SB Nation - Jake Christensen

A Lament: You'll Be Coming Down

Bama Hawkeye — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:07:35 -0000

The Iowa Hawkeyes are 9-1 (5-1). Somehow, in the aftermath of Saturday's loss to Northwestern, that's been lost. Their record is what I predicted prior to the season. They still control their own destiny for a Big Ten title and a Rose Bowl berth. And yet, Saturday's loss still leaves an empty feeling that I'm still struggling to explain.

It's not that Iowa lost. Lord knows, I never really believed that Iowa would go undefeated. I had planned out the article talking about the number of good Iowa teams that saw dreams crushed in Columbus. I never stopped knowing that this magical run would end against Ohio State. It was fun to dream, but that's all it ever was - nothing real. And yet, there was something about this season. "This is a special team," my wife said before the Michigan State game. Of course, she was right. And that's why it hurts so much. It's not that it ended; it's that it wasn't supposed to end like this.

It wasn't supposed to end like this. Not with an injury.

I know; championship teams require depth. They need to be able to overcome an injury to a player. Iowa was unable to do that on Saturday. The unfair thing is that Iowa was forced to overcome this hurdle so many times this season. When starting cornerback Jordan Bernstine went down for the year in training camp, the team overcame it. When starting running back Jewel Hampton went down for the year in training camp, the team overcame it. When second string running back Jeff Brinson was lost for the season, the team overcame it. When starting left tackle Bryan Bulaga was lost for three games with a thyroid condition, the team overcame it. When third string running back Adam Robinson was knocked out for the last two games (and possibly the season), the team overcame it. When starting punt returner Paul Chaney, Jr. was knocked out for the season, the team overcame it. When starting wide receiver and punt returner Colin Sandeman was lost for the season, the team overcame it. When starting guard Dace Richardson was lost for the season, the team overcame it. When starting safety Brett Greenwood was lost for the season, the team overcame it.

But, this one was too much. Coming off of the best two quarters of football he had played all year, Ricky Stanzi's injury proved to be one that the Hawkeyes could not overcome. Maybe here is the lesson from the close wins over UNI and Arkansas State. You need some blowouts. You need to get your backup quarterback a chance to play. If you can't do that, you'll see regrettable, yet understandable, performances like the one that James Vandenberg provided on Saturday.

It wasn't supposed to end like this. Not with a phantom holding call.

Look ref, I watched Rafael Eubanks's block over and over again. It was clean. He had two hands in front of the defensive lineman. Eubanks pancaked him. He never lost front-to-front forward-moving contact with him. He never pulled him down. When they showed the replay, Bob Griese's response was perfect. "Wow. Not much to see there." He probably wanted to say that Eubanks flattened him like a Panchero's quesadilla, but realizing that "Rafael" sounded Hispanic (and newly retrained by Disney) thought better of it. The call negated Brandon Wegher's 63 yard touchdown run and a 17-14 3rd Quarter Hawkeye lead. Somehow I knew at that point that it was over.

It wasn't supposed to end like this. Not with double schadenfreude upon the Hawkeye fans.

Throughout the miserable 2007 season, and again in the first five games of 2008, the Iowa fans were relentless in their negativity toward Jake Christensen. He was a golden boy who washed out. He had an NFL father, a 5-star ranking, and expectations of the fan base put upon him. And he failed. Yes, he had horrible circumstances. Yes, he did what he could, but before the halfway point of last season, it was apparent that the less-heralded Stanzi was the better quarterback. The four wins that ended the campaign cemented his role as the team's starter. Jake transfered to Eastern Illinois, a 1-AA school, so that he could play during his Senior year. Flash-forward to Saturday: do the Hawks lose if Jake Christensen comes into the game in the second quarter? I'd have liked their chances for victory a lot more. To rub it in just a touch, there were reports that Jake was at the Hawkeyes' game on Saturday; it was EIU's bye week.

Finally, for two straight season, the Hawkeyes' fans have been relentless toward Penn State. Yes, Iowa has won 7 of 8 times that they have played this millennium. Yes, Iowa reveled in ruining their season one year ago. And yet, we ignored the chirping from Northwestern. It didn't matter how the pesky Wildcats - far inferior to our mighty Iowa - had won three of the last four contests. They were justNorthwestern. And just one year after Penn State's foil spoiled the Lions' perfect season, Iowa's foil spoiled the Hawks' magical run.

It wasn't supposed to end like this. But maybe it was. Maybe that's part of what makes college football so far superior to the Sunday product. College football has scrappy underdogs who can dramatically march toward a magical season. College football also has scrappy underdogs who can't quite get there and break your heart.

My wife and I attended the Alabama/LSU game on Saturday. In the 4th Quarter, as yet another Tiger was helped off the field during an injury timeout, they announced several scores from around the country. The SEC fans dutifully cheered as they announced Notre Dame's loss to Navy. They announced Iowa's loss next, and the cheers were louder. My wife's eyes teared up at that point. Not because Iowa had lost. We had come to grips with that already. But for a moment, even fans in the isolated SEC cared about Iowa enough to root against us. For a brief moment, Iowa REALLY mattered. And when we woke up Sunday morning, Iowa didn't anymore. That's the part of the ending that hurts the worst - and it's that emptiness that is going to take a long time to fill.

Deep Thought For The Night

Oops Pow Surprise — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 04:20:43 -0000

When Ricky Stanzi went down today, why did Iowa have to rely on James Vandenberg--an untested, two-star quarterback--with a perfect season on the line? Doesn't Iowa need either a highly-rated backup or one with starting experience?

Yes, shame on Kirk Ferentz for not having a highly-rated recruit with tons of experience to save the game. .

Wha Happened? Week Six

RossWB — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 04:37:07 -0000

Yes, there were other games involving Big Ten teams before Kinnick Stadium turned into a turnover-forcing black hole and Rich Rodriguez went apeshit... so Wha Happened?

Some people have too much time.

Ohio State 31, Wisconsin 13
Offense? Who needs fucking offense to not only win a football game but cover a seemingly ludicrous 16-point spread? Then again, if Vegas truly knew Scott Tolzien was going to throw not one but two pick-sixes to Ohio State defenders (although the latter pick six was a truly gorgeous deflection, catch, and runback by an OSU linebacker), I'm never going to bet against them again, because clearly their psychic monkey army is not to be trifled with. Anyway, in the game itself Wisco dominated time of possession (42:47 to 17:13), total yardage (368 to 184), first downs (22 to 8, and 3 of those came on the OSU offense's lone TD drive)... basically any offensive stat you care to look at. But they lost decisively for two reasons: they couldn't convert that offensive dominance into many points and they gave up three critical big plays (the aforementioned two pick sixes and a 96-yard kick return touchdown, which occurred immediately after Wisco had sliced OSU's lead to 21-13 and effectively served as the nail in the coffin for the game).

So what to take away from this game? Well, Wisconsin is fairly legit -- you aren't going to give up 217 return yards and three touchdowns too often and their defense did an impressive job of stifling Ohio State's offense -- and Ohio State's defense is scary. They did a fair amount of bending against Wisconsin, but they almost never broke and they came up with more than enough big plays to win the game. With the Pryor-led offense continuing to flail around like drunken ostrich whenever they play a defense that's at least halfway good, the defense and special is going to have to pick up the slack. So far they seem more than capable of doing so.

Also an apt description of the Illinois offense.

Michigan State 24, Illinois 14
Hey, remember when the Zooker was turning to Eddie McGee to light a spark under the moribund Illinois offense? Remember how he said it wasn't a "knee-jerk reaction"? Right. It sure seemed that way after he pulled McGee after barely more than one half of work and went right back to everyone's favorite massively-domed quarterback named after a beverage. Then again, a quick look at McGee's line (2/11, 31 yards, 6 carries, 11 yards rushing, and one crippling pick-six interception that was STANZIBALL-esque in its awfulness) would reveal why a new knee-jerk reaction was in order. Juice was bad in the early going this year; McGee was, improbably, even worse yesterday.

On the bright side, Juice did lead the Illini to their first touchdown against BCS competition that was scored before the fourth quarter this season. Baby steps, Illinois! At this rate, you'll be scoring first quarter touchdowns by the Cincinnati game at the end of the season! Anyway, Illinois is still terrible and the only reason to watch them is out of a macabre desire to see how disastrous this season can get for the Fightin' Zookers -- and to see if the head cheese himself can escape the guillotine. As for Sparty... ho hum. What does a win over Illinois really tell you at this stage? Maybe the biggest positive is that they finally mustered a solid running game; it took a cast of thousands (or, like, five dudes), but they ran for 193 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 45 carries. Then again, their two main running backs (Larry Caper and Glenn Winston) left the game due to injury (although The Only Colors says Caper is going to be alright). 24 is also the fewest points allowed by the Illini to FBS competition; even the offensively-challenged Buckeyes managed 30 points against Illinois, and they were playing in a monsoon.

This video may be too late to help Purdue, but you can still take its lesson to heart.

Minnesota 35, Purdue 20
Purdue is either the unluckiest team in football this year... or they just kinda suck. If good teams make their own luck, do bad teams make their own bad luck? A week after giftwrapping a victory for jNWU, Purdue was back to those same tricks. Once again, they jumped out to an early lead (10-0 this week). And once again, their inability to protect the football led directly to defeat. Three of Minnesota's touchdowns were scored on drives that started at the Purdue 30 or better; one of the other touchdowns was scored off a return from a blocked field goal. Like Ohio State, Minnesota was outgained (402 to 281), but still won comfortably thanks to turnovers and special teams. When their offense did have the ball, Minnesota opted for a surprisingly effective ground-and-pound strategy, mashing the Boilermakers for 207 yards and 4 touchdowns on 44 carries. Wha Happened? man crush target Eric Decker had a largely anonymous day (three catches for 50 yards), although the 47-yard bomb he hauled in helped set up one of the Gophers' touchdowns. For Purdue, this was the latest embarrassing death rattle in a season that's officially gone belly up. For Minnesota, this was a critical win in the pursuit of bowl eligibility; the next two weeks send them to Happy Valley and Columbus for games, which should put them at .500 heading into the home stretch of the season.

AWW SO CUTE.

Northwestern 16, Miami (OH) 6
Oh LOLcats. Don't ever change. 16-6? Almost getting outgained in total yardage? Against the other Miami? Now, some people would cry "glass houses, motherfucker!" Or, "hypocrisy, bitchface!" To them, I would say three things. One, that's just fucking rude. Two, our ugly wins against lesser foes came against better teams. Three, I don't really care. Watching justNorthwestern struggle with inferior competition is just funny. Motherfucking Kent State scored almost twice as many points against Miami as jNWU. jNWU scored 21 points less than Miami has been giving up on average. They completed less than 50% of their passes and ran for barely more than three yards a carry. Again, against Miami (OH), one of the legit worst teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision. You want to talk about "moral defeats"? Look no further.

Much like Indiana football, this is not for the faint of heart.

Virginia 47, Indiana 7
No, that is not a typo. Virginia, the same schizophrenic sad sack outfit that lost badly to I-AA William & Mary a little over a month ago, took Indiana behind the woodshed for one of the most jaw-dropping beatings of the season. Actually, scratch that -- they straight up fed them to the wood chipper (NSFW). How else to explain a game in which they were almost doubled up in total yardage (536 to 272), made Jameel Sewell look like a Davey O'Brien Award candidate (20/30, 308 yds, 1 touchdown, 7 carries, 29 yards, 1 touchdown, 0 turnovers... he had three interceptions against William & Mary), and were down 47-0 at one point in the fourth quarter? Going back to last year, Indiana has lost their last six games against BCS conference opponents (who was their last win against? Guess who.) and they haven't even been remotely competitive in any of them except the Michigan game a few weeks ago. Aside from being a gosh darn nice guy, how does Bill Lynch still have a job?

60% of the time, it works every time. Just like scheduling Eastern Illinois.

Penn State 52, Eastern Illinois 3
Despite what you may have heard, rest assured that there is no truth to the rumor that Penn State is lobbying to have Jake Christensen start for the opposition in all games in Beaver Stadium. But you can't blame them for trying. First visit? 16/29, 146 yds, 1 TD, and a 20-point defeat. Second visit? 13/25, 137 yds, 0 TD, 1 INT, and a 49-point defeat. I'm not positive, but if he comes around again, I think he'll throw four interceptions and they'll win by 100. Something like that - I'm no mathemagician. Anyway, hail to the conquering victors; they won their first game against ranked competition, after all. They ran well (285 yards and 3 touchdowns on 36 carries), they passed well (Clark threw for three touchdowns and 234 yards on 13/19 passing)... they did whatever they wanted.

Week 6 in the Non-Con: What I Want

Bama Hawkeye — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:45:09 -0000

We have favorites and we have loyalties, but if the Big Ten is going to climb out the national perception doldrums, we're going to have to do it together. That means that we have to all be pulling in the same direction. Here's what I want to see from each Big Ten team in their non-conference battles this week. These columns are really short this time of year...

Indiana (@ Virginia Cavaliers)

I want to see Indiana continue to play with the energy that has made them one of the pleasant surprises in the Big Ten this season. Virginia is bad. However, Al Groh teams win games. Somehow. Ask North Carolina. I don't know if Indiana wins this one, but I want to see them put forward their A-Game.

Northwestern (vs. Miami University)

I want to see the Wildcats pound the alma mater of this site's founders. Most importantly, play a complete game, Wildcats. Don't let them back in like you did Eastern Michigan. Don't fail to show up like you did with Purdue. The RedHawks are horrible (0-5, they've given up at least 29 points in each game). Show us just how bad they are.

Where have you gone, Big Ben? Oxford hasn't been the same since you left.

Penn State (vs. Eastern Illinois)

This is the most highly anticipated game of the Penn State season as they face their traditional arch-rival: the Panthers. Wrong Panthers? Well, then don't get anybody hurt. And take it easy on Jake. After all, he is the only Hawkeye quarterback to lose to Penn State this millennium.

What I Want

I want three wins and two blow-outs. This is very possible.

What I Expect

I expect Al Groh to beat Indiana on his way to 6 wins and another year at the helm of UVa. I hope I'm wrong about this.

What We've Got So Far

The Big Ten is 25-9 (.735) out of conference. The league is 5-7 against BCS Conference teams (plus Notre Dame). Purdue's loss to Notre Dame guarantees that the Big Ten can finish with no better than a .500 record against the other BCS schools. The league has two losses to non-BCS teams (Northern Illinois over Purdue and Central Michigan over Michigan State).

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)

Browse more photos »

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)

To be perfectly honest, I don't know very much about ISU football

Joe Kutsunis — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 22:19:59 -0000

That is not to say that I dislike it in any way. Quite the contrary I thoroughly enjoy the cities of Bloomington and Normal (are all Universities in the state of Illinois spread out across two cities?) the campus is beautiful and the students are friendly.

That is not to say however that I believe Illinois has any business doing anything but beating the Redbirds on Saturday night, and soundly at that. Part of this yes, is because they are an FCS team. But further investigation reveals that ISU also has first year head coach Brock Spack and were badly beaten last week by the Jake Christensen led Eastern Illinois Panthers. Badly beaten as in 31 to 6, (admittedly only a field goal worse than our loss) but not only that Spack claimed that his team was badly out sized by his fellow FCS opponent. If the Redbirds are out sized and pushed around by Eastern, I sincerely hope that the Illini should be an even more lopsided affair.

Along with that the Redbirds starting QB has been lost for 6 weeks to a thumb injury, and a RS Freshman will be taking the snaps until further notice. Don't take any opponent lightly, but the situation the Illini face on Saturday looks pretty favorable, and it is exactly what the team needs.

The Illini struggled to show off what was supposed to be considerable talent in St. Louis and were completely unable to find a rhythm in the running game. Carelessness, turnovers and very costly mistakes led the passing game to a fumble, an INT and a turnover on downs. Its an offense that new OC Schultz was supposed to have running like a Ferrari and it already looks like there is problems with the transmission.

In short a team that gave up 30+ points to Jake "Iowa fans hate me" Christensen is exactly what this offense needs to shake off the bad day in St. Louis.

Likewise a defense that kept things close in the first half against the Tigers but ended up with about 3 too many blown coverages in the second half could really use an FCS offense to push around. There is absolutely a reason that week one is supposed to be against soft opponents, and I think Ron Zook's Illini teams could really benefit from such a consideration in the future as it has taken them a game or so to really get into seasoned condition. The D-line should get a great push and hopefully the secondary wont lose track of receivers anymore. Especially with the shake ups that are going on in the defensive backfield this week, this game is going to be an important proving ground for several players.

This will be our last chance to see the team get itself together before a bye week and the trip to the great maw of Columbus Ohio. Lets just hope that its a good showing for us to ponder during that long down time.

Four Star Quarterbacks, Success, Failure, and What Michigan Football can Expect out of Tate Forcier

Maize n Brew Dave — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 17:33:59 -0000

As a general rule, highly rated quarterback recruits are the crown jewel of any school's recruiting class. Sure you can bring in a #1 Linebacker or a #1 Offensive Tackle, but those guys don't score points and their faces aren't plastered all over ABC or CBS every fall Saturday. Offenses simply don't work without an able bodied/minded signal caller under center.

But high school kids rarely turn out to be the person we thought they'd be coming out of high school. While Dr. Saturday has pointed out on numerous occasions (link no longer available) that a 5* player is far more likely than a 4* or 3* player to make the NFL, for some reason a 5* is far more likely to get himself arrested than a 4* or 3* (from the 2005 class at least). You get your five star flame outs (Ryan Perrilloux) far more often than your #1DC's like Matt Stafford, and you're just as likely to be starting a three star quarterback that you recruited as "insurance" than your four/five star savior.

For Michigan, this is not welcome news. Since the departure of five star rated Chad Henne, Michigan has gone from five star rated Ryan Mallett to no star rated Nick Sheridan to four star rated Steven Threet, back to Sheridan, then to two star Justin Feagin, to Threet, to Sheridan, and now, finally, to four star rated Tate Forcier. Looking at the preceding list, it's easy to disillusioned by the rankings process. Mallett transferred, Threet transferred (again), Sheridan was basically useless, and Feagin is being switched to receiver. As a result, Michigan will be starting a first year quarterback for the second straight year.

Despite Michigan's string of bad luck under center last year, it has failed to temper the enthusiasm of the Wolverine faithful when talking about Tate Forcier's first snaps. While (thankfully) this enthusiasm hasn't gone all Beano Cook, it is palpable when you talk to a Michigan fan. And to his credit, Forcier has done something to stoke that fire. Four passing touchdowns and one running touchdown in your spring game, your first anything against college competition, will get people excited.

Oddly, in watching that video the first thing that jumps out at me is not, OMG Savior!, it's "our defense is going to be baaaaaaaaaaad." But I digress. Watching this video is incredibly reassuring for any Michigan fan who had to sit through or pour over bad video of last year's spring practice. Combined, IIRC, Threet and Sheridan combined for 6 turnovers and no touchdowns via the air in 2008. And that performance was turned in against what proved to be the worst Michigan defense in Michigan history. I'm just saying.

So it's kind of hard to truly judge what we can expect out of Forcier against live competition, you know, the kind that will actually try to tackle him. Last year's quarterback play set the bar very low. But, Forcier seems to have the unique abilities required to run Rodriguez system. Tate showed the ability to throw on the run. Go deep. Scramble out of a sack. Not spike himself. These are good things.

Last year Michigan quarterbacks combined to go an abysmal 165/338 for 1718 yards, 11TD/12INT and a miserable combined QB rating of 95.2. Nick Sheridan's numbers alone make you cringe, a QB rating of 81.1 and a 2/5 TD/INT ratio despite starting a handful of games. If you just threw up a little in your mouth, you're not alone. Say what you want about changing systems, these guys were not and are not good quarterbacks in any system with numbers like that. Last year Forcier's numbers look like a shiny beacon in comparison. 208/326 for 3424 yards, 23/15 TD/INT ratio, 783 yards rushing on 92 attempts, and 12 rushing TDs. But lets break this down a bit.

For context on the competition, Forcier's High School, Scripps Ranch, is a Division II South school in California. Scripps is in the middle tier high school division for California schools with enrollment between 2400 and 1100 kids. The bigger Division I schools have enrollment from 2400 and up [some almost reaching 5000 enrollment]. Scripps is one of the larger Division II schools with enrollment around 2100. So he definitely facing decent competition, he's just not facing a Long Beach Poly kind of talent pool (4600+ kids).

Now, onto the numbers. One thing that jumps out at me is the 2 to 1 TD/INT ratio in 2008. Forcier, if you look at his numbers, had his best season as a HS junior where he was 21/5 TD/INT. But that's two years ago, with different personnel. Last year in 12 games, Forcier had just three games without an INT, and threw 2 picks or more in five games. Tate's playoff numbers were a mixed bag, throwing for over 300 yards in one game, but tossing a combined 5 picks in both play off games he played in. The glass half empty kind of person can take that as Tate wilting under pressure.

But the reality is that's far from the case. Scripps was a good, but not great team last year going 8-4. Their second round bow-out from the DII playoffs was against 12-0-1 Oceanside, the defending state champs, who won their fifth consecutive Division II section title in 2008. Forcier scored both TDs in the loss for Scripps, and a look at the boxscore shows there's not a lot you can do when you give up 28 points in the 4th quarter. Looking at the results, you'll note a couple of games where Scripps gave up 40+ points, including 70(!) to the eventual state champs, Cathedral. FWIW, Forcier was 21/36 for 295 yards, 4TDs and 1INT in the Cathedral game.

What all this means is Michigan is getting a kid who has taken his lumps, knows what it's like to get planted, and has played well against higher levels of competition. Is he the Rich Rod savior we've been hoping for? Chances are we're not going to know for a while. After the jump you'll find the Rivals rankings for every quarterback receiving four stars or higher since 2005, and a few three stars of note. Of this group, over five years, you're only going to find five or six quarterbacks that jump off the page at you. Three of those page jumpers are: Tebow, Bradford, and McCoy. Surprisingly, Bradford and McCoy were three star recruits.

If it seems like things are a little off moving towards 2005, you're right. In '05 Rivals handed out only thirteen four star plus ratings to quarterbacks. In 2009, Rivals handed out twenty five four star plus ratings, nearly double the 2005 amount. In my opinion, this might have something to do with the precipitous drop in production from 4* plus players. When you're handing out high ratings like candy, eventually you degrade the overall effect of that rating. It also explains why I'm nervous about anointing a four star quarterback, even a good one, as a program savior or more modestly as an offensive savior.

So what do these numbers mean for Michigan and Tate? It means we should all cool our jets a tad. Given the number of four and five star flameouts over the last five years, a four star QB is statistically more likely to be a bust than a success. Further, regardless of pedigree, even the best of the best get hammered in year one. Everyone remembers the lumps Chad Henne took as a first year starter, the bad throws, the bailouts by Braylon. And Chad was one of the highest ranked QB recruits in the country at the time. Sam Bradford's been a starter since day one but he got beaten down fairly regularly too. What helped Braford, and what is a major question mark for Forcier, is Bradford's OU defense was AWESOME that year and Bradford often had the opportunity to fix things when he messed up.

Tate's in that middle ground between OMG SHIRTLESS and good, solid prospect. On the negative side, he's shorter than we'd like. He's got good, but not great arm strength. He's shown a propensity, at least at the High School level to throw some picks. On the positive, he has shown great escapability. Great instincts. Good decision making. Has a resume jam packed with awards and MVPS. And an arm that is more than capable of delivering the ball down field and into tight pockets mid field. But all this is conjecture before he plays a single game. So before we all start bringing offerings to his temple, let's allow the kid to show us what he can do in a real game environment.

But here's where the realistic fan in me comes out; it's really hard not to get excited about what he's shown so far. On the basis of his high school career, spring performance, and Rodriguez offense, 2,300 passing yards, 700 rushing yards, 15/9 TD/INT, 6 Rushing TD seems like a reasonable expectation. Juice Williams threw for 3,000 plus last year while running for 700 yards on a bad team. Having seen both players throw, I like Forcier considerably more than Williams as a passer. The rushing numbers will be comparable just because of the nature of the offense. Forcier's going to run the ball. It's a necessity in this offense. So he'll have every opportunity to gain rushing yards.

I may be underselling the passing a tad, but I don't know how well our receivers are going to play this year. They should be a solid group, but there were a lot of dropped and misplayed balls last year. If the receivers play better, I think Tate can get them the ball and my projection would go up from there.

Thoughts?

Here's the list of ranked quaterbacks from 2005 forward. Help me fill in the blanks on these guys if you can.

Rivals.com dual-threat quarterbacks 2009

1Russell Shepard 5* LSU

2Tyrik Rollison 4* Auburn

3Eugene Smith 4* West Virginia

4Kevin Newsome 4* Penn State

5Tate Forcier 4* Michigan

6Cody Green 4* Nebraska

7Nathan Scheelhaase 4* Illinois

8Shavodrick Beaver 4* Tulsa

9Casey Pachall 4* TCU

10Jordan Reed 4* Florida

11Raymond Cotton 4* Ole Miss

Not included – 14 Denard Robinson 4* ATH - Michigan

Rivals.com pro-style quarterbacks 2009

1Matt Barkley 5* USC

2Garrett Gilbert 5* Texas

3Aaron Murray 4* Georgia

4Tajh Boyd 4* Clemson

5Bryn Renner 4* North Carolina

6Richard Brehaut 4* UCLA

7AJ McCarron 4* Alabama

8Tom Savage 4* Rutgers

9Andrew Maxwell 4* Michigan State

10Allan Bridgford 4* California

11Zach Mettenberger 4* Georgia

12Tyler Russell 4* Mississippi State

13Josh Nunes 4* Stanford

14Ryan Mossakowski 4* Kentucky

Rivals.com dual-threat quarterbacks 2008

1Terrelle Pryor 5* OSU – You may have heard of him

2E.J. Manuel 4* Florida State

3MarQueis Gray 4* Minnesota - eligibility issues

4Robert Griffin 4* Baylor - Starter

5Matt Scott 4* Arizona

6Darron Thomas 4* Oregon - Bench

7Curt Phillips 4* Wisconsin

8B.J. Daniels 4* South Florida

9Kody Spano 3* Nebraska

10Jaybo Shaw 3* Georgia Tech - Included for awesome name

Rivals.com pro-style quarterbacks 2008

1Blaine Gabbert 5* Missouri - sorta starter

2Dayne Crist 5* Notre Dame - Bench

3Mike Glennon 4* N.C. State - starter

4Andrew Luck 4* Stanford

5Star Jackson 4* Alabama

6Landry Jones 4* Oklahoma

7Jacory Harris 4* Miami - Starter

8Jordan Jefferson 4* LSU

9Tyler Wilson 4* Arkansas

10Kyle Parker 4* Clemson

Rivals.com dual-threat quarterbacks 2007

1Tyrod Taylor 5* VTech – Starter

2Cameron Newton 5* Florida

3Aaron Corp 4* Southern Cal - Starter

4Stephen Garcia 4* South Carolina - washout?

5Willy Korn 4* Clemson - Starter

6Keith Nichol 4* Oklahoma - Bench/transfer?

7Chris Forcier 4* UCLA - Washout/transfer

8Kodi Burns 4*Auburn

9Josh Nesbitt 4* Georgia Tech - starter

10Logan Gray 4* Georgia

11Kellen Kiilsgaard 4* Stanford

12Bradley Starks 4* West Virginia

Rivals.com pro-style quarterbacks 2007

1Jimmy Clausen 5* Notre Dame - Starter

2Ryan Mallett 5* Michigan – Transfer/Starter

3John Brantley 4* Florida

4Mike Paulus 4* North Carolina

5Peter Lalich 4*Virginia

6Pat Bostick 4*Pittsburgh - Bench

7Jarrett Lee 4* LSU - sorta starter

8Robert Marve 4* Miami-FL - washout/transfer

9Steven Threet 4* Georgia Tech – Sadly, washout/Transfer x2.

10BJ Coleman 4* Tennessee - nothing

Rivals.com: Dual-threat quarterbacks 2006

1Tim Tebow 5* Florida (Football Jesus)

2Demetrius Jones 4* Notre Dame Washout/Transfer – Now a linebacker at NIU

3Jevan Snead 4* Texas – Transfer/Starter at Ole Miss

4Jake Locker 4* Washington – Punching bag/Starter

5Jeremy Ricker 4* Maryland

6Austen Arnaud 4* Iowa State

7Garrett Green 4* Southern Cal - bench

8Sherrod Harris 4* Texas - bench

9Antonio Henton 4* Ohio State – Who?

11Rick Stanzi 3* Iowa – Starter/Manzi

14Adam Weber 3* Minnesota - Starter

15Nate Davis 3* Ball State - NFL

16Todd Reesing 3* Kansas – Marky M says Balla.

Rivals.com Pro-style quarterbacks 2006

1Matthew Stafford 5* Georgia 1DC

2Mitch Mustain 5* Arkansas Washout

3Isiah Williams 4* Illinois Starter

4Josh Freeman 4* Kansas State Starter/washout/NFL?

5Pat Devlin 4* Penn State washout/transfer

6Kevin Riley 4* California sorta starter

7Neil Caudle 4* Auburn bench

8Chris Smelley 4* South Carolina sorta starter/washout

9Zach Frazer 4* Notre Dame washout

10Tyler Lyon 3* Arizona Bench

11Greg McElroy 3* Alabama – Starter (sorta)

12Sam Bradford 3* Oklahoma (Heisman winner)

Rivals.com Pro-style quarterbacks 2005

1Mark Sanchez 5* Southern Cal - NFL

2Jonathan Crompton 4* Tennessee - sorta starter

3Harrison Beck 4* Nebraska

4Derek Shaw 4* Arizona State

5Willie Tuitama 4* Arizona - One Time Stater/washout

6Rob Schoenhoft 4* Ohio State - bench

7Joe Cox 4* Georgia - bench?

8Arkelon Hall 3* Washington St.

9Domenic Natale 3* Michigan State

10Sean Canfield 3* Oregon State

11Bill Stull 3* Pittsburgh - starter

12Evan Sharpley 3* Notre Dame - Graduated

14Dustin Sherer 3* Wisconsin - sorta starter

15Colt McCoy 3* Texas - Starter Heisman Candidate

Rivals.com: Dual-threat quarterbacks 2005

1Ryan Perrilloux 5* LSU - Washout of spectacular fashion

2Jake Christensen 4* Iowa - Washout

3Ike Whitaker 4* Virginia Tech - Washout

4Josh Portis 4* Florida - ?

5Kyle Reed 4* California - ?

6Chase Daniel 4* Missouri - NFL?

7Jimmy Johns 3* Alabama - Proveyor of Fine Powdered Products

10Zac Robinson 3* Oklahoma State - Starter

Two-Deep Audits: Offense

Oops Pow Surprise — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 12:30:05 -0000

The two-deeps used in these mid-conference audits are taken directly from The Gazette's Marc Morehouse, whose fine On Iowa blog is a fixture on our RSS readers.

IOWA OFFENSE

WR — DJK, Stross

Well, this is a good place to start. DJK's 2008 has been pretty meh, actually, and while it seems pretty obvious that Stross' legendary speed is gone and never coming back, he's turned into one hell of a possession receiver; his hands are probably the best on the team. DJK is physically capable of making plays that nobody else in the WR corps can make, but he hasn't put it all together for a dominant game since, like, Northwestern 2007. If there was an unsafe starting job on the offense at this point (Kuempel aside), this is it.

LT — Bulaga, Kuempel

Good jesus, Bryan Bulaga. The word on him in summer camp even as a true freshman was that he was a mean, nasty blocker. But nobody could have anticipated the total domination he has put on opposing defensive lines. He regularly plants defenders 10 yards past the line of scrimmage, and it is simply no exaggeration to say he deserves All-American consideration.

LG — Vandervelde/Eubanks, Gettis

What should have been the weak link of this line (I mean, did you see Vandervelde last year??) has been rock solid. Think--if the left guard position was getting abused even half as regularly as with last season, then it wouldn't matter one bit how good Bulaga is, running to the left would be an exercise in futility. But Vandervelde has improved substantially in his second season on the line, and the rotation with Eubanks is perfect for both players, as there's always a fresh pair of arms to throw at opposing DTs. I would not have guessed before the season that this setup would work--at all--but damned if it's not solid.

C — Bruggeman, Koeppel

I often wonder if losing Bruggeman with that ACL last season didn't hurt Iowa worse than anyone could have predicted. Remember, he was right in the mix for a starting spot before he blew that knee out, and by the time NIU rolled around in 2007, Travis Meade was starting. No disrespect to Travis, but, you know, he's not even on this two-deep even with a starting guard injured. Bruggeman has been solid, even if he's on that Beanie Baby tip and he fixes computers and stuff. Clearly no need to make a change here, especially since Josh Koeppel is the long snapper and Eubanks is audibly clearing his throat.

RG — Kuempel, Doering

Seth Olsen was ostensibly Iowa's best lineman coming into this season, even if nobody thinks so at this point. Still, he was hardly a weak link, ever, and you'd think his departure would hurt the line, but Andy Kuempel absolutely dominated in his absence against Wisconsin. Watch this video of Shonn Greene again, but this time, watch Kuempel's blocking at the RG spot.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but you'll notice all four touchdowns went Kuempel's way. He's very good at executing blocks at both the first and second levels, and if Olsen is unable to go, expect to see Kuempel making Brit Miller's life hell this Saturday. Olsen deserves this job when he's healthy, but the lack of dropoff is very encouraging.

RT — Calloway, Aeschliman

Speaking of improvements from Year 1 to Year 2, how about Kyle Calloway? Greene's last TD came on Calloway reach-blocking a corner all the way to the sideline before Greene even came into play. We get the notion that he's a lot happier not being the blindside blocker for the QB in this offense, unlike with the left-handed Christensen. Now he's usually got TE help (and Moeaki and Myers are both very capable blockers) and he's the point man on rollouts to the right, where Stanzi's most effective. Calloway's vast improvement has kept Aeschliman off the field, which is both A) very good (it means there's good blocking) and B) horrible (Aeschliman, at 6'8", 315, is comedically large and fun to watch).

White receivers celebrate like THIS...

TE — Myers, Reisner

Man, it sucks so much to not see "Moeaki" on this 2-deep. He's worked way too hard to be relegated to rehab for so much of his career at Iowa, and we hope he can make anything of his football career, either here or at some next level. Lord knows he's physically capable when he's healthy; hell, he's Iowa's most athletic tight end since Dallas Clark. Or Scott Slutzker. Or Fritz Fequiere. Luckily, Myers has been quite able, if unspectacular, in his replacement of Moeaki, both last year and this. Allen Reisner plays enough snaps to be a part of the offense, and you could legitimately make the case that Reisner is a better receiver than Myers. Both are among the top 5 TEs in the last 10 years for Iowa, though, and that bodes very well for the offense as a whole.

His hair's so... so soft!

QB — Stanzi, Christensen

This, I think, is safe. The Stanziballs are abating, but we'll need to see if for a sustained amount of time, especially with 4 games left, all of which (yes, even Purdue) can be won or lost by Iowa. Seriously, everything from 5-7 to 9-3 is in play. Anyway, you know how Iowa's offense runs, and it's the run setting up the pass. It was disastrous in 2006 and 2007, but it's happening now, and it's working. Stanzi's probably somewhere around the fourth best QB in the conference right now, depending on how you look at Juice Williams and Adam Weber, but he has certainly earned his starting spot. It's too bad for Christensen, because he suffered through an absolute sieve of an offensive line last year while his receiving corps collapsed in front of him. If Stanzi had to suffer through the 2007 offense while Christensen sat on the bench, then Christensen would be rocking this year while Stanzi sat on the bench with a nervous tic. Timing is everything.

WR — Brodell, Sandeman

Brodell has emerged as the real #1 of this offense, as he's been both a solid possession guy (especially on first down and off play action) and a good deep threat (most of Stanzi's shots downfield). Sandeman is much improved over last year, probably because of the 20 pounds of muscle he has put on, but he's not quite at a Big Ten level quite yet.

RB — Greene, Hampton

I think it's safe to say we're okay with this situation. VOTE GREENE PARTY 2008!

FB — Morse, Leppert

Look, it would be extremely stupid to blame the three straight losses on the fullback, but the fact of the matter is that the offense scored points with a lot more ease when Morse wasn't injured than when Leppert was filling in. Again, looking at Shonn Greene's rushing numbers, there's barely a difference in production--he kicks ass either way--but he seems to kick just a little more ass with Morse in there, who's even a more capable receiving target than Leppert. There's no sense in assigning bogeymen to Iowa's losses on the year, of course, but a healthy Brett Morse puts Iowa a whole lot closer to 8-4 or 9-3 on the season, and that's a realistic goal for a team like this.

There's A Game On Saturday? Northwestern!!1

Oops Pow Surprise — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 07:34:29 -0000

So, the Big Ten schedule is starting. That's big news, folks, big news. At least that's what I have to tell myself tonight, anyway.

My ho-hummery stems from one simple fact about the game--it's just Northwestern. They're the Rain Man of Big Ten football--unusually smart, probably too inept to live alone or wear shoes without Velcro. A Northwestern player is great if you want to learn how to program your TI-85, but fucking miserable on the gridiron.

Northwestern is led by Pat Fitzgerald, an absolute fraud of a coach. Fitzgerald is the Trig Palin of Big Ten coaches: impossibly young for the center stage, a result of unexpected catastrophe, and severely retarded.

Fitzgerald is best known for being the Big Ten's youngest coach since 1917, when following a lost bet, the Michigan Wolverines were coached for one week by seven-year-old Hamilton Wiltonwood. They won by 83 points. In addition, Fitzgerald coached the entire month of October 2006 without pants, resulting in a crippling four-game skid. Wait, did we say "crippling"? This is just Northwestern, so we meant "annual."

The Wildcat quarterback is C.J. Bacher (Bacher, of course, is French for "frightened rabbit"). Bacher is coming off a 19 TD, 19 INT season and is once again not expected to contend for any meaningful postseason honors. Bacher's production is suffering in 2008 largely due to sore fingers; his injury is no surprise, as the human hand is not designed to spend three hours every Saturday with its thumb up its owner's posterior.

At tailback, Northwestern boasts Tyrell Sutton, easily one of the three best tailbacks in the nation conference state local area (ETHS has a couple burners). Sutton, not understanding the definition of a tautology, announced that he was 100% on account of his self-diagnosis of 100%. Because hamstring injuries totally disappear in seven days, you know.

Northwestern's wide receivers are six frat brothers playing a cruel prank on Fitzgerald. You'll know I'm right when Bacher throws to a receiver named "Bonestick" wearing #69.

The Northwestern wide receivers, as far as Fitzgerald knows. Beware P-Dawg's deceptive speed.

On defense, the Wildcats "appear" to be tough. We use quotations with "appear" because any notion of actual competence is flatly fucking ridiculous. This is the same defense that gave up 31 points a game last season, while allowing 243 passing yards per game on 63% passing. You may remember them from such farces as "Jake Christensen torches NU for over 200 yards in one half" and "No seriously that Jake Christensen thing happened."

Northwestern's stats are much improved on defense this season, and for good reason: they have played absolutely fucking nobody. This is their slate so far: Syracuse, @Duke, Southern Illinois, Ohio. Seriously, that's it. I was going to make a "St. Mary's Sisterhood of the Retarded and/or Canadian" joke, but why? Syracuse is worse than that. So sure, you guys have given up like 20 points or whatever, but come on. Northwestern makes Minnesota look like the 1985 Bears.

As for Iowa's approach to attacking Northwestern, it will be two words:

Quarterback. Sneak.

No, it's Shonn Greene. Of course it is. Sure, he only lasted three quarters in last week's demolition derby, but his conditioning improves from week to week--he set career highs against Pitt in both carries and yards. Look for him to encounter significantly less resistance against a line that comes from just Northwestern. 200 yards and 4 TDs? Probably.

How important is it that Greene put together another high-powered performance? Let's let Captain Kirk put everything into proper perspective:

Asked this week if he had considered where his offense would be had running back Shonn Greene not successfully made it back from a year of academic exile, Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz gave a pretty good indication of how much Greene means to the Hawkeyes, who open Big Ten play at 11 a.m. today against Northwestern.

"No, I didn’t think about that," Ferentz said sharply. "I didn’t think about our plane crashing the other day, either. That could have happened. I try to avoid topics like that. I have enough things that are bringing me down."

Allegory: The Paki O'Meara Experience

As for the passing game, Iowa will whip out the Hangin' and Swangin' Dick Stanzi again. Christensen had his opportunity to solidify the starting role by leading a second-half comeback against Pitt, and that clearly didn't happen. And yes, while SDS throws way too many Stanziballs, far more than Christensen does, at some point an offense needs the ability to consistently hit through the air, and Stanzi's probably the only one on the roster who can do that.

Meanwhile, the entire Iowa receiving corps is healthy and eligible for the first time since 19-fuckity-never. Between Tony Moeaki's health problems and Iowa's near-constant need for 2-TE sets in 2007, the Hawkeyes now have three very capable tight ends.

Similar problems with injuries have provided Iowa with five WRs with starting experience, and all (with the only possible exception of Stross) have improved since 2007. That's not to say, of course, that Iowa's going to rewrite receiving records or that NU needs to be prepared for that A-11 shit (unless Fitz is reading this; in that case, YES ABSOLUTELY PREPARE FOR ONLY THAT), but the weapons are finally there.

If you want a prediction, here it is: Iowa 31, Just Northwestern 13. Northwestern is the worst 4-0 BCS team in many years, and this week will only confirm it.

The Takeaway: Pitt

Oops Pow Surprise — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 04:19:25 -0000

Sure, Iowa just lost their first game of the year, 21-20. But how much do we really know? What was really important about losing to Pitt? What does it all mean, Basil? The Takeaway has the answer.

HASSAN CHOP!

Jake Christensen has officially played his way out of the starting lineup. There are myriad stories floating around about why Stanzi didn't see a single snap in the second half, and while none of them are anywhere near verifiable enough for publication (other than this nugget: "mutiny"?! Come on guys, Varsity Blues was an MTV joint. You can lie better than MTV), it's safe to say that bizarre, ineffectual one-minute drill by Stanzi to end the first half probably earned him a spot on the sidelines for two quarters.

And two quarters is it, because Stanzi is now your starter, according to Ferentz and the depth chart (pops to embedded PDF). This is probably for the best; Christensen was beaten into fear and insufficiency in 2007, and that sort of thing you just can't unlearn. After his offseason QB lessons with legendary NFL superstar Steve DeBerg, Christensen has now turned into the Big Ten's Dikembe Mutombo, a player of considerable athleticism and skills, but without the organic thought process to make it highly functional. He, like Mutombo, is like a robot on offense, deciding what steps his body will take before he executes them. The end result is awkward passes, pocket panic, and a game that cannot evolve as quickly as the play around him.

It's a genuine shame, because like Ladell Betts eight years prior, Christensen shouldered the load to the best of his ability, has little to nothing to show for it, and not one single time mouthed off publicly about it. Granted, Betts had plenty more room to gripe, but Drew Tate didn't, and that didn't stop the Five-Shooter, now, did it? We'll let Mike Gundy voice our opinion on the kid one last time, then tentatively relegate all Christensen talk to the trash bin of yesterday's news:

Stanzi is once again the Manzi against Northwestern, a role he has earned. While he's probably liable for a drive-killing Stanziball or two (or three), we're hard-pressed to imagine a scenario without injury or full implosion that involves a prominent role for Christensen from here on out. Shame that the era ends like this, but end it must.

Iowa's lone defensive weakness is at safety. On Pitt's first and third touchdowns, both long runs snaking through the Iowa secondary, FS Brett Greenwood was caught laughably out of position. The first run was especially egregious, as one unremarkable juke move left Greenwood with two broken ankles and utterly incapable of laying even a hand on the rusher five feet in front of him. Greenwood hardly made his presence known against this first tough opponent of the season (notable exception: saving a 20+ yard run with a dive tackle on McCoy's ankles in the second half), and we're thinking the comparisons to Sean Considine and Derek Pagel can wait until Greenwood cuts down on the mental errors that were famously absent from his predecessors' play.

E for Effort. Or Error.

Meanwhile, Tyler Sash (above), coming off a virtuoso performance against Iowa State, was downright pedestrian this Saturday, making some plays and missing just as many. We're not ready to give up the experiment on either safety so far (and looking at the depth charts, neither are the coaches), but they absolutely must perform at a higher level against a spread rush team like Northwestern--no position is put at higher stress levels against a spread offense than safety.

The cornerbacks, however, are doing just fine. It's safe to say Amari Spievey is doing just fine and will start until his career's over here. The Prodigal Hawkeye didn't miss a single tackle or lose coverage that we can remember, and he's still a sophomore in his first season of BXI action. We couldn't have known it at the time, but with Jordan Bernstine's problematic hammy, Spievey has become every bit as important an acquisition for the defense as Shonn Greene was for the offense. Bradley Fletcher has improved, yes, but without Spievey, we're either starting Shaun Prater (good, but definitely not ready) or Drew Gardner (horrrrk) right now. Those two are serviceable in spot duty. Spievey is undoubtedly a future NFL cornerback. The difference is palpable.

No Constitutional Amendments can help you now!

Meanwhile, after three unremarkable games, Kroul and Unusual Punishment have made their presence known once again. After Iowa went down 14-3, Pittsburgh tried to establish a running game, and it led to a two-quarter drought as the Panthers watched Iowa climb back into the lead. Statistics be damned; conventional rushing against Iowa is useless. Err, I mean, no! Anything but that! Please, opponents, don't rush up the middle on Iowa! We'd be doomed, I tell you, doomed!

Shonn Greene is doing an Earl Campbell impression for which he is unprepared. God bless Shonn Greene. Honestly. For someone who spent, as near as we can tell, almost two years away from the football field (first the ankle injury in 2006, then his academic hiatus), he is putting in a superhuman effort.

This is normal, Mr. Wannstedt. Be happy it only happened once. Northwestern's going to see it happen, like, four times.

Greene currently ranks eighth in the NCAA in rushing offense, which is remarkable; not only did he not run up gaudy stats on cupcakes and MACrifices, but that career high he put up against Pitt came in essentially three quarters. In the fourth, Greene was completely worn out, barely able to peel himself off the field or walk without a noticeable limp. In this sense, Greene is like 2006-07 Tony Freeman, a physical specimen, but noticeably lacking in conditioning. Freeman improved there, and we have no doubt Greene will too. We just hope it'll be soon; if he gets to the level where he can register thirty carries in a game, Iowa probably wins it. And really, if Greene rushes 30 times, no game is off the table. The sooner Greene reaches this level is the closer Iowa gets to a high-level bowl game.

PHOTO CREDITS:

1--Brian Ray/The Gazette
2--Press Citizen / Matthew Holst
3--Press Citizen / Matthew Holst
4--AP Photo/Keith Srakocic