOs

It would appear, then, that Michigan did not take points off their board and that they were fortunate to be within two points by the end of the game. In fact, at no point in the second half did Michigan have the ball on Iowa's side of the field with a one-possession deficit. They were never in position to win, and they lost by a deceptively close score. To insinuate otherwise is a fool's occupation.

The Takeaway: Arkansas State

Oops Pow Surprise — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 21:30:23 -0000

More photos » by Charlie Neibergall - AP

2 months ago: Arkansas State quarterback Corey Leonard (1) runs from Iowa defender Adrian Clayborn (94) during the third quarter of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2009, in Iowa City, Iowa. Iowa won 24-21. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

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Sure, Iowa just eked out a win against Arkansas State, 24-21. But how much do we really know? What was really important about beating A-State? What does it all mean, Basil? The Takeaway has the answer.

Things that were not a problem: Rush defense. There, that's the whole list.

Well, that went just great: We had said before the game that we wanted to see the following things:

We need to see that Bulaga and the rest of the line are up to speed. We need to see that Stanzi can start putting a team away from the first snap. We need to see that the defense can bring its A game when it doesn't need to. We need to see that Tony Moeaki can play four quarters without injuring himself. Okay, just the first three would be fine.

Okay, that would be a NO, KINDA BUT NO, NO, and ROR NO. Bryan Bulaga looked, frankly, like someone who had missed three weeks of gameplay. Stanzi had a good first half, but after his third touchdown of the game to open the second half, Bad Ricky finally showed up and brought A-State back from the brink. The defense was middling, though the rushing score streak remained intact (more on that in a bit). And at the very least, Moeaki is practicing again with the intent to play against Michigan. Fingers crossed.

What ended up happening isn't that it was a "trap game" or that ASU had any reasonable shot of winning. It's that a combination of lackluster focus, a four-year starter opposing quarterback, and poor playcalling helped get a clearly inferior team back into the game when they had no business being there as Iowa (successfully) played not to lose. In other words, it wasn't UNI 2009, but Purdue 2008. Remember that one? Shonn Greene goes bananas on Frank Duong, but a middling second half and random small mistakez aplenti means Purdue climbs back in late and the final's only 22-17.

The good news? You might remember what happened when Iowa had a more high-profile game the ensuing week. Kinnick North, bitches. In other words, you may not want to spend too much time extrapolating doom-and-gloom scenarios from this game. Maybe.

Hey, this play's working. Let's almost never run it: First, we have to talk about the playcalling. This was a 24-21 game that frankly ought to have been about 42-14. That Marvin McNutt only had four catches and 121 yards is a damned travesty, because he was bitchmaking like his name was Iowa Defense.

We would suggest calling McNutt "The bitchmaker," but come on; his name is Marvin McNutt. That'll do.

We're just astounded that the Iowa coaches didn't attack the ASU corners and safeties outside the hashes more often. It's clearly not that Stanzi doesn't have the arm for it; all three of his touchdown passes were pretty, and the couple failed attempted to go downfield didn't exactly seem to us like signs that the deep ball was closed for business. And yet time and time again, it was stretch zones, usually to the right (where Julian Vandervelde was channeling his 2007 self and getting utterly worked). Either that or play-action passes within 10 yards, which, whatever guys.

We're not saying that Iowa needed to pull a RUTS for the rankings' sake or any of that nonsense. That stuff does not matter unless it's time for the type of talk that everyone agrees is premature: BCS. No, the problem is that Iowa could have put A-State away by throwing wheel and fade routes all day long (see the second half of Northwestern, 2007) and they just wouldn't go downfield.

This should have happened like five times.

It didn't help, of course, when Stanzi gave the Red Wolves their second touchdown with one of the most horrendously lazy and ill-advised throws we've ever seen in Division I football. That is not an exaggeration. If Stanzi had turned around and tried to punt the ball through Iowa's uprights, it would have not have been a considerably worse decision than that throw. If Jake Christensen had done that, JC6 would have been murdered by a sniper in the press booth before he could get to the sideline, and the police wouldn't have bothered looking for the shooter. Hell, it would have been the largest cheer from the crowd on the day. Holy shit what a terrible fucking throw. That throw gave my eyes AIDSAWAC (Auto-Immune Deficiency Syndrome Also With Ass Cancer).

But why are the coaches even calling for a clearly hobbled DJK to run an underneath route, especially on 3rd down and with the linebackers playing short zone all day long? It's hard to figure out who put Iowa in less position to succeed there. That's like running a reverse with "Mr. 4.8 40" Dominique Douglas in the fourth quarter of a bowl game where you're losing by one point and oh wait this is Iowa and never mind I should expect the horror by now.

So the streak's still going. Great?: Okay, on one hand, it's really cool that Iowa has now gone for eight games and another quarter without letting someone rush into the end zone, and it's even better that they've won each of the nine games that streak encompasses.

This, as you might have guessed, was not a touchdown.

But if Iowa's still giving up long drives and touchdowns, then it doesn't really matter how the other team gets into the end zone, does it? We're taking nothing away from the Iowa rush defense, of course; their efforts have been massive, and 25 rushes for 80 yards allowed is all sorts of studly, especially as ASU was gathering just 5.4 yards per pass play.

Still, for the second week in a row, the opposition put forward an interminable drive - this one for a touchdown, unlike PSU's 20-play field goal drive - where Iowa couldn't stop the 3rd down conversion (okay, they did once, but that was an easy 4th and 1 conversion after a 3rd and 27, which is unconscionable in its own right). Part of it is missing Shaun Prater, to be sure, and Prater's going to be back against Michigan. No more Willie Lowe is a good thing at this point, and lord only knows how bad Greg Castillo would have been out there.

Look, the streak's going ot end at some point, and odds are that it'll probably be during an Iowa victory--Iowa's favored by about a touchdown against Michigan, and we can't imagine that they'll be underdogs in any more than two of the final seven games of the season. Someone's going to take a pass to the one, then push one in for a score; either that, or they'll pull a Wisconsin 2008 and run wild on a defense comprised of Iowa's 3rd stringers, band members, and yippie dogs in Hawkeye sweaters. And that'll be that, really; after all, since the win streak started against Penn State, we can't remember when Iowa's red zone rush defense has even mattered to the endgame. Maybe Arizona, but eh. Cool stat, but ultimately trivial.

Not trivial: Karl Klug's desire to kill.

And finally, it comes. This is a big week. BHGP's doing the Iowa-Michigan tailgate, and it looks like we'll be setting up shop in the Myrtle Lot and getting started at around 9 a.m. on Saturday. We were angling for parking passes closer to Kinnick, but when they're running over $200 a pop... on the prior Sunday... yes, that's a bad sign. It probably isn't even worth asking if there's any BHGP readers who won't be using their passes for next week's game, right? Either way, let's do this, bitches. We've got the Kahlua and cream if you've got the Swedish Goose.

(Picture credits: Hunter picture and second McNutt picture: John Schulz, Quad City Times; all others below the fold, Matthew Holst, Press-Citizen)

The Takeaway: Penn State

Oops Pow Surprise — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:00:20 -0000

More photos » by Carolyn Kaster - AP

2 months ago: In this photo taken Saturday, Sept. 26, 2009, Penn State running back Evan Royster, left, is taken down by Iowa defenders Pat Angerer, center, and Karl Klug, right, during the first half of their NCAA football game in State College, Pa. Iowa's defense handed the Nittany Lions their first loss for the second-straight season. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

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Sure, Iowa just choked out Penn State, 21-10. But how much do we really know? What was really important about beating Penn State? What does it all mean, Basil? The Takeaway has the answer.

Goodbye, Kroul and Unusual Punishment; hello, Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Good merciful heavens, the defensive line: There isn't a single starter on the line that didn't affect the game in a big way. Broderick Binns? 2.5 TFL, 1.5 sacks, and consecutive ownings of DeOn'tae Pannell that led to an Iowa safety (this sealed Pannell's fate; he was benched shortly thereafter). Christian Ballard? Probably the most consistent resident of the PSU backfield, and he tipped the last INT to A.J. Edds, effectively ending Penn State's hopes. Karl Klug? Multiple big plays, not the least of which was recovering a Penn State fumble in Iowa territory in the fourth quarter... a good 30-40 yards or so from his spot on the field at the snap. And Adrian Clayborn? Oh, only two tackles and O HAI GAME WINNING TOUCHDOWN K THANX. Between the four, they badgered their linemen, the PSU backs, and Daryll Clark into enough miscues that when it came time to reclaim the lead, the Penn State offense really had no chance down the stretch.

This is, of course, to take nothing from the back 7. Where do you want to start? Amari Spievey atoning for his first-play scorching with more lights-out tackling and coverage? Shaun Prater for baiting Clark into a bad interception with the Nittany Lions in field goal range? Defensive player of the week Pat Angerer for his 14 tackles, pick--and its 38-yard return that set up Iowa's only offensive TD--and forced fumble? And didn't it seem like Jeremiha Hunter (12 tackles) was in on just about every play--especially those near the line of scrimmage? In fact...

Good merciful heavens, the entire defense: It's hard to think so after watching the UNI near-disaster, but might this defensive unit be even better than the epic 2002 and 2003 units? Not to overstate the obvious, but think of this: there's no good way to attack them.

Experts don't even recommend punting as a safe deterrent.

You want to pass? Great; here's the last three starting quarterbacks to challenge the Iowa secondary: 26-68, 1 TD, 327 yards, 8 INT. Further--not that removing data is a great way to bolster your point, but bear with us for one second--excepting the 79-yard bomb to Powell, and combining lost fumbles and INTs into a generic turnover stat, here's an average of what the last 3 starting QBs have accomplished against the Iowa defense: 8-22, 83 yards, 0 TD, 3 TO. You can add decimals if you need to, but whatever.

Then there's the run game. As Bellanca has noted multiple times, the game that started this win streak--last year's win over PSU--is also the last game in which Iowa has given up a rushing touchdown. Often, as with Minnesota and ISU, teams never come close. This game was no exception.

The reason? Defensive tenacity, and that absolutely must be a product of good, hard practicing. It's why even as Royster had gotten to the corner on a stretch play for a first down, the Iowa defenders didn't panic, instead poking the ball away and fielding it cleanly (not to put too fine a point on it, but the distance between Klug's spot at the snap and where he recovered the ball is about a 40-yard run away; that he was right there to be the first man to make the play is no accident). Yes, they gave up a 20-play drive in the first quarter, but look at it another way; PSU had to run 20 plays just to get 68 yards, and they only got three points for that effort. It was their last drive of over 40 yards for the game. In fact, one would think this Iowa team is unstoppable, except...

Good grief, the offense: Look, Ricky Stanzi did go 11-26 with two picks, but that included only about 1 1/5 Stanziballs and about 8 instances of receivers going Full Herb Grigsby. You never go Full Herb Grigsby. We can bitch about Paul Chaney Jr. dropping a 3rd down slant route or balls sailing off other receivers' hands, but what good does it do? Hell, Colin Sandeman literally kicked a dropped pass over to a Penn State player. How does that even happen?! In fact, you'd rarely think this when looking at a 11-26, 2 INT stat line in a crucial road game, but Ricky Stanzi actually took a big step forward in maintaining his discipline and composure. We wouldn't believe it if we didn't see it, either.

No offense, Mr. Robinson, but you're only in these pictures by accident.

That said, though, it's really obvious this offense hasn't had much cohesion thus far. If we were to ask you at the beginning of June what Iowa's record would be coming out of Happy Valley if the rocks of consistency thus far on the offensive line were Dace Richardson and Rafael Eubanks, you'd probably say 2-2, 3-1 with some luck. Then you'd shoot us in the face for the crimes of witchcraft and aggravated pessimism. Then let's toss in injuries to DJK, Jewel Hampton, Jeff Brinson, and Tony Moeaki. Y'know, just for good measure. It's downright miraculous that Stanzi hasn't bought a sword for decorative purposes; at that point, you may as well have written James Vandenberg in with a ballpoint pen.

Our point is this: the offense was pretty bad against Penn State. The problem wasn't three-and-outs, mind you; there was only one of those, and it came on that dropped slant route we mentioned earlier. In fact, a full five drives ended in Penn State territory in the first half alone; Iowa had three offensive points to show for them. That is wasted opportunity, and a situation that an average defense usually cannot rectify.

The solution, then, is health and/or consistency. Either Iowa gets back the guys it expected to start during summer practice, or the second-stringers become part of the first unit just so the same 11 guys can start practicing together. Give credit to Adam Robinson and Brandon Wegher for combining for over 200 yards from scrimmage, but without a more productive offense as a whole, Iowa could in major trouble against tough defenses.

That all said, this is one of the great post-Evashevski Iowa wins. While you only need to look back to that fateful night in Kinnick last season for the last time Iowa knocked off a top 5 team, you'll have to go back to 1990 to find a similar performance on the road; that was at #5 Illinois. There, Nick Bell demolished an entire team en route to a decidedly non-fluky victory. Here, it was the Iowa defense's front seven doing the trick. There, Iowa parlayed it into the team's last trip to Pasadena, touching off a nearly 20-year drought (yes, 2002 should have broken that, but... y'know). Here, can Iowa similarly parlay a big-time road win to big-time bowl glory? No pressure or anything.

The "I" stands for "Fuck You."

(All images credited to Matthew Holst of the Press-Citizen)

It's Not Plagiarism If You Link To It Is Ready for Primetime

RossWB — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:00:32 -0000

Whiteout? That's OK... all the white will just hide their tears; in totally related news, just five days until this:

That doesn't look so intimidating, eh? Just 100,000 ~~ghosts~~ ~~Klan members~~ Penn State fans, under the lights, on ABC (7pm CST, in case you've been living under a rock), with a full day's worth of tailgating fueling their rage (well, that and the 323 days they've had to think about this) ... no big deal. I mean, the last time Iowa played a game after nightfall, this happened ... and of course there's no difference whatsoever in the circumstances of those two games. 55-0 here we come!

Unlike Poor Guy, At Least Tony Still Has His Foot. Monday came and went and brought to light this week's depth chart, which is every bit as insightful as the usual Ferentz depth chart. The major news is that there's still no sign of Bulaga, DJK, or the Flyin' Hawaiian (Tongan?) in the depth chart. Considering this depth chart comes less than 48 hours since that trio was declared unable to play in the Arizona game, it's perhaps not surprising that there has been no miraculous improvement in their conditions. There's obviously still plenty of time for them to improve before gametime. In their absence, Riley Reiff, Colin Sandeman, and Allen Reisner are the named starters on the depth chart; all three filled in admirably last Saturday, but a night game in Happy Valley against a pissed-off top ten team is an entirely different challenge. We'd particularly like to see Bulaga and DJK make it back for this game; DJK had the best game of his career (to that point) against Penn State last year and no offense to the Naked Panchero's Bandit, but we'd much rather have Bulaga defending Stanzi's blindside. In other depth chart news:

As we saw last week, Adam Robinson remains the starter at halfback and Brandon Wegher remains his back-up. But as both the Iowa State and Arizona games have shown, each guy will get plenty of touches. It would be nice to work Jeff Brinson into the mix, too, but there's been nary a sighting of him (nor much ~~watercooler~~ message board buzz about him) since his garbage time carry against Iowa State, so any Brinson action will likely have to wait until Arkansas State at the earliest (barring injury).
Having finally made his 2009 debut (and doing so in rather impressive fashion), Shaun Prater makes the expected jump up to the other starting cornerback spot opposite Spievey; Willie Lowe moves to the back-up spot.
Chaney remains the main return option at both kick and punt returner; DAS PAKIBOMB is the other listed option at kick returner, but hopefully that just means he'll be serving as an extra blocker to try to spring a big return for Chaney. Chaney had a nice punt return against Arizona on Saturday and he continues to look more motivated and focused than he has at any other point in his Iowa career; with that attitude and his speed, he's bound to break a big play sooner or later.

And then JoePa called the apothecary. You mean Iowa's not the only team dealing with injuries to key personnel? Per ESPN, LB Sean Lee is day-to-day with a sprained left knee and LB Navarro Bowman is still questionable after missing the past two games with a groin injury (although our friends at BSD think he'll play). Losing both guys would be a definite blow to PSU's front seven. But given what happened last year and that both men are seniors, we expect to see both guys out there even if they have to attach their legs with duct tape. Wide receiver Graham Zug is also questionable after being concussed in the game against Temple, although we all know that's total bullshit and he's just petrified of being on the same field as the Adrian Clayborn Pain Train.

He may be a ginger and an Irishman, but he's got a fucking Howitzer for a leg. Ryan Donahue was named Co-Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week, which makes three weeks in a row in which an Iowa player has been awarded a Player of the Week award by the Big Ten (Jeremiha Hunter also won the Special Teams Player of the Week award after his game-saving field goal block in Week 1, while Tyler Sash was recognized as Co-Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week for his three-interception effort against Iowa State in Week 2.) On Saturday, Donahue had four punts over fifty yards (including one 62-yard moonshot), two were downed inside the Arizona 20, and only one was returned (for a measly four yards). He's, um, good. Really, really fucking good. (For the record, Donahue shared the honor with Wisconsin's Chris Borland, who blocked one punt and forced a fumble on another punt in the Badgers' game against Wofford.)

What the fucking fuck? Yes, bowl projections at this stage of the game are pretty much inherently retarded and barely worth paying attention to... but they should still make a little bit of sense, right? Try telling that to Bruce Feldman, ~~ESPN Insider blogger~~ cuntbag extraordinaire. For the second week in a row, he has Iowa MIA from his bowl projections on ESPN. This despite picking eight Big Ten teams to go bowling, including 2-1 justNorthwestern (who just lost to Syracuse) and Minnesota (who has looked fairly middling in all of their games thus far) and 1-2 Michigan State and 1-1 Illinois, two teams whose only wins have come against I-AA opposition. Other college football luminaries picked to go bowling by Feldman? Florida International, Arkansas State, and SMU. Feldman can go get fucked by a roomful of syphilitic cocks. (For the record, Feldman's cohort in bowl-based prognostication, noted SEC homer Mark Schlabach, picked Iowa to play Georgia in the BHGP-approved Outback Bowl.)

Poll watchin': like bird-watching, only with less chance of contracting avian flu. Like early season bowl prognostication, early season polling is pretty much intrinsically idiotic, but every year we get sucked into caring about it anyway. This week, despite being ranked 19th in the only poll we officially give a shit about, Iowa is ranked 31st in the AP poll and 30th in the Coaches poll, up slightly from last week.

In other news...

The gametime and broadcast info for the October 3 tilt with Arkansas State has been set: 11am CST on either ESPN Classic or ESPN2. Being on ESPN2 likely means Pam Ward and Ray Bentley on the call, but also probably HD. Being on ESPN Classic means no Ward or Bentley, but also no HD. Hmm. And it's frankly shocking that this game isn't on BTN.
Herschel Walker listens to voices in head, decides to take up MMA. This will not end well.
Finally, the greatest thing on television this year.

The Takeaway: Arizona

Oops Pow Surprise — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 12:01:34 -0000

More photos » by Charlie Neibergall - AP

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Spinning side kick!

Sure, Iowa just beat up on Arizona, 27-17. But how much do we really know? What was really important about beating Arizona? What does it all mean, Basil? The Takeaway has the answer.

Okay, time for the real Iowa to face a real quarterback: As we mentioned Saturday, Iowa's defense has absolutely obliterated the last two starting quarterbacks it faced; Austen Arnaud and Matt Scott, in their two appearances against Iowa, combined for 14-36, 129 yards, 0 TDs, 5 INT, and 2 benchings. That's goddamn brutal. Scott, especially, suffered Iowa's wrath; he was 4-8 for 50 yards. Then the second half started, and he completed precisely 1 pass: a perfectly thrown can of corn to Tyler Sash, who announcers said "almost called for a fair catch" on the play. Lucky for Iowa, he didn't; Sash ended up returning the pass 43 yards, and Iowa would soon thereafter kick a field goal that put the game out of reach for Arizona.

But the one nagging issue is that Matt Scott sucks, and Arnaud's credentials are little better. Pat Grace--the one good QB Iowa has faced--antagonized Greg Castillo for a whole game, but Castillo was never supposed to be starting; that's basically Shaun Prater's job, and Prater looked pretty damned good in his first game back. Darryl Clark, meanwhile, is generally accepted as one of the two best QBs in the conference, depending on your opinion of Terrelle Pryor and--if you're clinically insane--Juice Williams.

No holding was called on this play. Not that Karl Klug cares, of course; not here, not ever.

It'll be good. No, really, it will be. Nobody thinks Iowa's going to hold Clark to the median of the last two starters' performances (7-18, 64 yards, and a statistically curious 2.5 INT), but what he can accomplish with a meh receiving corps against a legitimate pass defense does remain to be seen. We're still looking quizzically at the linebackers and their pass coverage, but does anybody really think Clark's going to victimize anybody in the Iowa secondary? Prater, maybe. Greenwood, maybe (By the way, CLICK HERE for awesome footage of the Iowa secondary in action). The real hay's going to be made over the middle for PSU, though, not over the top or outside the hashes, and it's going to be interesting to see if the Nits have the patience to stick with that. Arnaud didn't, and hell followed.

Speaking of which, holy crap Tyler Sash: Obviously, this trend of Tyler Sash and his separations of offense and possession cannot keep its pace. Sash, who we might remind you is just a sophomore, picked off his fourth pass on Saturday, and it might have been his easiest takeaway of his Iowa career. That makes 7 interceptions in his last 5 games, and it says nothing of Sash's missile-like pursuit to the sidelines.

This dominance has its costs, though, and the primary unbeneficiary of them is David Cato. Cato made his presence known by knocking Grigsby for a big loss after the Cats got to Iowa's 1. Ah, but the third down that failed on that play? Effected by Sash pressuring Scott into an impossible pass after Scott rolled out. So you see the problem here.

Making things tougher is the fact that both players are sophomores; Cato burned his redshirt out of necessity last season. But Cato is necessarily a strong safety. It seems like Ferentz is trying to get him on the field more often, usually on special teams, but someone's going to have to switch positions to get both guys playing. That someone isn't going to be Sash, who's probably the best strong safety Iowa's had since Bob Sanders (yeah, I said it). Fortunately, Cato's frame looks like it might be big enough for a move to LB; we'll see what the team decides after the season. It's a shame, because Cato looks legit in his own right; that legitimacy may necessitate a transfer for his own sake, though, and that would suck.

But we digress. If Sash keeps up this kind of production, he's going to go down as one of the best safeties in Iowa history. We're three games into his sophomore season, so it's obviously not quite the time to start deciding his place in the list of the greats; that pace has to actually, y'know, keep up first. But man, he's good.

The Paul Chaney Jr. end around: We think the novelty's worn off, guys. Yes, the defenses need to respect Chaney or he'll bust one, but... they've tried it, what, four times now? Five? And he hasn't come close to taking one to the house. Unless this is some first step in a grand scheme to pull off an epic quadruple reverse, Iowa has probably shot its "end around" load.

Two tailbacks? And neither of them are Jeff Brinson or Jewel Hampton? Um, we did not expect this: First of all, everybody who thought three months ago that Adam Robinson would rush for a C-note on Arizona, please raise your hand. Okay, thank you, Robinson family and Lincoln alumni; the rest of you are fucking liars.

On one hand, Robinson registered 101 yards on the ground and you cannot take that away from him. That said... 43 of those yards came on a busted draw on 3rd and 23, a play where the Arizona DBs would have faced sodomy from a Mag-Lite if they'd bit on any sort of play fake. That's important because the prevailing narrative about Iowa's uncaring treatment of Nic Grigsby included a caveat about 58 of Grigsby's 75 yards coming on one carry, and we cannot have it both ways. Yes, A-Rob was better per carry even with the big run taken away, but if we say Arizona's run game was taken away, we have to admit Iowa's fared little better on median; excepting the big run, between A-Rob and Brandon Wegher, Iowa rushed 34 times for 104 yards. That's about 3.1 yards a pop, and if Arizona can do that to Iowa, Penn State should expect something similar. That does not bode well.

All of this is to be expected, though. After all, we're talking about a backfield tandem of a redshirt freshman who was generally thought of as the 4th best returning tailback six months ago, and a true freshman from Sioux City. Yes, they've outproduced those bona fides thus far, but not by that much, and here comes a real Big Ten defense just wishing a motherfucker would try to go between the tackles on them.

So what to take away from the rushing game? Well, Robinson ran hard, Wegher did things nobody else on the team can do (A cannonball from the 4 on a goal line dive that scores with ease? Come. on.), and together, they're in for the fight of their young lives against a PSU defense that's going to be amped as fuck when Iowa comes to town.

EPIC ANGERER.

And finally, this team is pretty close to legit. We're not about to say Iowa was underrated when they were at #21/22 coming into the season. Based on the way the AP votes, that designation is just about all a random Team X could ask for after these first three games.

At the same time, Iowa's missed 6 of its top 7 players on offense for at least a full game this season. Don't believe us? Bryan Bulaga, DJK, Tony Moeaki, Kyle Calloway, Jewel Hampton, Julian Vandervelde. Of those six, only two are healthy now, and we're not sure how many more will be ready to rock by the time the Happy Valley date rolls around. Every one of those players Iowa gets back is one step closer to a win at Penn State. We don't think Iowa's got the victory in hand by any stretch, especially in its current form.

But Bulaga's better than Riley Reiff. Moeaki's better--especially for the run game--than Allen Reisner. DJK's better than Colin Sandeman. Even if improvements are incremental, they're still improvements, and Iowa could use all the help it can get towards getting closer to full strength for the PSU game.

And yet, Iowa's still already 3-0, and the defense is rounding into mid-season form already. Granted, this could still all end in a 40-point victory for the Nittany Lions, but we'll see how much good news Iowa gets in the lead-up to the game. Plus, if there's anything Ferentz has proven himself to be up for, it's BEATING PENN SCHTAAAATE.

Week 3 Injury Report

Smooty — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 14:06:01 -0000

Arizona

- Delashaun Dean, WR: probable (hamstring)

- Rob Gronkowski, TE: out (back)

Iowa

- Bryan Bulaga, OL: probable (illness)

- Shaun Prater, CB: probable (academic suspension)

- Tony Moeaki, TE: questionable (ankle)

All injury information provided by www.collegeinjuryreport.com

It's Not Plagiarism If You Link To It Counts the Hours

Hawkeye State — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 12:00:15 -0000

Fun With Depth Charts. EEE DEPTH CHART IS OUT FOR WEEK ONE EEE (link PDF). A couple of notes:

APAKILYPSE NOW - In case you've been wandering through the barren wastelands of the Mongolian steppe since Friday afternoon and haven't heard, there is no mention of Jewel Hampton. There's an equal lack of Jeff Brinson and Brandon Wegher. The week one starting halfback is a former walk-on, and his backup was playing safety 6 months ago. Those drills they taught you in school aren't going to help; unless you have a fortified bomb shelter, it's probably better to sit on your porch, put on some sunglasses, and enjoy your last few moments on Earth as the shockwave from the PAKIBOMB washes over you.
DJKO'd - If it's a motivational tactic. it's being taken to absurd lengths: Marvin McNutt is starting at split end, and Derrell Johnson-Koulianos is the backup. Either McNutt truly is the velcro-handed speed demon promised this spring, or Kirk Ferentz is playing an absurd game of chicken with a player poised to break every significant career receiving record in Iowa history. Neither would surprise me. (Oh, and Colin Sandeman is conspicuous in his absence from the entirety of the depth chart, while The Veep is backing up Stross).
The Icky Shuffle - Lord only knows what's going on with the offensive line, as injuries (Vandevelde) and suspensions (Calloway) change a group ranked tops in the conference by Phil Steele into a Three's Company rerun. Your starters, from left to right on your FM dial: Bulaga, Gettis, Eubanks, Doering, Richardson. Over/under on number of starters still playing in those positions by Penn State week: 2.5, and the under is the proper play. Subthoughts: Gettis is getting rave reviews and looks significantly bigger; KF told Rivals Friday ($$) that Eubanks had his best three weeks of practice since joining the program; the Doering/Richardson combo on the right fills me with melancholy, as the bookend tackles we were promised instead line up side-by-side for exactly one game, then retreat to diminished roles; the fact that Dace is playing tackle on those knees shows The Mad Russian isn't ready; Andy Kuempel just can't catch a fucking break.
Returning Starters - How did we not see this coming? Your punt returner is not Colin Sandeman. It's not Brandon Wegher. It's not Paul Chaney. It's obviously not Jewel Hampton. No, the returner is Amari Spievey (he'll also be handling kick returns with DAS PAKIBOMB). This is both brilliant (is there anyone on the roster that is more likely to break a big play?) and monumentally stupid. I love it with all my heart, and yet it is clearly even dumber than the hairbrained Jewel Hampton idea from earlier this summer. Not only is Spievey arguably the best player on the team, but there's this...
Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to be Cornerbacks - I've been reading these depth charts for years, and there is always one thing that strikes fear deep into my black heart: The dreaded "or" line. Typically reserved for backups or genuine position battles, the "or" signifies mass hysteria in the ranks. It is also almost always a precursor to getting three names on the two-deep; if two guys occupy the same line, then a third name is needed to fill in the blanks. Well, not only is left cornerback carrying the dreaded "or" line, but there is no third name. Greg Castillo and Willie Lowe are co-starters, and the loser is the listed backup AT BOTH CORNER POSITIONS. Micah Hyde is nowhere to be found, and is almost certainly redshirting. Shaun Prater will serve his two-game suspension. We are, in essence, one catastrophic injury from starting a true sophomore and redshirt freshman at corner with no backups. Tell me again why we're sending Spievey out with a target on his jersey to catch an oblong ball out of the air and attempt to make 225-pound human lawn darts miss him.
Other Than That, Mrs. Lincoln, How Was the Show? - No decision yet on backup QB; Ballard is officially listed at DT; kicker is a toss-up; Cody Hundertmark, long thought to be a potential starter at DT, is now backing up Broderick Binns at defensive end.

SANCTIONPORN. This weekend, I went to a party in North Liberty (clad in The Leman, of course, because I'm classy), drank a few beers, played some poker and table tennis, cleaned my kitchen, and caught up on my sleep. It was uneventful.

How was your weekend, Michigan?

The University of Michigan football team consistently has violated NCAA rules governing off-season workouts, in-season demands on players and mandatory summer activities under coach Rich Rodriguez, numerous players told the Free Press.

Players on the 2008 and 2009 teams described training and practice sessions that far exceeded limits set by the NCAA, which governs college athletics. The restrictions are designed to protect players’ well-being, ensure adequate study time and prevent schools from gaining an unfair competitive advantage.

The players, who did not want to be identified because they feared repercussions from coaches, said the violations occurred routinely at the direction of Rodriguez’s staff.

Of course, the upper peninsula of Blogfrica is losing its collective mind: MGoBlog got its spider monkey on, like Emilio Estevez at the end of Young Guns: They questioned the messenger, chronicled the allegations (in a completely reasonable and measured manner), took the word of two freshmen players' parents -- neither of which are directly involved with the team or college coaching in general, and one of which who admitted he hadn't yet read the article -- as gospel, then tortured and killed the messenger (Brian, you know I love you, but there's a Grand Fucking Canyon in the logic when the "nobody -- not the players, not the former players, not the reporter -- knows the rules" post is right next to the "these players' parents who are not affiliated with anything say we're totally cool and stuff" post.)

UPDATE: Reason and sanity, thy name is Cook.

No, it's Beuford (and Doc Saturday, and Rittenberg, and I think Brian in the initial post) who get this right: Sure, Rodriguez and Barwis probably bent the rules, but not significantly more than 90% of the programs in college football today; for instance, I will guarantee the Iowa guys are going through voluntary-but-not-really workouts with the training staff throughout the year and putting in ungodly hours during the season. The difference here is that Lloyd Carr didn't bend those rules (after all, his weight program was based on the muscle-building properties of mozzarella cheese), and so players at Michigan before Captain Snake Oil came to town are in the rare position of knowing the difference. Throw in a healthy dose of resistance to change and VOILA. It's not quite much ado about nothing, because there's probably going to be some sort of NCAA investigation in the middle of a football season, but it's as close as you can get when "NCAA investigation" is involved.

Sigh. Roy, Roy, Roy:

According to Iowa Courts Online records, [Roy Marble, Sr.] was arrested Monday in Cedar County and charged with driving while barred-habitual offender, driving with a denied or revoked license, distribution of ephedrine and possession of drug paraphernalia....

Marble, who played for the Iowa basketball team from 1985 to 1989 and remains the team's all-time leading career scorer, was stopped for speeding in Tipton, according to authorities. The drug-related charges were filed Tuesday, according to online court records.

Marble, 42, said a friend drove him and Marble's son, Roy Marble Jr., 16, from Cedar Rapids to Southfield, Mich., to take Roy Marble Jr. home. Marble's son is an incoming Iowa basketball recruit. Marble said his friend decided not to return to Iowa and that he had no choice but to drive his friend's car back Monday.

"I did not participate in any drug activity," he said. "I was not doing any drugs or drinking on the road."

Innocent until proven guily, it's all allegations, all that, sure. But we know what happened to Roy once he left Iowa, and given his recent problems -- he had a DUI in 2006 that led to the barred license, his business in Cedar Rapids was destroyed in the flood, and apparently he claims that he's borrowing cars from junkies to give his son a ride to Michigan -- this does not look good. Roy's post-Hawkeye career has always felt like a Shakespearian tragedy, and he's running out of time and opportunities for an ending that doesn't channel Hamlet.

Pat Harty, in his latest attempt to take Skip Bayless' job on ESPN, hops on his blog and writes 500 words about how Roy shouldn't put his son in situations like these, as if we needed to be told that a son might not be happy when his dad is arrested on drug charges. Thanks for that principled stand, Pat.

Footnotes:

Jayme Murphy is officially done at Iowa, after back surgery late last week. He was a terrormonster on special teams, but never found a position that stuck. Of course, it was probably that terrormonstering that caused the back injury in the first place.
Jayme might want to talk to Alex Kanellis, who had his career cut short by concussions. Kanellis chronicles his post-football life for the P-C ("I never looked past playing Iowa football. That's as far ahead as I ever thought.") Alex is now coaching the offensive line at Iowa City Regina under head coach Marv Cook.
On the eve of FRYFest, Hlas scores an interview with Bill Colbert, the guy who created the Tiger Hawk in 1979.
I'm not sure which is funnier: The sheer volume of errors in this post from Fargo, ND on the Iowa-ISU rivalry, or the fact that the Iowa State fan who posts a comment to chronicle the errors misspells his own head coach's name.