Bama Hawkeye

It's one of the rare Pat Harty articles I finished. It also is more damning of Alford than anything else that has been written.

"Jerry Sandusky was convicted Friday of sexually assaulting 10 boys over 15 years, accusations that shattered the Happy Valley image of Penn State football and led to the firing of Hall of Fame coach Joe Paterno. Sandusky, a 68-year-old retired defensive coach who was once Paterno's heir apparent, was found guilty of 45 of 48 counts." Now the son of a bitch can rot in hell.

The father of Iowa running back Jordan Canzeri confirmed to Hawkeye Insider Thursday night that an MRI performed on his son revealed that he tore his ACL. The injury happened in a non-contact drill. "Dr. (Ned) Amendola said it was the ACL but the good news is that the rest of the knee is solid," Brian Canzeri said. "He's going to have surgery next week and hopes to get back into practice in September." Brian Canzeri said that he expects his son to ease into things when he's cleared to practice and will most likely redshirt for the 2012 season. How ridiculous is this? A legitimate sports writer for a newspaper has had to write an article explaining how the Iowa RB position is not cursed. In January, Patrick Vint at Black Heart Gold Pants did a fantastic job explaining why that might not be the case.

Ken O'Keefe, Iowa's Offensive Coordinator has left Iowa City to take the position of Quarterbacks Coach for the Miami Dolphins. Wow. On one hand, KOK was the scapegoat when Iowa's playcalling got stale and predictable. How much of that was his doing and how much was Kirk Ferentz's is hard to tell. On the other hand, Iowa, which as of three months ago had one coach, one defensive coordinator and one offensive coordinator over the past 13 seasons, will now have two big vacancies to fill. Godspeed, KOK. Thank you for tutoring Brad Banks, Drew Tate, and Ricky Stanzi.

Nebraska has found itself on two years probation from the NCAA for its text book scandal from last summer. Huskers, knock this off. You're not in the Big XII anymore. This stuff doesn't fly here. We're a classier establishment than tha...oh, Ohio State? Penn State? Heh. Nevermind. Just don't get busted for anything else, OK?

Credit Nike for this: you can do a lot of ugly when your colors are maroon and gold. It looks like the designers stayed calm and kept it simple. That's a good thing.

Well, this sucks. Mracus Coker, 2nd team All Big Ten running back and workhorse for the 2011 Hawkeyes, is leaving. He's been on suspension since mid-December due to "a violation of University policies." His back-up, Mika'il McCall, announced his departure 10 days ago. In 2010, Sophomores Brandon Wegher, Jewel Hampton, and Adam Robinson all left the Hawkeyes program for personal and/or disciplinary reasons. For a school that runs an offense geared around the running back, running back attrition should not be this big of an issue. Yet, for the second straight year, Iowa will enter the 2012 season with only one running back who has ever received a start on the roster. In 2012, that will be Jordan Canzeri, the tiny, true Freshman who started the Insight Bowl. [UPDATE: Pat Vint takes on the role of mortician on the careers of the last 14 running backs to sign to play at Iowa. None of them has made it to his Senior season.]

The agent for San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Greg Roman says his client is a finalist to replace Joe Paterno at Penn State. Mike Harrison said Monday by phone that Roman interviewed for the position in November and is on the "short list" at the embattled program, rocked in recent months by the sex-abuse scandal. Harrison said he expects to know in about a week whether Roman will be hired, but declined to offer further details, such as whether Roman would finish out the season with the playoff-bound NFC West champion 49ers (13-3).

Per ESPN, Penn State has identified New England Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O'Brien as the coach it wants to succeed Joe Paterno, sources told ESPN. The two sides are expected to meet this week to try to work out a deal. With New England getting ready to head into its bye week before the AFC divisional playoffs, and with Penn State's season finishing up Monday against Houston in the TicketCity Bowl, the school is expected to intensify its efforts to hire O'Brien.

The Michigan State football team is set to play Georgia in the Outback bowl on Monday and head coach Mark Dantonio decided to lighten up his team and pull a prank on them during Thursday’s practice in Tampa, Florida. Coach Dantonio brought a live alligator to practice and wanted to surprise the players/coaching staff by having someone dressed in Michigan State football gear to wrestle it. So, Dantonio got an alligator handler to dress up as a player and run over to wrestle the gator, the only issue was that he slipped and fell down as the alligator decided to chomp on his leg.