SB Nation - Colin Sandeman

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.

Depth Chart Released; No A-Rob or Dace, But Greenwood and Sandeman Listed

Oops Pow Surprise — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:14:51 -0000

Pardon us as we register some surprise, but Iowa's two-deeps for the Indiana game (pops to .PDF, courtesy of HawkeyeNation.com) don't exactly look like what we expected. Per Morehouse:

Running back Adam Robinson isn’t listed on this week’s two deeps. Safety Brett Greenwood is listed as a starter after being carted off with a head/upper-body injury. Wide receiver Colin Sandeman is listed as a No. 2 after being knocked unconscious against Michigan State.

As mentioned before, Dace Richardson is out for--at least--the end of the regular season. Other than that, no surprises.

Now, as it became evident over the course of the night Saturday, Greenwood's injury was neck-related, not brain-related; otherwise, there's no way the trainers' precautionary sensibilities would have allowed him to get off the cart, take his helmet off, and go to the locker room. Really, what happened to Greenwood is probably not dissimilar to what happened to John Clay the week prior--a hit that was more scary than harmful.

That's not to call Clay's or Greenwood's manliness into question, mind you; it's just natural that if your body moves in a way that's totally unfamiliar and seems ruinously injurious, you're going to panic a bit until the immediate pain starts going away. Greenwood's really lucky; with a couple inches' difference in the way his and Sash's heads hit (and/or a helmet from a few decades ago), he could still be hospitalized and wondering if he'd ever walk again.

The Sandeman thing, though, is a little more curious. While Greenwood's injury wasn't one that could have long-term impact on his quality of life (and, apparently, is minor enough that he can play again right away), Sandeman was absolutely KTFO when he took that helmet-to-helmet shot. His limbs were rigid and frozen in place. Bad times.

So here's the deal: we don't know a lick about advanced medicine, never took so much as an introductory course for health or doctorin' in college, none of that. If we have any of those types that read BHGP, serious question: could Sandeman's hit and subsequent involuntary physical reactions have come without a concussion or other harm to the brain? To us, it looked really, really bad--like, we had hoped during the open thread that he'd be given the rest of the regular season to recover (note: in light of recent medical opinions, we're also pretty gung-ho on giving concussion victims more than, say, the two weeks Tim Tebow got)

Rest assured: we're not accusing the Hawkeye trainers or coaches of doing anything untoward. We're only saying that our mildly educated opinion and observations led us to believe that Sandeman would not be playing tackle football for a few weeks. Could Sandeman's brain be back to 100% in time for him to practice and play Saturday?

It's Not Plagiarism If You Link To It Translates Binary Code

Hawkeye State — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:05:36 -0000

Mainstream media and coaches and old retired dudes suck and stuff. Looks like we're not the only ones angry about this week's polls. Doc Saturday takes the pollsters to task for the absurd contradictions in all three polls (we didn't even look at the Harris poll, assuming tapioca and shuffleboard would be #1-#2 for the 87th consecutive week). Up for particular scrutiny is the inexplicable love for LSU:

The Tigers are not only playing mediocre football right now, going to the wire to beat Washington and Mississippi State on either end of ho-hum wins over Vanderbilt and Louisiana-Lafayette, but they don't even have that much inertia in their favor: This was an 8-5 team that had to stage a frantic comeback against Troy to fend off a full-fledged, four-game November slide last year, had a losing conference record and didn't even make it into the final top 25. This year, the Tiger offense currently ranks 105th nationally and needed an interception return, a punt return and a goal line stand to get out of Starkville unscathed.

The fact that 2-2 Kansas State, which is a 3-point underdog to Iowa Fucking State this weekend, received two votes in the Harris poll, should be enough to relegate this to the dustbin of history. Of course, that won't happen.

SBN Ole Miss blog Red Cup Rebellion has a far more psycho conspiratorial cynical opinion of the process: Penn State and Cal fell less than the Rebs due solely to the fact that they are Penn State and Cal and not, say, Ole Miss.

So what I am supposed to gather from all of this is that Ole Miss is overrated whereas Penn State beat themselves. Iowa is the real deal whereas South Carolina, well, isn't. Frankly, if I were a South Carolina fan, I would be just as irked by all of this. Iowa gets praised for defeating a top-five team whereas South Carolina gets an "oh well, yeah, good show, but really you didn't win that as much as your opponent lost it; sorry South Carolina." Granted, I think Iowa likely wins against South Carolina in a head-to-head, but not by very much at all.

It almost seems to me as if everybody was a crouching tiger, waiting to strike the Rebels as soon as they lost, where- and whenever that was going to be. I certainly expected the "ha LOL @ Ole Pi$$" message board backlash, namely because dipshits who post on internet message boards are incredibly predictable, and I cannot say I didn't expect some sort of flame from the mainstream media--but I certainly didn't expect it to this extent.

As with all conspiracy theories, this is mostly crap. There is a certain perception that comes along with long-inept programs like Ole Miss and South Carolina, to be sure, but it's more than balanced by the fact that both of those teams come from the mighty SEC, constantly pimped by the two major mouthpieces of the college football mainstream media as forever superior to those of us from the upper midwest. Iowa's ranked higher than South Carolina because its preseason expectations were higher and its resume is better (for instance, unlike USC, Iowa hasn't yet lost a game), to say nothing of the residual effects of the curbstomping Iowa gave the 'Cocks in January. As for Ole Miss vs. Penn State, well, that's probably because they're Penn State and you're Ole Miss. You've got me there.

Cyborg football robots, on the other hand, are cool and stuff. The human voters (other than Doug Lesmerises, who capably defended resume ranking and made Craig James look stupid on College Gameday) are quite clearly morons. The superfuturemachines, on the other hand, have it exactly right, as Iowa leads two of the four BCS computer polls:

Sagarin: Iowa, which barely beat Northern Iowa, but won at Penn State Saturday. Please note that Florida is atop both of the formulas that Jeff Sagarin prefers, but that Iowa is first (and Florida is seventh) in the formula that the BCS counts.

Billingsley: Texas

Colley Matrix: Iowa

Massey: Florida.

Hlas is right: It's September. We all need to settle down just a bit. The Sagarin ratings are interesting, though: Iowa takes fifth (first in the margin-of-victory-free ELO_CHESS ranking), but I have to take umbrage with any poll that would rank Boise State's schedule strength in the top 40. Of note when reading the Sagarin ratings is the fact that preseason rankings are still factored in; those factors will be removed once the teams become "connected." I have little idea of what Sagarin's talking about. He's much smarter than me.

Fun with depth charts. The two-deeps for Arkansas State are out. The injury situation remains unresolved: Bryan Bulaga and Tony Moeaki, who sat out the PSU game, remain conspicuous by their absence. Derrell Johnson-Koulianos, who was the one game-time decision to get some playing time in Happy Valley, is listed as a backup at wideout behind...Colin Sandeman? Yes, the junior receiver may have missed the lion's share of fall camp, but back-to-back workmanlike performances against Arizona and Penn State have moved him to the top of the depth chart.

Clayborn also gets the Heisman Trophy, Pulitzer Prize, and Emmy for "Best Performance in a Reality Show." Two Hawkeyes picked up Big Ten Player of the Week honors following the Penn State game. Adrian Clayborn was a no-brainer for special teams player of the week, as his fourth-quarter punt block and return put the Hawkeyes on top, drew the praise of his teammates and coaches, and gave him the national lead in punt return average. Pat Angerer's 14 tackles, interception, and forced fumble were more than enough to garner defensive player of the week.

Caring is creepy. While knee-deep in the hoopla of last week's game, we neglected the most recent Iowa commit, Miami halfback De'Andre "The Apostrophe" Johnson. De'Andre receives three stars from Rivals, two stars from Scout, and offers from programs like Minnesota, Duke, and a bunch of the Sun Belt teams (he did have interest from Florida and LSU). Johnson's commitment was initially announced following the Arizona game, though he sounded less-than-enthused with his decision and still planned on taking a visit to Minnesota. After the Penn State game, though, he confirmed he is "120 percent committed" to playing for Iowa, which is impossible but whatever. Johnson is already 5'8", 210 pounds, effectively making him a Jewel Hampton clone from day one.

Footnotes:

Kirk Ferentz is worried about a letdown next week. Given the fact that Iowa's sandwiching a sacrificial lamb bewteen the program's biggest win in nearly a decade and a prime-time encounter with the hated LOLverines, I'd say his fears are warranted.
Longtime Iowa blogger (and BHGPodcast guest this week) Mark Hasty asks whether the days of Big Ten-MAC shitkickings is at an end, what with the scholarship limits and surplus of talent and Purdue suckitude and all.
Speaking of BHGPodcast guests, Blog Ten loves the Iowa defense (and really, why wouldn't he?)
Adam Rittenberg can't stop writing about the Hawkeyes in general, and Adrian Clayborn in particular.
Bama Hawkeye, the best Iowa blogger not working here (OK, he's probably better than us, too) puts the Iowa defense in the context of the 2002-03 "bullies of the Big Ten" squads.

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)

Browse more photos »

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

Browse more photos »

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.

27-17: TIME TO UNDERSTAND THE HORROR

Oops Pow Surprise — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 01:52:28 -0000

More photos » by Charlie Neibergall - AP

Browse more photos »

27-17. Feeling pretty good about that, right? As well we ought to be; that Arizona defense was fast. The headlines are probably going to be about Robinson's 100 yards or "OMG 2 FRESHMAN RBS"--maybe even about Stanzi--okay, probably not about Stanzi--but the real story has to begin on the other side of the ball.

Now, you wouldn't normally see a game in which your (underdog) opponent scored 17 points and conclude, "wow, that defense is legit."

But that's exactly what to take away from the Iowa victory today: fear this defense. They... oh, you know what? Put this music on first, then read on (but don't actually watch the video, because it's stupid):

Got it going? All right.

Here's the last two starting quarterbacks' combined stats from when they faced Iowa: 14-36, 129 yards, 0 TD, 5 INT. Oh, and 2 benchings. Austen Arnaud, you are not alone; you may take solace in the fact that while you threw 4 INT in the game, you were able to complete more than 4 passes to your own team. Not so for Mike Scott, who just submitted a stunning 4-14, 1 INT, 50 yard performance. Like, that was his entire day through the air. 50 yards.

Arizona held the ball for only 22:04 of the game today. That number makes sense, considering the team only managed 8 first downs. 2-12 on third down conversions, which is only slightly mitigated by going 2-3 on 4th down.

Put it like this: Arizona's scoring started with a horrific first quarter pick-six by Trevin Wade (who is unimpeachably awesome). It ended with a score on a hurry-up late TD with Iowa protecting a 17-point lead. Inbetween was one field goal off of a 58-yard run to the 1 by Nic Grigsby... and pain. Lots of pain.

The chief agents in Iowa's dissection of the Matt Scott Show were Adrian Clayborn, Karl Klug, and Tyler Sash. Clayborn and Klug were helldemons on the defensive line, continually pressuring Scott and wrecking the point of attack for Grigsby. Clayborn ended with 10 tackles, a sack, another tackle for loss (by running Grigsby down from behind, which a 280-pound man absolutely should not be able to do), and a forced fumble. But if he ended 10 plays, he affected about three times as many; Mike Diaz was little more than a turnstile at LT. Klug, too, had his name called plenty of times, and Sash was EPIC TYLER once again, his 43-yard interception return cementing the end to Scott's day.

As for the offense? Ehh. Ricky Stanzi was fine in the second half, as you might have guessed, but after the opening TD drive in the first quarter, Stanzi looked on the verge of implosion. He threw that interception to Wade, then spent most of the next few drives throwing balls to random places on the field. It was bad. Very bad. But for an utterly improbable 43-yard draw on 3rd and 23, Iowa might have gone into the locker room down at the break. Totally different game at that point? Eh, maybe. Not sure that does anything to the defense's demolition of the UA offensive line.

Also, taking nothing away from the effort-filled performances of Allen Reisner, Colin Sandeman, Paul Chaney Jr., and Riley Reiff... it's really obvious this team could use Tony Moeaki, DJK, and Bryan Bulaga back on the field. Like, soon. Preferably for next week.

Last, we would also be quite remiss if we didn't acknowledge a strong candidate for team MVP, Ryan Donahue. The Redheaded Cannonfoot boomed five punts for an average of 51 yards--2 stayed inside the 20 and another was a 62-yard touchback. Net punting on the day: 46.2 ypp. Considering that Arizona's was only 34.2, that's a significant benefit in the field position fight. Ask Arizona if they enjoyed staring at a long field after every time they held Iowa to a punt. Matt Scott will probably answer, and his response will be uncontrollable tears.

So that's that. 27-17 in the books, and a defense that is starting to look like the fearless ass-kickers we thought they'd be before the season began. Next week, Happy Valley. And the salvos begin firing... now.

Bring it.

Jewel Hampton Needs Knee Surgery, Out For Year; Brinson Also Out For UNI Game

Oops Pow Surprise — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:45:24 -0000

Good night, funny man.

No, it's not good at all. But at least it's official: Jewel Hampton is out for 2009 and will almost certainly redshirt.

Such news was confirmed at Kirk Ferentz's press conference this afternoon, and we're working on getting a good link on a transcript (either full or sensibly trimmed) for you folks. In the meantime, there's Hawkeye Nation's liveblog (the presser itself starts at 12:38) for your perusal.

Hampton evidently injured the knee on July 4, when the rumors started floating, but he was making his way back and even practicing before it became evident that he would need surgery to actually fix the problem. For whatever reason, Ferentz isn't specifying what's injured, just that surgery is necessary. Not really sure what Ferentz is trying to protect by staying vague, unless he doesn't know the exact injury (which, to be perfectly honest, shouldn't matter to him as much as the fact that he's out). Hampton should be out of commission for next spring's practice as well, but right now he's expected to return at full speed for 2010.

As for Jeff Brinson stepping in? Yes, well, about that... no. He's still recovering from some Fujiya & Miyagi style ankle injuries, and he's out for the week. That means PAKI BOMB IS A GO. Batten down the hatches.

As far as other "highlights":

Adam Robinson has quietly improved and looked nice in all areas, meaning he's #2 on the depth chart. We're a little skeptical about this, but he didn't look terrible at the open practice.
As expected, the Irish Car Bomb is done after back surgery. Godspeed.
Ferentz wants the Bryan Bulaga-to-the-NFL talk to wait until after the season. In other words, barring injuries, he's as likely to come back as Norm Parker's two toes.
Despite the team's best efforts, they couldn't hide the fact that true freshmen will actually play next week; Brandon Wegher, Keenan Davis, and Micah Hyde are expected to see significant time. No real surprises there.
Colin Sandeman may or may not play this week.
DJK has been dinged up and has missed three complete days of practice, which might be part of the reason why he's not starting per the 2-deeps.
Oh, and Paki O'Meara is also returning kicks as of today even with his starting role confirmed. Interesting.

Well, today had to come sooner or later, we guess. No more questions about Hampton until next season; now it's Brinson's ankle and whether he can work his way ahead of O'Meara and Robinson. If he can't, um, that's probably not a good sign, right?

Also... what does this do to your expectations for this Saturday?

Poll

Where are you setting the line for the UNI game?

Iowa by at least 42

34 votes

Iowa by 28-41

136 votes

Iowa by 14-27

269 votes

Iowa by 1-13

63 votes

UNI wins

45 votes

547 votes | Poll has closed

It's Not Plagiarism If You Link To It Wants Freedom, Frys

Hawkeye State — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 12:00:20 -0000

View full size photo »

Break Out the White Slacks. It's Not Labor Day Yet. Lost in the discussion of actual honest-to-God football is this week's big event: FryFest, a celebration of all things Hayden-related set for Friday in Coralville. Full details here (WARNING: There's sound, and you're going to want to stand up and clap, so wait until you get home or turn off the speakers), but the most publicized event will be the unveiling of the newly-named Hayden Fry Way -- also known as First Avenue in Coralville -- at 10:00 Friday morning. Hayden will be in attendance for this part of the ceremonies.

The subsequent party and trade show is where the real action is, however. In particular, a Hayden Fry lookalike contest at 3:30 could break the comedy meter. Also, guest appearances by Tim Dwight, Rob Thein, Mike Dolezal, and a number of other former Hawkeyes (they even found Randy Reiners!) provide ample opportunity for pictures, appropriate and otherwise. Go, minions, and bring back FanShots!

There haven't been too many stories on Fry yet this week, but Don Doxsie gets into the act early with a fantastic slideshow contrasted with a confusing article on the local business owners who helped organize this event, who are treating Hayden like he's the retired president of the Coralville Chamber of Commerce. It is bafflingly narcissistic and cynical; essentially, by the end of the column, the businessmen interviewed (and Rick Klatt, who might actually be a malfunctioning cyborg) are taking credit for their coordinated ability to get people to spend an extra day in Iowa City before the game.

Fun With Depth Charts, Part II: THE REDEPTHENING. A couple of points as follow-up on yesterday's discussion of the UNI two-deep:

Bama Hawkeye (who has been churning out wicked amounts of content at The Rivalry, Esq.) makes a good point: No true freshmen are listed on the UNI depth chart. No true freshmen made it that far last season, either, which makes me think they're being kep off the chart for redshirt purposes until the last possible moment. In other words, expect Hyde, Wegher, and Davis. Ferentz has said as much in private interviews.
Rittenberg made a post on the Iowa depth chart and injury situation on Friday that is now absent from his site. In it, he noted that Colin Sandeman has missed a significant amount of camp with an injury, and DJK has suffered a number of minor injuries "but has done well when given the chance."
You can pay attention to this stuff and slowly go insane like me, or you can throw up your hands and say "fuck it" like the Daily Iowan. Honestly, given the staff's Politburo-like control of information, you'll be equally informed.

Let's Talk Panthers. News from this week's opponent, the Former Iowa State Teachers' College. Earlier this week, we footnoted the indefinite suspension of three Panther backups. Yesterday, they added two more:

At his weekly press luncheon Tuesday, the Panthers’ head football coach announced suspensions of veteran backs Derrick Law and Taylor Brookins. Law, Farley said, is out for UNI’s Sept. 5 debut, and Brookins has been suspended indefinitely.

"As much as we want to win this game and as much as I want to win this game … we will not compromise our university and our football program to do that," Farley said. "We just feel that it’s even more magnified in a type of game like this against the University of Iowa."

Brookins is a junior and a Cedar Falls High graduate. He was arrested Saturday for possession of marijuana in Bremer County. Law, a senior from Kansas City who finished high school at Newton, was arrested Saturday. Authorities charged Law with two simple misdemeanors for public intoxication and criminal trespass after he walked into a house about two blocks from his home on North College Street in Cedar Falls.

I'm not going to pretend to know enough about UNI's current squad to anticipate what this might mean for their season, but losing your starting halfback 5 days before the season opener at Kinnick obviously doesn't improve the odds of the Panthers beating Iowa for the first time since 1898.

One player who will be available is Elijah Hodge, the brother of former Iowa linebacker Abdul Hodge, who transferred to Northern Iowa from Wisconsin following last season. Hodge brought pain against Iowa in 2007, but was brought low by a string of injuries and couldn't move back up the depth chart. Faced with the choice of moving to fullback or losing his fifth year, Hodge chose to transfer and play linebacker in I-AA. If he's healthy, he's dangerous.

Footnotes:

Keenan Davis is the only true freshman named to the Leadership Group for 2009, which bodes well for his chances to play: Of the 13 other members of that group, 11 are currently listed as starters, and the other 2 (Tyler Nielsen and James Vandenberg) are backing up other members of the group.
Either Kirk Herbstreit hasn't been paying attention or doesn't believe the APAKILYPSE is nigh: He lists Jewel Hampton among "Household Names by the End of September" in the Ninth Annual Herbie Awards. If wishing made it so, Kirk.
Doc Saturday is right: This year's Heisman race is going to totally suck, mostly because all three top vote-getters from last season are back and will probably suck the air out of the room, leaving shockingly little space for anyone else in the conversation.

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.