Junior Senior - Move Your Feet from Manolis_G on Vimeo.

Big Ten Tournament win = Automatic Junior Senior. It's been six damn years.

It's not often we move our feet after a basketball game where Iowa goes without a made field goal for the last 9:20 of the game, but it's also not often that Iowa faces a team with a terminal case of the quitskies.

Matt Gatens, of course, was the leader in this one with 20 points, stellar all-around defense, and two huge free throws to push Iowa's final margin of victory to 3 points when Illinois threatened to come back late. Aaron White continued to play like a seasoned veteran with 13 points and 9 rebounds (though his late-game free throw shooting left plenty to be desired), and Josh Oglesby even collected 3 offensive rebounds. Yes, really. How that didn't just result in an automatic forfeit for Illinois escapes me.

Iowa bottled up Brandon Paul for the entire game, harassing the Illini's leading scorer into 4 points on 2-11 shooting and 7 turnovers, and terrifying man-giant Meyers Leonard pretty much disappeared down the stretch when Illinois faded.

So now Iowa is in the second round of the tournament for the first time since [COACH REDACTED] was in town -- seriously -- and Michigan State looms large in the next game, Friday at 11 a.m. CT. Say, isn't Michigan State due for its annual inexplicable loss to Iowa? Just sayin'.

This is our open thread of joyous victory, and all the standard rules apply -- no slurs, no boobs or cheesecake, no unauthorized streams of anything. Be excellent to each other. You know by now. And I hope you're already listening to Junior Senior and dancing, because Andrew Brommer sure as hell is.

It's officially official: Greg Davis is Iowa's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. The school made the announcement this afternoon, accompanied by what we'd have to call a come-hither gaze in Davis' new mugshot (either that or he's making his genius thinking face, because offensive coordinators do lots of thinking).

Davis has also officially been named Iowa's quarterbacks coach, as Ken O'Keefe held both roles too. Past that, Iowa released a statement from Kirk Ferentz in that earlier announcement, which comprises the entirety of what we didn't already know last week:

"We are thrilled to have Greg Davis join our staff." said Ferentz. "Greg has enjoyed great success during his career and I believe that can be attributed directly to the combination of his football expertise and teaching skills.

"Greg's units have demonstrated impressive production and they have done so using a variety of systems and styles - he has done an outstanding job of playing towards the strengths and abilities of the players with which he has worked.

"While Greg's body of work on the field has been stellar, I have been even more impressed with the many positive things I have learned about Greg as a person and staff member. I am very confident he will be a tremendous asset to our program, campus and community."

BHGP readers gave the hire a "decent" grade for the most part, and while we writers are rather whelmed by Davis -- I refer you once again to Vint's 1900-word breakdown of Davis and his Texas career -- it's important to note that initial reactions are only worth anything when there's no actual data to work off of. It's Greg Davis' offense now; time for him to make it work and reap the rewards if it does, and reap the consequences if it doesn't.

Hey, you know who else wore #5? Recently, even?

Picture credit: The Gazette

And just a quick refresher from Iowa's athletic department:

Woolridge was a first team All-Big Ten and third team All-American by the Associated Press his senior season. He averaged 20.2 points and six assists per game and became the first player to ever lead the Big Ten in both scoring and assists in the same season. Woolridge distributed 193 assists in 1996 and 192 in 1997, which rank first and second, respectively, on Iowa's single-season assists list.

So while I have absolutely no qualms with Iowa's #5 jersey becoming a mark of honor, like with Michigan football granting the #1 jersey to its top wide receivers, I beg of you this request: do not ask for the number to be retired, because if you want that number raised to the rafters, then we're necessarily going to have to start choosing sides between Andre Woolridge and Matt Gatens (and, if you demand a third-party candidate, I guess Jared Reiner?), and that is a civil war that nobody can possibly win. Let's not force ourselves to think even comparatively negative things about either of these players--both absolute titans of the black and gold--if we don't have to, okay?

Junior Senior - Move Your Feet from Manolis_G on Vimeo.

As if, as if we could run with anything else tonight. It's a win against Wisconsin. It's a sweep for the year. It's one more win to secure a .500 record on the year. And it's Matt Gatens, playing at a level we haven't seen from a Hawkeye since... well, who?

Gater's obviously the man of the match with 33 of Iowa's 67 points, including a ridiculous 7-9 performance from behind the arc. His streak of consecutive three-pointers ended at 12, but... he had a streak of 12 straight three-pointers. Also, he hit two late free throws to ice the game; Jordan Taylor banked in a 3 at the buzzer to make it a 1-point margin at the final, but Wisconsin never had the ball in a one-possession game after the first five minutes of the game. The Badgers came close, but every time, Iowa shut the door.

I'll leave the rest of the analysis to HEC and the Fran-Graphs tomorrow, but one last observation is that the student section was electric all night long, and Iowa needs to think long and hard about letting the students in free for the season finale vs, NITwestern. I don't want to say Iowa couldn't have made that upset happen without a rocking student section, because how would you ever know that, but on a school night with crappy weather and an 8 PM tipoff, it seems pretty clear that there wouldn't have been nearly as much energy in Carver-Hawkeye if you're charging the students admission.

But ah! We're getting off the topic here. LET US PARTY, FRIENDS.

Badger, I Eat You by Flula (via djflula)

This is Flula, the guy who wondered months ago how Daddy Longlegs makes a life. He's got it out for Badgers now, and obviously, so do we.

We've got a highly, wildly unlikely sweep of Wisconsin at stake here, and even though the Badgers are heavily favored, the game IS at Carver. Weirder things have happened.

The game is televised on ESPN2 tonight, plus simulcast on ESPN3.com, but we are still obligated to inform you that no links to unauthorized streams will be tolerated. Also, don't be racist or sexist or homophobic or otherwise prone to slurs. You guys all know that stuff by now, right? Right. Good.

If you were hoping that the Greg Davis rumors were nothing but smoke and disinformation, well, today is not your day. Kirk Bohls of the Austin American-Statesman, a gentleman who is about as well-connected to the Texas football program as Mack Brown himself, reported today that Greg Davis had accepted the Iowa offensive coordinator position.

I'm told former Texas asst Greg Davis has taken Iowa OC job; 247's Bobby Burton first mentioned Iowa's interest in GD. #ut

— kbohls (@kbohls) February 22, 2012

If there's any solace to be taken from this report, it's that it's just that: a report. Iowa hasn't confirmed this news yet (Steve Roe told me over email this afternoon that he couldn't confirm anything), and what with members of the football staff going all I'M ON A BOAT, there's a built-in excuse for delaying the announcement for about as long as they'd like.

Patrick ably summed up what kind of a coach Greg Davis is and how much sense he made as KOK's replacement (verdict: too much), so feel free to give that another read for a refresher on what Iowa's apparently getting itself into for the 2012 season and beyond. Past that, the undeniable takeaway from this alleged hire is this from Jason Kirk:

This would just about complete Iowa's coaching staff for 2012, and, despite all the upheaval, it's just about indistinguishable from last year, with 13-year Iowa vet Phil Parker taking over the defense.

Indistinguishable is a bit much, but only a bit. And as Patrick said yesterday: we should have seen this coming.

You didn't really think Kirk Ferentz would go off on a cruise without making at least one hire, did you? Iowa announced this morning that Ferentz had named son Brian Ferentz the new offensive line coach and LeVar Woods the linebacker coach.

Woods' hiring was widely expected as inevitable; he was named the interim defensive line coach after the season, and Reese Morgan was moved to DL coach while the LB coach position was left open. Woods was a linebacker for Iowa under Hayden Fry and then Kirk Ferentz before a lengthy NFL career, and had spent the last four seasons as an administrative assistant for the program.

The move to hire Brian Ferentz, however, leaves more questions about the final status of the offensive coaching staff. Brian joins Iowa from New England, where he was the tight ends coach under Bill Belichick (New England's TEs were okay this year, weren't they? That's not all Brian's doing, of course, but still). This, then, is a lateral move at best for Brian as it stands right now, and while he's still far ahead of the coaching curve for a 28-year-old, one can't help but wonder if Brian has at least an unofficial arrangement for progression in the Iowa program over the next fewyears. The fact that Iowa's assistant coach pay is currently on the level of Illinois can't make the prospect of coming to Iowa City from the NFL very appealing, either.

As the Iowa press release notes, there's still one open position on the staff, meaning the offensive coordinator could still be hired from elsewhere. Marc Morehouse says Citadel head coach Kevin Higgins was approached about the OC spot, but decided to stay at Citadel. So Iowa's options are pretty wide open as far as the next hire goes: the hire could take over Ken O'Keefe's role as OC/QB coach, or he could just coach quarterbacks while either Lester Erb, Erik Campbell, or even Brian Ferentz (unlikely as this would be, as coaches don't normally get promoted in their first month) would be elevated to offensive coordinator.

Additionally, the team could adopt a dual-coordinator approach, as some coaching staffs have split OC responsibilities between the running game and passing game. Campbell would be ideal as a passing game coordinator, though it would be odd to hire a quarterbacks coach and give him control of the running game. Graduate assistant David Raih (a former Iowa walk-on QB and UCLA graduate assistant) could step up to QB coach and cede the running game responsibilities to Erb in this scenario. But the duel-coordinator staff scenario is pretty foreign to Kirk Ferentz, so that fact alone may make it a non-starter.

Lots of options here. What's your ideal hire here? Who's the offensive coordinator in 2012? Plausible and idiotic ideas alike are always welcome here, of course.

Hello, friends.

We're going to have a lot to discuss over the next few weeks about Iowa's next offensive coordinator. Obviously, a lot of us are salivating/masturbating over the prospect of a spread guru so that all quarters can be like the 2011 Pitt fourth quarter (because that's totally how it works), but the reality is that Ken O'Keefe's departure was hardly Kirk Ferentz's decision to make, so the notion that Ferentz would go in a decidedly different direction from a tactical standpoint probably needs a little more logical footing before it's something to seriously entertain.

Marc Morehouse over at the Gazette ran down the list of possible replacements from within, and there was this nugget about Erik Campbell buried in Lester Erb's blurb (A "Lester blerb," if you will) that I hadn't been aware of:

Lester Erb

He's been the journeyman of Ferentz's staff, starting with receivers in 2000, adding co-special teams and then moving to running backs and co-special teams.

If the hire comes from within, it's hard to say where he'd rank. Campbell has been offered a job nearly every year he's been at Iowa (Michigan came knocking when Brady Hoke took over).

Emphasis ours. So, this poses an interesting question about Campbell's desirability from outside, and one that has at least two plausible answers. And the question is this: Does Erik Campbell's status as a coveted assistant coach make him more likely to be promoted to Iowa's offensive coordinator?

Continue reading this post »

Note: This is my last post for Black Heart Gold Pants, so I hope you read all the way through for everything I have to say. I hope you read everything on this site all the way through, actually, but especially this post.

Sure, Iowa just lost the Insight Bowl, 31-14. But what was really important about losing to Oklahoma? How much do we really know? What does it all mean, Basil? The Takeaway has the answer.

Jordan Canzeri. Jordan Canzeri. Jordan Canzeri. All that talk about "running back by committee" and "we'll use anyone who can play RB"? Yeah, forget it. Kirk Ferentz decided to hitch his wagon to Jordan Canzeri, and the result was... well, pretty much what you'd expect from a 172-pound true freshman tailback facing a fast defense: three yards a pop, several big hits taken, and an offense that doesn't move very effectively.

Obviously things would have been different with Marcus Coker out there, and the Hawkeyes should be pissed that Coker did whatever he did and took himself out of the game (though from the sound of it, this isn't likely to be a lingering problem, so take that, AIRBHG). But Coker and Mika'il McCall obviously weren't available, so why on earth did Ferentz and/or Ken O'Keefe go basically 50/50 on rushes and passes in the first half? The passes weren't even particularly ambitious or aggressive; Jamell Fleming shut down Marvin McNutt for most of the game, and one Vandenberg figured out he wasn't going to get McNutt open very often, he stuck with safe underneath passes until late, and Iowa's offense suffered. Iowa didn't run a winning gameplan until it was time to go hurry-up spread, and Vandenberg flourished there; unlike the Pitt game, however, Iowa didn't have the talent to make up the large deficit.

Kirk Ferentz, riverboat gambler. For all the jokes about Kirk Ferentz doing things like kneeling on the ball with 7 minutes left in the half and calling a draw in a Hail Mary situation, the one aspect of his game where he's actually comfortable with taking a fairly significant risk is his 4th down playcalling. Ferentz doesn't actually punt inside the 40 very often at all anymore, and he's been pretty reliable with keeping the offense on the field on 4th and 1 from basically anywhere in enemy territory.

So when Iowa faced a 4th and 1 on its first productive drive at the Oklahoma 9-yard line (indeed, the next time Iowa would get that close was with under a minute left in the 3rd quarter), Ferentz didn't hesitate to dial up a run play. Now, the fact that he went with Canzeri to carry the ball instead of, oh, anyone else is unsettling*, but the fact is that if the play were properly officiated, Iowa would have had a first down. Iowa was ready to go with its quick-snap look like usual on 4th down, but the referee stood over the snap while Oklahoma was able to get its defense set... and then didn't notice the Oklahoma cornerback running onto the field from Iowa's side of the LOS when the ball was finally snapped, which is just about the easiest offsides penalty you can call. Kirk Ferentz was pissed, and he should have been. By and large, the officiating was good in the game, but a momentary fit of incompetence screwed Iowa out of a golden opportunity for a touchdown, and that sucks.

*While we're talking about short yardage situations, did it occur to anybody else during the game that Bob Stoops was basically running a clinic on how to use a QB like A.J. Derby with his package of plays for Blake Bell? Stoops incorporates a large, gifted QB into his gameplan situationally; Kirk Ferentz shrugs and moves that large, gifted QB to linebacker.

Continue reading this post »

[Ed. note -- This first appeared in BHGP in April 2009. It is republished today in honor of Norm Parker. Or something like that. We just think he would think it's funny.]

Periodically during the off-season, BHGP will present readers an opportunity to have Iowa legend Norm Parker answer one of their questions. We think it's an opportunity to educate and inform fans about the state of the Iowa football program, plus just let "Norm be Norm." Now, our lawyers insist that for legal reasons, we make it clear that none of this is not actually true, but we're pretty sure that anyone who's read BHGP for more than 5 seconds knows that already.

Dear Norm:

What's the situation with the linebackers? Is A.J. Edds' injury serious?

Steve P., Loretta, KS

Loretta, huh? Loretta's my wife's name! Funny story about that--she wasn't my first choice. I never told her this, but back when I was 24 and just getting out of the Marines, I decided I needed to settle down, picked out a ring and everything, but I didn't have a lady in my life at that point. So I go over to Rod's Diner, great old place, burned down back in '87, and I order a porterhouse, medium. You order a medium rare there, and the thing's still mooing. God, I miss that place. Anyway, steak comes out, and it's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life. So I ask the steak to marry me. God as my witness, the thing says yes!

Well, I'd never been so happy in my life, still haven't. Damn thing of it is, though, where do you put an engagement ring on a 14-ounce steak? They don't have fingers! If you just put it on top, it falls off too easy, but if you put it under the steak, nobody can see it and it just gets all covered in the juice. So we fought for a while before I realized that it wasn't going to work. I'm about to cry just thinking about it, but sure enough, I decided that I had to eat my very first fiancee. Especially before it got cold! So I'm eating and crying and eating and crying, washing it all down with a Stroh's or five, and next thing I know, I can't find the ring anymore. And it dawns on me... I ate that too! Well, nothing much you can do at that point but pray, you know. And I don't know if you've ever passed a 3/4 carat diamond, but that is absolute hell on your intestines.

So that's how my first engagement went south. I went from a committed man to crapping blood for five months straight. My life's never been the same. But Loretta's nice all the same, I suppose. Plus she's got something any fiancee needs... a ring finger!!

Norm Parker is the defensive coordinator for the University of Iowa. His wife is not named Loretta.

Here's your postgame thread. And here is your reminder that we do not tolerate slurs (AND SINCE WE STILL APPARENTLY HAVE TO KEEP REMINDING PEOPLE THAT INCLUDES "GAY" AS AN INSULT, AS IF GAY HAWKEYE FANS DON'T EXIST ALL OF A SUDDEN) , personal attacks, objectionable images, or any other douchebaggin' that would get you banned everywhere else. That all out of the way? All right... have at it.

Sure, Nebraska just beat Iowa, 20-7. But how much do we really know? What was so important about Nebraska beating Iowa? What does it all mean, Basil? The Takeaway has the answer.

My entire takeaway is this: Fuck this season.

Good morning and a happy Thursday to you all. For the vast, vast majority of you, this means time with family, time off from work, and time to reflect on what enriches your lives.

I can't speak to everyone who writes at BHGP, but I think I know enough to try -- and if I left anything out, well, that's what a comment thread is here for. And speaking of which: let's not skimp on thankfulness today, regardless of whether you're the first person to suggest something or not. If you're the 30th person in the thread to give thanks to your spouse for marrying your idiot ass, be the 30th person to give thanks for that, y'know? This is a time for honesty, compassion, and good will, not impressing anybody.

That all out of the way? Good.

So here's what we at BHGP are thankful for.

First and foremost, we are thankful for the loved ones in our lives -- the loving family we're born with, the companions who graciously make us feel special, and the network of friends who provide us with the outlets that keep us sane. Together, they all choose to make every second of every day worth it for all of us.

Also, we are thankful for a network like SB Nation who has not only provided a platform for our borderline incoherent ramblings, but has actively encouraged it and has thrown a dollar or two our way for it. If BHGP were a job, it wouldn't even be legal by child labor standards in terms of pay, but it's not a job, not ever. It's a labor of love.

We're thankful for the thousands of people who come to this site every day, whether it be to learn about the Hawkeyes or to laugh about the Hawkeyes or to laugh at the Hawkeyes or to laugh at us. And to the commenters, who have turned this from a website full of cheap jokes about the Big Ten to the best community since Community, we are indebted beyond belief.

And lastly, as the picture above should probably tell you, we are immensely thankful to the people at the University of Iowa Children's Hospital who approached us a year and a half ago and asked if we wanted to help with Iowa Touchdowns For Kids. We had no idea that it would result in over $20,000 pledged by the BHGP community in the very first year and over $30,000 total from us alone -- and altogether nearly half a million dollars in two years for the Children's Hospital and its brand new addition. You, the BHGP community, are a major factor in the building of the new Children's Hospital addition, and soon you'll be able to see it and be proud of it every time you're in Kinnick Stadium.

We are, by the way, coming to the end of the regular season, and Touchdowns For Kids is a regular season-only fundraiser. Iowa has 38 touchdowns right now, and will likely be at 40 or above by the end of the game. So there's not really a lot of uncertainty about what a pledge of $1 or $3 or $5 per touchdown will mean for your bottom line, if you've got it to spare. There's also no uncertainty whatsoever about what your money will go to: construction of the new UI Children's Hospital expansion. Not to BHGP, not to the fundraising staff, not to the rest of the hospital. Every penny is for the new expansion. And if you've enjoyed your Thursday with family and want to make it possible for other families to be as happy, healthy, and whole as possible, please click right here. And have a happy Thanksgiving holiday, friends.

IOWA CITY--At an often emotional press conference on Tuesday, Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz admitted to reporters that he was so angry, he defecated a fully functional headset during Saturday's 37-21 loss to Michigan State.

"Jerel Worthy was there on the ground after another first down, acting like he'd taken a Louisville Slugger right below the ear," said Ferentz. "I knew he was lying. Everyone knew he was lying. How am I supposed to react to that?"

"We're not Oregon -- obviously," Ferentz said before adding a derisive snort. "So on offense, [Dantonio]` can run fake field goals, but on defense you have to roll around like Vlade Divac to stop the clock? Hang on, I have something in my eye, I need to karate chop it out."

Ferentz then said that his anger over the situation caused him a great deal of abdominal stress before that discomfort expressed itself violently, mid-rant. 

"I felt a pinching sensation, then I felt a rip in my khakis and thought I had grown a tail," Ferentz said to a chorus of laughs from the Iowa beat reporters. "I honestly thought I did. But then I heard it hit the ground and I knew that sound immediately. I guess I had ripped the headset off its cord then shoved it in my mouth during a previous yelling session. Norm [Parker] told me that happens to him a lot. There was a lot of cord still left on it, though. I don't know, it's weird, no question. I hope I got the message across. I don't really feel like doing that again."

Ferentz was not flagged for his defecatory exuberance, nor was he fined; a cursory scan of NCAA and Big Ten rules shows that there are no by-laws that cover a coach's digestive system and/or ingested foreign objects by non-players. The Big Ten announced that had the headset been pooped by a player, it would have been trusted for drug and money, but coaches are pretty much allowed to have as much of those as they want.

This is thought to be Ferentz's first instance of pooping things during play since his Iowa coaching debut in 1999, when an Eric Crouch run caused a series of bricks to effectively de-pants Ferentz.

We are sad to report that Ferentz's digested and excreted headset has been examined for diseases and other sundry health concerns by graduate assistants, but that they all quit their jobs when told why we were asking them to do this. We have been told to expect lawsuits. 

Sure, Iowa just lost to Michigan State, 37-21. But how much do we really know? What was so important about losing to Michigan State? What does it all mean, Basil? The Takeaway has the answer.

And that just happened. It's hard to take a whole lot away from a game where Iowa craps the bed on a grander scale than at any other point in the season. Sure, it was going to be a tall task to beat Michigan State, and I don't want to give the impression that the Spartans didn't earn the victory; clearly, they did.  It's just... what's there to take from a game where Iowa's -3 in turnovers and all three had a major effect on the scoreboard? That the Hawkeyes shouldn't turn the ball over three times? Of course they shouldn't. That the Hawkeye defense needs to do a better job at keeping the opposing team out of the end zone with a short field? Clearly, yes, but good luck making demands like that, you know? The point is, the turnover margin was both Michigan State's best and Iowa's worst of the year, and every now and then, those games are going to happen.

Unless y'all want me to blame Ken O'Keefe for Jordan Bernstine fumbling the kickoff, anyway. We might be able to pull that argument off. Maybe.

Continue reading this post »

It's a new year and things are getting better. They're certainly faster, but by all accounts they're better. How much better? Who knows? We're allowed to enjoy optimism, right? It won't end in pain and like 20 losses will, does it? We hope not, because here is your optimistic look at the 2011-2012 Iowa Hawkeyes. First up: the big men.

The Sizzle and the Steak

Melsahn Basabe (Forward, #1, Sophomore, 6'7", 225, St. Mark's HS (Glen Cove, NY))

For a true freshman who was all set to attend a MAAC school before Fran showed up here and poached him, Melsahn Basabe sure kicked some ass in 2011. Basabe was both athletic and relentless in his attack on the inside, and it netted him 11.0 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks per game, with a .572 FG% to show for it. His footwork in the post isn't great, but it's better than Reggie Evans' or Doug Thomas' ever was at Iowa (NOTE: Not that much of a compliment).

Basabe's a year older now, and he's got the benefit of a season under his belt and 15 pounds of added muscle; McCaffrey said Basabe came in at 210 and while Basabe will never hit 245, well, they don't want him that big anyway so he's pretty close to his ideal weight right now. Certainly the added muscle's going to help in the interior, and Fran's going to make sure that Basabe's not going to get weighed down to the point that he's no longer as much of an asset in the open floor; if anything, Basabe having a full year in a D-I conditioning program is going to be every bit as beneficial as whatever muscle gains he's made. 

We're not about to set baselines for performance (i.e.: Basabe must average a 15-8 or Iowa will suffer), because Basabe scored 6 points on 1-5 shooting in Iowa's exhibition against NW Missouri State and the world didn't end. And even if he'd hit every shot, he'd still have gotten only 5 FGAs and 6 FTAs in 21 minutes of play, and that's not a tremendously high usage rate for a guy who's going to have to be your biggest threat in the interior. Do we want to see him put up monster stats this year? Of course. But barring a dropoff in productivity, there are no magic numbers that Basabe has to hit in order for Iowa to be successful.

The Prodigal Sorcerer

Devon Archie (Forward, #35, Senior, 6'9", 222, Vincennes CC/Ben Davis HS (Indianapolis))

It remains a source of astonishment that Archie is going to exhaust his eligibility here at Iowa. That's not at all an indictment of his character or anything of the sort, it's just that he was a juco kid who came to Iowa and immediately suffered a serious shoulder injury that cost him a year -- and generally, even if they have redshirt years to burn (which Archie did), juco players don't usually have the luxury of taking a year off at D-I programs. Worse yet for Archie's prospects, the coach that recruited him was axed for what we assume was marked "comical incompetence" on the official form, and the new coach had pretty much nothing to judge this player on. That's a recipe for a transfer to a mid-major or a D-II school every time.

Except this is not every time, apparently, so Archie stuck around, and he found himself in a very limited reserve role in 2010, a season most marked by his cover-your-eyes .261 FT%. Again, recipe for transfer, right? Well, no, and Archie is not only back for his senior season, he's starting in the exhibition season.

Archie is favorably athletic; just on appearance alone, at a built 6'9" (The website says 222, Fran put him at 240, so this just SCREAMS eating disorder, DEVELOPING....),  he looks like he belongs on a Big Ten court. Of course, by that metric, Duez Henderson should have been an All-American, but we didn't come here to smear the good name of Duez. The point is, Archie's got the athleticism to both bang and move, but if he can't put all that together for 20 minutes of solid play a game, there just might be someone behind him who can.

Continue reading this post »

Sure, Iowa just hung on for an upset victory against Michigan, 24-16. But what was really important about beating Michigan? How much do we really know? What does it all mean, Basil? The Takeaway has the answer.

Michigan, you got Demarlo'd! It's not entirely fair to compare Junior Hemingway's attempted one-hand grab with Demarlo Belcher's extremely unfortunate drop against Iowa in 2010; Belcher's catch was orders of magnitude easier, it would have won the game outright, and it came on 4th down, not 2nd like Hemingway's. Those are all the differences.

That all said, Michigan had a potential game-tying TD (pending the conversion, of course) in its proverbial hands and the receiver just plain couldn't pull the ball in correctly, and that's the type of margin that exists in close games like this. If all you want to do is take positives from the previous 59 minutes and 58 seconds just because Hemingway can't make a falling one-handed grab, that's your prerogative, but it's a dumb way to learn anything about football.

No, the fact is that Iowa won this game in the first three quarters, and for once failed to give the game away late, as is often the Hawkeyes' prerogative. The problem's not solved. It just didn't affect the W/L columns this time.

Continue reading this post »

Sure, Iowa just lost to Minnesota, 22-21. But how much do we really know? What was so important about losing to Minnesota? What does it all mean, Basil? The Takeaway has the answer.

Minnesota has the pig for two straight years, for the first time since a three-year stretch from 1998-2000. Well, you know, that's certainly not what this team wanted, and we're going to have to look at our game preparation and see what we're not doing right. But that's Big Ten football, you know, and you can't dwell on results in the past, you just have to get back up and stick to your gameplan and just be ready to out-execute the next team in front of you.

Seriously, Minnesota lost to New Mexico State and North Dakota. No question, we wanted to get this win, and we thought we had the game plan in place to do it. But hats off to Minnesota, Jerry Kill's a great guy, and they just executed better down the stretch and found a way to get the win. That's just football. 

Continue reading this post »

This was going to be a piece of The Takeaway, but it wasn't going to lead the thing off, so we think it deserves its own post instead.

If Marvin McNutt keeps this pace, he is going to lay waste to Iowa's record book for receiving. Ross talked about this a bit in his recap, and I mentioned it in my Winners/Losers post over at the All-Seeing Eye, but here's the perfect place to flesh it all out. Marvin McNutt already has the Iowa receiving touchdown record by a healthy margin. If this season's production keeps up, he's not just going to be the best statistical receiver Iowa's ever had, he's going to do to Iowa's records what Jerry Rice did to the NFL's (note: this is the only time anybody will ever compare McNutt to Jerry Rice).

Here are McNutt's statistics so far:

2008: 1 catch, 11 yards
2009: 34 catches, 674 yards, 8 TDs
2010:  53 catches, 861 yards, 8 TDs
2011: 41 catches, 757 yards, 8 TDs
Career: 129 catches, 2304 yards, 24 TDs

Right now, McNutt is 7th in total receptions, 2nd in total receiving yards, and obviously tops in touchdowns. If that's not the best receiving performance in Iowa history, we can see that argument, but it's clearly in the top four. 

And now let's extrapolate McNutt's production out to a 13-game schedule, and before you automatically call foul on that notion, may we remind you, Minnesota remains on Iowa's schedule, and their DBs come pre-installed with Christmas lights, because they're primed to get LIT UP. 

2011 (projected): 76 catches, 1405 yards, 15 TDs
Career (projected): 164 catches, 2952 yards, 31 TDs

If those numbers hold up, McNutt would be second behind Derrell Johnson-Koulianos by nine catches for the career reception mark, he would own the yardage record over DJK by 336 yards, and he would have the touchdown mark by an almost insurmountable 10 TDs.

But the record book is more than career numbers, and if McNutt puts together a season like that this year, that kind of a year would be basically unlike anything Iowa's ever seen. Here are those numbers again, next to the current Iowa single season leaders.

76 catches (Kevin Kasper, 2000, 82)
1405 yards (Keith Chappelle, 1980, 1037)
15 TDs (Maurice Brown, 2002, 11) 

Now, here's the most important aspect of these projections: McNutt has not achieved them yet. He actually has to set the records before he deserves the credit for them, so with that we are not going to hail him as the best ever until he makes it happen. The path is there, though, and that is very, very awesome.

(Ed. Note: Iowa's Greatest Wide Receiver and Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week; ol' Marvin is just racking up the plaudits this week. -- RB)

Sure, Iowa just beat Indiana, 45-24. But how much do we really know? What was really important about beating Indiana? What does it all mean, Basil? The Takeaway has the answer.

Well, at least we're not them. For as much as we've groused about Iowa's shortcomings this year, look where the Hawkeyes are now: 5-2 (2-1), and whipping fellow Big Ten member Indiana. Iowa's going back to a bowl for the 9th time in 10 years by the end of this season (barring outright catastrophe, anyway), and Indiana's going to have attended just one bowl in that same stretch. So, look: even for Big Ten teams, it can be so much worse than what Iowa's got, and it's nice to see the Hawkeyes reaffirm the fact that even in what you or I might call a "down" year, they're remaining on a much higher level than the Hoosiers.  

More to the point of this game, Iowa's offensive leaders flexed nuts. Marcus Coker and Marvin McNutt were both over 100 yards by halftime, and James Vandenberg's final numbers -- 12-16, 253 yards, 4 TDs, 0 INT, passer rating of 290.33 -- were filthy. Kirk Ferentz didn't get cute with the offense when it faced an inferior D; he basically challenged Indiana to stop the best players Iowa's got, and the Hoosiers obviously couldn't. That's not to say that we're exactly happy to see Kevonte Martin-Manley and his departure from the offensive gameplan, as KMM has all of four catches for 27 yards in the last three games (none of which came Saturday), but at least JVB was bombing Indiana's secondary with McNutt instead.  

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Sure, Iowa just beat Northwestern 41-31. But what do we really know? What was so important about beating Northwestern? What does it all mean, Basil? The Takeaway has the answer.

They're just Northwestern. This win didn't matter. Seriously, it didn't. Iowa went from getting zero votes from the AP or Coaches Poll Top 25 last week to... getting zero votes from either the AP or Coaches Poll Top 25 this week. And who can blame voters? All Iowa did was beat Northwestern, a team that is now 2-4 on the season, on a four-game losing streak, and is just Northwestern. And Iowa gave up 31 points and roughly 873 third-down conversions to that team. We witnessed Rocky V, not Rocky IV.

That said, praise the goddamn lord. I hate it when Iowa plays Northwestern. Not only because of the losses, but because Iowa always goes up big on these clowns, then chokes it away, usually in horribly painful fashion. It's 30 minutes of ecstasy followed by 150 minutes of unceasing agony, and a malaise that never goes away. It's what drug addiction must be like. It's sex with the girl of your dreams then finding out she gave you syphilis. It's opening Pandora's Box, and finding out that all the evils in the world are primarily concerned with kicking you in the dick. It's a strawberry/ghost pepper smoothie. DO NOT WANT. And with the Hawkeyes totally unable to get Northwestern off the field in the second and third quarters, it was all totally happening again. But then... it didn't. And that was neat!

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Let's do up the partying right here. Here, I'll start.

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Hey guys! I was too busy to write a Takeaway for Penn State earlier this week, so I'll write the HTT for Patrick. He and I haven't really coordinated on what the right topic for this week would be, but I think I've got a really good handle on this team and their opponent and all that good stuff so here goes. -- Adam

Marcus Coker is the best running back in the Big Ten. He was on the cover of Sports Illustrated and he is probably ready to do some big-time rushing at this jNWU defense. If you want to talk about how good Marcus Coker is, head on over to Scout Dot Com and do up the talking about Marcus Coker there. Don't do it here. Do it there. They have given us money. Anyway he'll probably run for 150 and a touchdown or three, because why wouldn't he? It's just Northwestern.

THEME TIME! Here's the thing: They're just Northwestern. Yeah, I know Iowa hasn't been so hot against jNWU recently. Bah! I think that's because the Hawkeyes have been taking jNWU too seriously, which lends the Wildcats more legitimacy than they've earned. If you don't believe a team should be able to beat you, you won't let that team beat you. It's science.

jNWU is pretty bad this year, and we all know it. Dan Persa's still so hobbled that Kain Colter has to do all the designed rushes. Not a giveaway on personnel there or anything. Mike Trumpy is out for the year, and jNWU doesn't realize Adonis Smith is any good, so there goes any shot at a ground game. Expect a big-time shutdown here.

I bet Marcus Coker would be good at rush defense, if he wanted to be. But he doesn't want to be part of Northwestern's problem, he wants to be part of Iowa's solution. Good guy. More after the break.

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