Scene: The Iowa locker room moments before taking on Illinois in the Big Ten Tournament.

Can I have your attention please?

I have something I think you all ought to know about. It seems that the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee doesn't think too highly of our RPI. They thought we'd be bad enough to finish low enough to the point where they could select Northwestern and exclude all of our seniors from post-season play, in favor of better personnel.

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Hello BHGP Community, Cornshoe here.  I thought I would let you all know that Hawkeye Elvis will be in attendence at Saturday's game.  Because Elvis loved football and he loved bacon. And dammit, that pig is going home with us. I love meeting fellow Hawkeye fans up here in LOLpher-Land, especially followers of the Pants. So stop and say hello when you see me walking around.  I'll be dressed accordingly:

 

Thank ya, thank ya very much....

HFMR's preview work this season has been outstanding. This week's work is no exception. However, in looking at that, I remembered a photo that I took during warm-ups before the Pitt game:

 

That is one eerie damn coincidence my friends. I didn't see him during the warm-ups, but I'm willing to bet that Kirk Ferentz was wearing a purple tank top under that black jacket.

Let's hope that KOK's Voodoo Magic continues to work this week and the rest of the season.

GO HAWKS!!!

You all know what I'm talking about: The St. Patrick's Day Massacre. Today is the 5-year anniversary of the last time Iowa played in the NCAA Tournament.  The Hawks blew a 20-point lead and lost on a 3-point shot practically at the buzzer to Northwestern State.

I watched the game at a Buffalo Wild Wings in Columbus, GA, visiting a friend who was stationed in the Army down there. Most of the game was pleasant enough, with glasses of green beer flowing and plates of wings being devoured. After collapsing on the floor in shock at the end of the game, I staggered to my feet, made my way to the bar and ordered shots of Jack Daniels to try to ease the pain.

Where were you watching when the Hawkeye Basketball team fell into the deep, dark hole that Fran is working hard to pull them out of?

Well shit, that was one we let get away, huh? I really thought we were going to win this one. I just got done going through the game thread comments and you are all far too kind.  First and foremost, all of the credit for the Elvis costume goes to my mother who made it for me for the Michigan State football game.  She also reads this site and thinks everyone on here is awesome.

I figured I'd be on TV a couple of times but damn, I'm almost embarassed now.  But when you sit in the first row behind the basket and you are dressed like Elvis, well, you're gonna get some airtime. Also, while I have season tickets for hoopyball, those weren't my regular seats today.  I had noticed at the Minnesota game that the section directly next to the pep band seemed a little sparse. So when I got to CHA today, I just marched straight down to the front row and set up shop. The guys dressed as Teletubbies and Captain Morgan and the like were all from the student section and should get their props for livening things up.

The biggest missed opportunity of the day came at the end of regulation when Michigan's half-court shot came up short, bounced twice and landed directly in my hands.  I threw the ball back to the ref and only as it left my hands did I realize it was Hightower. Had I recognized it a split-second earlier, I would have chucked it at that asshole's head. Image the scene caused if Elvis had been escorted from CHA by security after drilling Hightower in the face with the ball.

But I digress. Our Hoopyballers are getting better, our building was full and loud and excited and we are gonna be good again very soon.  A couple of other quick notes and then I will end this way too long post.

Got to meet fellow BHGPer, The Final Gun, albiet far too briefly.  Horace, I would have loved to have met you as well. Damn fine work on the Fran-Graphs, keep it up.

Elvis seems to be a hit when he shows up on campus, so I'll break him out annually for a football and basketball game.

Thanks again everyone for your kind words and GO HAWKS!!!

And by that of course I mean two or three of you commented on it in a thread a couple of weeks ago, Hawkeye Elvis will be attending Saturday's Iowa/Michigan hoopyball game.

The last time he appeared at an Iowa sporting event against a team from Michigan, it resulted in a 30-point Hawkeye victory, so what the hell, right?

I'll likely be somewhere over by the pep band (perhaps they can even strike up "Jailhouse Rock" or "Hound Dog"). Any BHGPers in the house on Saturday, stop over and say Hi, I'd love to meet you.

Go Hawks!

Ames, Iowa (AP) - Iowa State Head Football Coach Paul Rhoads has resigned effective immediately and is expected to take the head coaching job at Louisiana State University.  The LSU job was vacated earlier today when Les Miles accepted the top job at the University of Michigan, where he both played and coached.   "It's pretty clear to me," Rhoads told reporters. "Chizik left here after two years, goes to the SEC and wins a title. Look out Baton Rouge, we're gonna win it all!"   Cyclones Athletic Director Jamie Pollard was unavailable for comment, but a source inside the department said his mood was "inconsolable".

As much cyber-ink and liquor has been spilled regarding the shit-tastic end of the Hawkeye's football season, there is an argument to be made that others have it as bad, or even worse than Iowa fans.

Look at Georgia or Florida. Both annually have lofty expectations. Both underwhelmed to 6-6 and 7-5 records, respectively, losing games they likely should have won in horrifying fashion. But these are SEC teams so fuck them.

No ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I offer you the Arizona Wildcats.

A pre-season, dark horse contender for sure, their early season hopes are buoyed by big win over our Hawkeyes. Then the first stumble, a stupefying loss at home to a mediocre Oregon State team. Still Arizona rises to 7-1 and makes a Top Ten ranking, only to nose-dive the rest of the season. A blow-out loss at Oregon after holding a half time lead.  And then last night's disaster to arch-rival Arizona State.

For those of you who missed it let me explain. No wait, there is too much. Let me sum up:

The Wildcats flounder for the entire first half before finally coming to life and taking a 14-6 lead in the fourth quarter.  The Sun Devils take the lead back, but Arizona seemingly pulls off the miracle, scoring a touchdown with half a minute to play. Just kick the extra point and the Wildcats wil---- wait, what? Did they just block the extra point? Oh fuck. On we go to overtime where the teams trade 3s. Then ASU gets a TD and a seven-point lead.  The Wildcats waste no time in scoring a touchdown of their own....only to have the extra point blocked again.

Arizona ends the season on a 4-game losing streak, including a loss to their MHR. At home. In double overtime. Because of TWO blocked PATs.

Misery loves company.

I'm still a proud Hawkeye and I know you all are too.  I just got done reading the game threads (I don't know how you all can watch and type at the same time, I'm going bat-shit just watching the game) and there was some serious venom on there.  I know we all take the losses differently and have different ways of expressing it. But holy shit gang, we have to take a step back and maybe get a little perspective.

And in case anyone thinks that I didn't take this loss hard, immediately after the game, my only thought was that I wanted everyone at Northwestern University to get cancer and die.  After a couple of hours of cooling off (and shoveling snow) I backed off that position and only wanted Pat Fitzgerald to get cancer and die.  That's where I still am by the way.

Look, we are all disappointed the way this season has gone. We all had Pasadena in our sights (if not Glendale) and now we'll be lucky to make Tampa.  There are a couple of schools of thought here. One, we could be thankful that we are not Iowa State fans (who really need a miracle to even make a bowl game this year) or hell Minnesota fans for that matter. They haven't even played in January for 50 fucking years. Or we could be thankful that this isn't 2007, where we lose to OMHR by double digits and don't even make a bowl game.

Or better yet we can be Hawkeye fans. We can exhalt in our victories and cringe at our defeats. But we never stop supporting the team, win or lose, and we never stop wearing our Tigerhawks proudly.

I'll have an Iowa tie on in the office on Monday, and I will take a lot of shit about this loss today. But I don't care. There are still games to be played. And won.

So let the haters hate. Let the sniveling bitches snipe at us about the losses we've suffered.

We've got a game to win next Saturday against Ohio State.

GO HAWKS!!!!!!

I year ago on the Halloween game, I regretted the fact that I didn't wear any kind of outfit to the game. So I decided that this year I would come up with something special.

Yes, this is me at Kinnick yesterday:

 

A big ol' hunka hunka love to Mamma Hammaker who made this outfit from scratch. I think I'll wear it to the Minnesota game. Hell, if we are going to play like that every Saturday, I may have to wear it for every Hawkeye game from now on.

Scene: A couple of ratty old sofas in the back yard of a house on Melrose. The BHGPers gathered are a solemn lot following the Wisconsin game. Enter Ricky Stanzi and friends....

 Hey! What's this lying around shit?

 War's over man, Wisconsin dropped the big one.
 Over? Did you say over? NOTHING is over until we decide it is! Was it over when Tennessee compared themselves to the Germans?

 ARF?

 Forget it, he's rolling.

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With Iowa nursing a 10-point lead late against Michigan, many of the Hawkeye faithful were still a bit nervous.  Many people on the game thread were nearly shitting themselves.  I will admit that settling for the Field Goal had me a bit concerned as well.

So I stepped outside of the bar where I was watching the game and made a quick phone call.


 RING

WELP HOWDY

Hey Coach, it's Cornshoe! Sorry to bother you, but everyone's getting a little hysterical.  I mean Michigan has already scored 21 points and some of us are having flashbacks of that Northwestern game a few years ago.

I'm just contemplating the "ifs"

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I just wanted to say congrats on your win. You earned it and I hope you do well the rest of the way. Saturday was my first visit to Tuscon and I have never been treated better as a visiting fan than I was by the Wildcat faithful.  There was good-natured ribbing on both sides prior to the game and genuine respect for both sides during and after.

Be proud U of A, your fans accomplishments on Saturday spoke louder about your program than what happened on the field.

A few of us that are heading down to Tuscon for Saturday night's game have been talking and there is a grass roots campaign to get all the Iowa fans attending (12,000 by some media counts) to all wear gold.

That should stand out nicely and contrast well with the Wildcats' planned "red-out".

So there you go. Spread the word this week, wear your Hawkeye Gold and let's come home from the desert with a W.

 
So THIS is how it's going be, hmmmm, Iowa State?  You thought you could get away with your little shenangins, but not on Cornshoe's watch! I'm on to you and I have the evidence to prove it.

As I typically do, I made it into Kinnick about an hour before kick-off to watch the boys warm up and snap a few photos.  Of particular interest was how Ricky Stanzi was looking.

                                        Good form, old chap, good form!

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For all the hand-wringing and concern over Brandon Wegher's apparent departure for the season, there's an aspect to this football season that no one is talking about.

Who is going to be the surprise, step-up player?

A year ago, none of us thought that Wegher would explode onto the scene the way he did. We were also concerned about whether or not Marvin McNutt could make a successful transition to Wide Receiver and if Riley Reiff could handle starting on the offensive line. That all turned out pretty good.

Someone will get there chance this season and make the most of it and give us another name to cheer on Saturdays. We just need to wait and find out who it's going to be.

Like Yogi Berra said, "It feels like deja-vu all over again."

A year ago, the Hawkeyes were coming off a surprising, successful season puncuated by a January bowl win, and were ranked in the pre-season Top 25.  In 2009, Iowa opened the season at home by hosting a I-AA (sorry, I refuse to bow to NCAA nomenclature) team who had been in the playoffs the year before an came into the season ranked in their own division.

Does any of this sound familiar?

Yes, that's Eastern Illinois you see rated 18th, Iowa's opening-day opponent.

I'm all for projecting, speculating and forecasting. But with the annual appearance of AIRBHG, I just want to focus on September 4th.  Let's run that stretch, off-tackle running play a few times. Let's have a vanilla-yet-efficient passing game. Let's have a defense that scores once, and clamps down.  Then we can start living the season week-to-week.

[Cornshoe, bringing the finest Big Ten Media Days update on any and every internet. This bump is de rigueur.--AJ]

After years of wanting to attend the Big Ten Kickoff Luncheon in Chicago, I was finally able to make it this year.  This is a fabulous event and to me marks the unofficial start of the college football season.  As has been discussed, this Kickoff Luncheon isn't the place to get in-depth questions answered or deep insights for the season.  It's a chance for the fans to rub elbows with (and get photos with and autographs from) the players and coaches.

Details from the fun in the Windy City after the jump...

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So I'm guessing that we won't be seeing Broderick Binns for the first couple of games this season. (Story from DM Register citing KCJJ, all of the proper courtesies accounted for? Good.)

You would think that after the Jewel Hampton episode from earlier this summer that everyone else would be on the straight and narrow.

Look, I understand. Campus can be boring as hell in the summer. Workout all day, go blow off some steam at night. I get it. But for fuck's sake use your head! One of these times, someone is going to get seriously injured or even killed by driving drunk.

Why does this keep happening to Hawkeye athletes?

Hey everyone, Cornshoe here.  I just returned from Miami and the Orange Bowl and of course the first thing I did was to sit down and read BHGP for the past hour (including ALL of the game thread posts) to get caught up on everything.  Here are thoughts, comments and a couple of pictures from the trip.

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[Well, we're definitely bumping this.--OPS]

Scene: A shabby office on the campus of the University of Minnesota. Head Football Coach Tim Brewster  is cornered on a chair, having a "discussion".

 I'm sorry, did I break your concentration? I didn't mean to do that. Please, continue, you were saying something about the Kansas job. What's the matter? Oh, you were finished! Well, allow me to retort. What does Joel Maturi look like?

What?

What country are you from?

What?

 What ain't no country I've ever heard of. Do they speak English in What?

What?

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You mean besides that fact that Tim Brewster (GO FIGHT TRY VOTE) gets a ballot and has a direct hand in the BCS process?  While that right there should be reason enough, some of his fellow coaches obviously have no goddamned idea what they are doing.

USA Today was kind enough to reveal each of the voting coaches final ballots.  For the most part, Iowa was rated 9th or 10th. Maybe 11th in a case here or there.  And it's clear that several of the coaches have forgotten Iowa's 21-10 win over Penn State earlier this year, as JoePa's squad is rated ahead of the Hawks by a notch or two.


But could someone please tell me what in the name of Christ Jim Harbaugh is thinking when he not only rated Iowa 16th, but look who he put above them at Number 14.  Go ahead, I'll wait. He put Arizona.  You remember, that team that Iowa dominated earlier this year in handing them a 10-point loss. The only thing worse than Harbaugh's ballot is that of Washington State coach Paul Wulff.

He had Iowa 18th and the Wildcats 12th.

I knew there were a bunch of assholes coaching in the Pac-10 Conference. I didn't realize they had a massive inferiority complex when it came to their conference perception.

So I'm guessing I won't be the only one keeping an eye on the internet on Sunday afternoon regarding the Hawks potential bowl location. The CRG's Marc Morehouse once again has the goods in his blog with news that the Cap One will announce its pairings at 2 p.m. on Sunday, a good five hours prior to the BCS selection show.

I suppose that means when I see JoePa is heading to Orlando, I can go ahead and book those tickets to Phoenix. Anybody else with me on this?

It's bad enough that Tim Brewster makes up stuff that didn't happen when it comes to the Hawkeyes, as discussed in Patrick Reusse's column in today's Star Tribune:

Did you win the game?

"We did; we did,'' Brewster said. "But I don't think it had to do with the paper."

As it turns out, White's paper hanging went for naught. Brewster played only once in Iowa City and the Illini lost 14-13.

But now it has spread to sports writers as well, as evidenced by La Velle E. Neal's accompanying story about the game:

and the Hawkeyes haven't won -- since then. Once ranked as high as fourth in the country, they are out of the Top 25.

And of course by that he means #15 in both the AP and Coaches polls as well as #14 in the BCS.

Let's bury these dickheads on Saturday.

[Do NOT scroll down unless you are at work, with your office door locked, and you are in charge of IT. It's SFW only be y the slimmest of technicalities, which means it is functionally NSFW. Again, do not view at work unless you are a lawyer for Playboy.--OPS] [Never mind, we're safe. Mind the co-workers when you get to the cleavage, though.--OPS]

Okay, so you ponied up the money for the plane ticket, hotel room and game tickets to watch the Hawks cock-knock the Ol' Balls Coach.  But do you really know what you're doing in Tampa?  What do you need to know in order to maximize your fun level at the Outback Bowl?  Well you are in luck.  As a veteran of Iowa's past trips to Raymond James Stadium and a total of four Outback Bowls, Cornshoe Hammaker is here to help.

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[LOLOLOLOLOLOL--OPS]

So I guess the rumors about a star player not being academically eligible for a bowl game were pointing at the wrong school.

The Gamecocks leading tackler, Safety Emanuel Cook, will miss the Outback Bowl.

As stated in the story, he is looking to declare for the NFL.

By missing the Outback Bowl, Cook's draft status will likely rise, since pro scouts won't see him getting Frank Duong-ed repeatedly by Shonn Greene on New Year's Day.

 

All right so Shonn Greene didn't even get a trip to New York City to watch them hand the Heisman to Sam Bradford.  Greene ended up sixth in total points in the balloting. I can live with that. I don't have a complaint about who the top three finalists were.  Star quarterbacks from three of the top three teams in the nation.  I don't have a complaint about Graham Harrell and Michael Crabtree finishing ahead of Greene either.  Both put up big-time numbers in the toughest conference in the nation this year and they are on a Top Ten team.  I can live with Greene finishing behind those guys.

It's when I see the stats for the rest of the voting.  Michigan State's Javon Ringer finished 10th in overall points. That also, is not a problem.

The problem is that some Ass Clown actually gave Ringer a FIRST PLACE VOTE!

What the fuck is this guy thinking?!?  Good Christ, did they watch any football this year outside of East Lansing?  They actually thought that Ringer was better than Greene. Shonn Greene, who LED THE BIG TEN IN RUSHING. Greene who outgained Ringer head-to-head.  They also thought that Ringer was better than Bradford, McCoy and Tebow.

I want to know who this voter is and who is going to replace them for next year's voting. Because they obviously have no business doing it again.

 

[Bumped. This was a foregone conclusion, but still, hooray Shonn Greene hooray hooray.--OPS]

Congratulations to Shonn for winning the Doak Walker Award tonight for the nation's best running back.

The Heisman Trophy has turned into a beauty contest.  Being the nation's best running back is a badge of honor.  Every carry, every yard, every spin, every Frank Duong driven into the turf makes him the best.

It has been awesome to watch him play this year.  I can't wait to watch him run over Ol' Dirty Ballcoach in three weeks.

 

 

[Best FanPost ever. Very, very bumped.--OPS]

Yeah, I was there.  In my seat in Section 136.  Saw the whole game.

Yeah, I ran out on the field (no, not the first time, I actually waited until the game was over).

Yeah, that was me discovering Daniel Murray, nearly buried under a sea of humaniity in the middle of the field.

Yeah, that was me, pulling him to his feet and guiding him to the safety of the sideline.

Yeah, that was me, front and center on your TV screen in the post game celebration.

But all of that paled in comparison to what happened before the game. I was standing behind the set of the Big Ten Network broadcast location when I saw him:

Captain Freedom himself.  J Leman.

As he left the set, I seized my opportunity: "Hey J! Can I get a picture?"

 

via lh3.ggpht.com

I am a better and more patriotic American because of this picture.

[We all are.--OPS]