Location: Elmer's Pancake and Steakhouse in Boise, Idaho.

Date: Saturday morning, December 5, 2009 around 9:00am.

Scenario: Eric Poms, Chief Executive for the Orange Bowl selection committee, and John Junker, his counterpart for the Fiesta Bowl, are in town to watch Boise State play its final game of the season against New Mexico State. They run into each other at the local restaurant.

Eric Poms: ...and I'll have the triple stack of potato pancakes. What do you put on those by the way? Syrup, sour cream, butter? Because...

John Junker: Eric Poms! Is that you, you Florida cuss?

Eric Poms: Hey Junker! I thought I might see you this weekend.

John Junker: Son, do NOT get the potato pancakes. Those babies will block you up like Phoenix rush hour traffic. Get the Mexican Omelet and sprinkle it with this here.

[Junker holds up a bottle of tobasco]

It'll keep you clean as a whistle. Ma'am, would you kindly order us two Mexi omelets, one with extra green peppers, and I'll have some coffee. Mr. Poms, you'll thank me around 1 o'clock this afternoon. Mind if I join ya?

Eric Poms: Please do. I'll have a coffee too and some fresh squeezed orange juice.

Waitress: Alls we got here is frozen mister.

Eric Poms: I'll just have the coffee then, and maybe some water.

John Junker: So you looking at Boise are ya?

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More photos » by Jason Babyak - AP

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It would be understandable if an alien from outer space landed in eastern Iowa this past week and after some basic human interaction deduced that Glendale, Arizona was some sort of Holy Land.

On Saturday afternoon the Iowa Hawkeyes, along with every other bowl eligible team in college football, will learn to which bowl game they've been invited. It may or may not be a crucial moment in the history of the program, but let's consider the question.

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Reports are out that should Clemson beat Ga. Tech and Cinncinatti go undefeated it might influence the Fiesta Bowl.

How? Like this...

The Orange Bowl will get Clemson and the third at-large pick. The replacement and at-large picks could possibly leave the Orange Bowl with a Clemson v. TCU rematch, and bowls understandably HATE rematches. They could all conspire/work it out so something like this comes as a result:

Sugar with 1st pick (replacement) takes Alabama/Florida loser

Fiesta with 2nd pick (replacement) takes Cinncy

Orange with 3rd pick (at-large) takes Penn State

Fiesta with 4th pick (at-large) takes TCU

Sugar with 5th pick (at-large) takes Boise St.

Thus:

Sugar: Floribama v. Boise

Fiesta: Cinncy v. TCU

Orange: Penn St. v. Clemson

This creates an Orange Bowl with two of the largest fan followings in all of college sports and ensures it sells out. The ratings are going to be shot with Clemson anyway. Orange officials say, we want tickets sold...and they would be.

Fiesta now becomes a battle of the unbeatens and Brian Kelly is a potentially HUGE national story. He would most defintely accept the Notre Dame job if offered. He will be discussed endlessly until a Notre Dame coach is hired. If he is the guy they hire they will do it before or darn near the Fiesta Bowl kick-off making it suddenly a game for all Golden Domers to watch. Fiesta officials believe there would be lots of casual interest in this game and that would increase ticket sells. Kelly would NOT choose to back out of coaching his team in this game either, should he get the ND job.

Sugar is huge game IF Florida plays in it since it is the last temptation of Christ vs. Boise. If Bama is in the game it becomes the "will it happen again to Bama" bowl and people like to see Bama suffer. 

More photos » by Al Goldis - AP

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The Charlie Weis era appears to be over in South Bend.

After losing another close game to Stanford the buzzards are circling even closer to the ground. Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick said he's not contacted anyone about the possibility of replacing Weis and is meeting with Humpty Dumpty over the next two days to evaluate the program. It would seem that Weis has little chance to retain the head coaching position. His record is among the worst all-time for Notre Dame coaches, and the media & most fans have decided his fate. At this point the storied football program is known more now for the drama of Charlie Weis than for solid, winning football. Weis has an enormous buyout on his contract though and he has said he will not resign. Moreover, the perfect candidate to take over the program may not be out there right now. It will be interesting to see how Swarbrick proceeds.

What we know at this point is that numerous coaching wish lists have been posted to numerous websites; ESPN analysts (Mark May and others) have openly weighed in on who will succeed Weis and not surprisingly Kirk Ferentz's name is being mentioned as a possible candidate. So, one has to ask whether Sir Kirk would even consider leaving the land of Soy to work in the fishbowl that is Notre Dame?

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As Iowa patiently awaits its bowl destination, and as the vast majority of the Hawkeyes faithful cross fingers and toes in hopes for a desert reward, now is as good a time as any to try to understand Iowa's place in the college football social order. If Iowa is invited to a BCS Bowl, would that mean the football cognoscenti is accepting them as a member of the elite? I'm certain there is no definitive answer; this is, after all, a perceptual shell game. But, I can't resist but to make a stab at it.

It might be gratuitously complex for me to attempt the line of analysis I am about to attempt, but here goes...

The Iowa Hawkeyes with their magical season this year thrusting them into the national championship conversation exposed a nasty truth about their place on the college football landscape. The Iowa Hawkeyes are football gypsies. They're not alone either, as was so crassly pointed out by Ivan "The Terrible" Maisel in his on-line article from Nov. 19 entitled "Where's the return counter?" In his article, Maisel, normally a sensible sort, lamented that interlopers and gatecrashers have invaded the 2009 college football season, and for that he wants his "money back."

Maisel bemoans this college football season as a dud, a lemon, one whose promise was never fulfilled and paints himself as having been cheated, suffering a "bait and switch." And what was he promised? Well, he was promised what every preseason ranking and projection seems to annually promise: USC, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Ohio State, and of course, Tim Tebow, Tim Tebow, Tim Tebow, and Sam Bradford. And what did Maisel get? Boise State, TCU, Cincinnati, and presumably, Iowa.

Maisel is neither the only sportswriter nor is his the only article to grieve invasion by the gypsies. In fact, it seems as though every so-called college football analyst on every major sports website has complained at some point, in some way, of the lack of a predictable, orderly football world, where there is an easily identifiable social order of the "haves" moving unimpeded toward more bowl riches while the "have nots" stay deferentially out of the way. These pundits advocate, in essence, for the fans of the have nots to consent to a college football world of segmented categories of unequal people. I, for one, won't do it.

The term gypsy may seem like an odd one for me to use. But every time I read an article by some stiff asking how Iowa got into the top ten (the computers, not people) or bitching about Iowa as a impostor in the rankings, I am reminded of a paper I wrote in my senior year for an anthropology professor at Iowa. The term gypsy literally refers to specific ethnic groups that have certain histories, but I'm using the term more colloquially here to describe Iowa as a kind of nomadic clan living an unconventional way of life out on the edge. In this regard, Iowa, for me, is a football gypsy---they lack a secure place in and among the elite and yet they are too successful to be an average football team, and as such are seen as freakish and strange.

Let me start with this though: it is not as if Kirk Ferentz and his Iowa Hawkeyes wants to be gypsies or has done anything to reinforce any such reading of them this way. They're merely trying to win football games and a conference title. They are not trying to cause angst to the Maisel's of the world and they're certainly not breaking any established codes within the football world-like running some harebrained offensive scheme that offends conventional sensibilities or tricking it up relentlessly or playing with grown men who have returned from the war or questionable JUCO-types or anything along those lines. In fact, Ferentz football is as traditional as it gets.

For those who are still reading, I should warn you this is going to take a fairly academic turn. I am going to try to examine the Hawkeyes and their place in college football from a social anthological viewpoint. It helps me to understand Iowa's coverage by the mainstream press. It helps me understand why this blog is relevant and thriving to so many fans (and not just fans of Iowa I might add). It helps me understand why my friends are so unwilling to accept Iowa as an emerging, potentially elite football program.

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Texas coach Rick Barnes tries to cross his fingers for good luck, which he will not need tonight.

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Tonight the Iowa Hawkeyes meet the Texas Longhorns in the semifinals of the CBE Classic in Kansas City. Consider the opposition:

• Ranked #3 in the coach’s poll.
• Ranked #3 in the writer’s poll.
• Magazines suggest this team is the best and most complete roster in the Rick Barnes era.
• Four returning starters.
• Nine returning players.
• Damion James.

Not since a rag tag group of American college and fringe professional hockey players played the Soviet Union’s greatest of great hockey teams, a team so feared the NHL refused to schedule exhibitions with them, has the sporting world seen such a lopsided match-up. But, this is sport and you have to play the game.

Great moments are born from great opportunity. And that's what you have here tonight.

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Sure, it's incredibly overused (the headline) but we're in a hurry to get the conversation started. If you follow this sort of thing you know that Iowa is in the running for four bowls (in no particular order): Orange, Fiesta, Capital One, and Outback. The goal, of course, is to be invited as an at-large to one of the BCS bowls.

The BCS pecking order is as follows:

1. National Championship: BCS #1 (Florida or Alabama) vs. BCS #2 
(likely Texas)

2. Rose Bowl: Pac-10 Champion (Oregon or Oregon State) vs. Big Ten Champion 
(Ohio State)

3. Sugar Bowl Pick #1: Replacement pick for SEC champion (Florida or Alabama)

4. Fiesta Bowl Pick #1: Replacement pick for Texas 
if they win out

5. Orange Bowl: ACC Champion vs. BCS at-large

6. Fiesta Bowl Pick #2: BCS at-large

7. Sugar Bowl Pick #2: BCS at-large

TCU and winner of Big East are currently guaranteed a place in two of the above at-large spots. Which means there are two remaining spots for at-large selections.

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In the mix for at large bids are the Orange and the Fiesta at-large are:

Iowa

Penn State

Oklahoma State

Boise State

Cincinnati or Pittsburgh (the loser)

Oregon (if they lose to Oregon State)

Georgia Tech (if they lose to Clemson)

I may be missing a team but I don't think so. Also, I am only listing serious candidates to be invited as an at-large.

Where are we going?

Where do you want us to go?

Where do you think we should go?

Here is the link to the latest BCS rankings.

CLERK: Sir, do you solemnly swear that the testimony you will give in this hearing will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you God?

DEFENDANT: Yes I do.

CLERK: Would you state your name, age, and occupation for the record please?

DEFENDANT: Tim Brewster. 49 years old. I'm the head coach for the Minnesota Golden Gophers football team. Woo hoo, go Gophers baby!!

JUDGE: There is no shrieking or crying permitted in this courtroom, sir. Do you understand that?

TIM BREWSTER: Oh. Sorry.

JUDGE: Very well. Would you have a seat please sir?

TIM BREWSTER: Can I get a Gatorade or a Red Bull or something here?

JUDGE: Clerk? Can you get Mr. Brewster some water please?

TIM BREWSTER: No Gatorade?

JUDGE: No. This is courtroom sir, not Kwik-E-Mart.

TIM BREWSTER: I love that place. Coffee and Slim Jims, can't beat it.

JUDGE: [looks at Prosecutor] You can begin your questioning.

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Iowa coach Todd Lickliter has a way he wants to play.

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After last night's Duquesne game I decided to do some research on the so-called basketball system often referred to as The Butler Way that Iowa hired two years ago by way of Todd Lickliter. I thought I had a sense of what it was before, but watching Iowa play these first two games I was beginning to wonder what I was watching.

So, thanks to a handful of very informative articles on-line and a look at the NCAA Statistics Archive I think I now have a much better sense of what kind of team Todd Lickliter is trying to build at Iowa.

The first thing to know is that The Butler Way is not Todd Lickliter's invention. If anyone holds that distinction it would most likely be former Butler coach and current Athletic Director Barry Collier, working off of the values and principles of long-time Butler coach and Indiana basketball legend, Tony Hinkle.

Tony Hinkle coached at Butler from 1945 - 1970 and during that time instilled core values in the program that included humility, passion, unity, and accountability and to a certain degree subservience. After he retired in 1970 Butler's next two coaches attempted to make Butler a more progressive program that played a run and gun style of basketball, recruiting the best possible athletes they could get their hands on. But...after two coaches and 19 years of below .500 basketball, in 1989 Butler hired Barry Collier.

Collier promised to bring Butler back to the Hinkle values by recruiting players who were "team first" guys (mostly home grown from Indiana), totally committed to Collier, Butler and the program's core principles. Collier was successful quickly as he built a team-above-self style basketball team. In his second year he coached the team to the NIT, and in his third year he took Butler to the conference championship game and again to the NIT. The die had been cast and Butler was back on the map and in the NCAAs.

But how did he do it?

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