SB Nation - Paul Chaney Jr.

The Takeaway: Penn State

Adam Jacobi — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:00:20 -0000

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)

The Takeaway: Arizona

Adam Jacobi — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 12:01:34 -0000

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

Adam Jacobi — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 01:52:28 -0000

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.

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.

Paul Chaney Jr. Anchors 4 x 100 at Drake Relays, Is Kind Of Swole

Adam Jacobi — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 01:36:21 -0000

We'll get to the draft in a quick second -- WTF Mitch King -- but we just saw this picture and it's pretty awesome:

That's WR Paul Chaney doing something that must be pretty sweet: anchoring the 4 x 100 team to victory in the middle of a downpour at the Drake Relays here in Des Moines.

The rain has been no joke here this weekend-- we're talking about, like, 4 inches and counting (small penis joke goes here)--so it's not like they could have planned around the rain or anything. Or wait, they don't normally have track events in the middle of a downpour, right? Is it like baseball, or what's the deal with that?

Chaney also had this to say about the race:

Chaney was asked after Saturday's rain-soaked race what he prefers between running track and playing football.

"Today, it would probably be anchoring that," said Chaney, who plays receiver for the Iowa football team. "We play football in the rain like that, so it was nothing new to me."

Let's see, out of the two-deeps in football, or anchorman on a team that wins in the relays? Not a tough call.

At the same time, maybe we shouldn't be so dismissive of his prospects on the gridiron. It's pretty obvious that he's spent three years with Chris Doyle, so who knows? Maybe he's got a niche role waiting for him as a zone-stretcher out of the slot over the next couple years. He doesn't look undersized anymore, anyway.