Terry Bowden Likes Cupcakes

Terry Bowden thinks that Michigan was silly for scheduling the game against Appalachian State because, get this, Appalachian State is one of the good division-formerly-known-as 1AA teams.

Apparently it is okay for the big power house teams to schedule the games against the other division, but only against the really bad teams that are easy wins.

Extending that same logic, the teams that think they have a chance at winning the national championship should schedule all of their preconference games against the Buffalo and Middle Tennessee type of teams.  Heaven forbid that you challenge your team with a decent game against a decent team.  That couldn’t possibly help them come conference time.  Heaven forbid that a good team gives a team like the 2 time division-formerly-known-as-1AA champions a chance to play one of the traditional big time schools.

We all know that one loss in the Bowl Subdivision means that you probably are not going to have a very good chance at playing for the BCS Championship.  But that really is a flaw with the system.  The correct fix for that is not to have good teams avoid playing other good teams when they don’t have to.

In fact, I believe the division-formerly-known-as-1AA has a really cool system that gives a whole bunch of the better teams a chance at their championship.

Women outside of Wisconsin breath a sigh of relief

Lance Smith is a running back for Wisconsin.  He was suspended from the team a couple months ago after getting arrested for beating up his girlfriend after allegedly refusing to let her leave his apartment, taking her shoes and taking her money so that she couldn’t even afford a cab.

He is facing battery charges but at this point everything is in the alleged status.

Barry Alvarez hooked Smith up by letting him rejoin the team and play in games…with a catch.  He can only play in home games.

I’m confused.  I’m all for everybody being innocent until proven guilty.  So he should be allowed to continue playing until the legal system locks him up if he is convicted.

I’m all for the university deciding that they have enough evidence that they don’t want him hanging around the team.

But what kind of decision is it to let the kid play at home but not on the road?  I never managed to get into any real legal trouble as a kid.  I did, however, get into a lot of parent trouble.  Not once did my parents tell me that I could keep playing my Nintendo at home but not at my friends’ houses.

Technorati Tags: college football, Wisconsin Badgers, Barry Alvarez

Yahoo! Sports shows favoritism to Penn State

Check out the NCAA Football standings over at Yahoo! Sports.

How is Penn State at the top of the Big Ten?

I know that in reality it is just a big ol’ tie for first place. But I can think of a couple logical ways to sort it.

Alphabetically seems to be the most logical. Easy to implement, easy to understand. Indiana is in first place.

Another method that could be used is to sort by the rankings. So Wisconsin has the best ranking of the undefeated Big Ten teams, so they go to the top of the list. This system is a little awkward because not everybody is ranked. But maybe after the ranked teams, then you sort the unranked alphabetically.

I have no idea how they compiled the version that is on their website though. Was it maybe by the chronological time of the games or something?

But no matter what ranking system is used, Michigan should fall to the bottom. You just cannot be allowed to lose to a team from the division formerly known as 1AA.

Update: I was just checking around some of the other websites to confirm that they sort by team name when teams are tied in the conference. CBSSports.com does. ESPN doesn’t. I clicked on ESPN’s expanded standings to see if I could figure out what they were doing but couldn’t figure it out.

But, I did figure out that Yahoo! Sports seems to be using the amount of points scored to sort teams that have the same number of wins and losses. I can live with that. But what in the world is ESPN doing?

Ron Zook is a dirty cheater

John L. Smith, you remember him, the coach Michigan State recently fired, thinks that Ron Zook must be illegally recruiting since the Illinois program and their facilities suck.

“If they had a winning program and all of that, it would be a different deal….If they had the greatest facilities in the world, then maybe they could sell them. But what are they selling?”

If there is anybody in college football that I trust, it is John L. Smith. He seemed to be all over Smoker’s problems before they got out of control. He was even nice enough to give Smoker a second chance. I’m sure having no other good options at QB had nothing to do with it.

Is it possible that Zook had a little easier time getting some big recruits because they are pretty much guaranteed to start right off the bat? A lot of these recruits probably want to put in their two years and head off to the pros. If you end up stuck in line behind some All American at Michigan, Ohio State, and Notre Dame, you might have to spend an extra year or two making no money in college.

Is it possible that he is just comes across as a cool guy when he talks to recruits?

Is it possible there was just a lot of talent in areas that he recruits well in?

By the way, none of the big programs seemed to have any trouble recruiting this year anyway. So, maybe the recruits wanted to go somewhere where they could be the BMOC instead of just mixing in with a ton of other BMOCs.

College recruiting is great. If you do bad it is because the little guys just can’t compete with the good guys. If you do well, you must be cheating.

Maybe there is something to all of this, though. USC and OSU both have had some questions with their recruiting process over the last couple years. Maybe players are not going to those power programs because of location/program history/number of pros drafted each year. Maybe it is all illegal recruiting.

Get out your tin foil hats.

As for Smith and anybody else ready to make accusations. If you have evidence, send it to the NCAA and shut up. If you don’t, just shut up.

This is coming from an Iowa fan who hates Illinois because…well, because they are a bunch of cheaters.

College Football National Signing Day

All the high school big football names that haven’t signed with a college yet are doing so today. The Top 10 colleges according to Rivals.com in the recruiting race at this point (12:25 PM 2/7/07) are:

1) Florida
2) USC
3) Tennessee
4) Texas
5) LSU
6) South Carolina
7) Auburn
Notre Dame
9) Georgia
10) Oregon

How boringly predictable. Don’t worry, Michigan and Ohio State are lurking at 11 and 15 respectively. South Carolina seems a smidge higher than normal and Oregon seems like they recruited surprisingly well.

I swear that looks like the same list as any other year. It is hard to break into the big time recruits’ hearts.

So, where are the Hawkeyes? 27th. Not shabby, but nothing that will show up on ESPN News. About where we always seem to end up.

Take a look at this Signing Day Updates over at Yahoo! Sports. The Hawkeyes are mentioned twice. Once for losing Patrick Grant (DE) to Louisville. Apparently Ferentz should have offered a scholarship to Grant’s friend Bynes. The other mention is for losing out on Dale Martin (RB) who also decided to go to Louisville.

Why are the Hawkeyes having so much trouble after having such good recruiting classes a couple years prior? Take a look at Yahoo! Sports Top 10 Prospects for the NFL Draft. Not a single Hawkeye to be found. There are no Bob Sanders, Dallas Clark, or Robert Gallery’s in this years draft.

The Hawkeyes do have a tendency to send a few players to the NFL but nothing like most of those schools hauling in the high school recruits this year. Big time players like big name schools. Iowa isn’t there yet. Plus, who in there right mind wants to come live in the midwest right now when the temperature can’t even get above zero. I don’t blame them for heading south.

It’s a good thing the Iowa coaching staff can find players who are willing to work their butts off and improve quite a bit more than the recruiting experts expectations.

Update: There has been a change to that first link above. It looks like the Hawkeyes just signed 4 star recruit Cedric Everson. Apparently, he had committed to Michigan State over the weekend but changed his mind at the last second. It looks like Ferentz finally managed to sign a tall (6′1″) fast (4.4) cornerback that we have always seem to have trouble getting. And Rivals.com reports that he has a 3.0 GPA. Welcome to Iowa, Cedric.

Those crazy, fickle high school kids with their inability to pick a school. How many schools did it take for you to get through college? I went through 2 in 2 years before heading off to the Air Force.

What I saw of the Fiesta Bowl

I turned on the Fiesta Bowl very late in the game. In fact, Adrian Peterson had just ran for his overtime touchdown and they were showing the replay when I turned the game on. I had heard that Boise State had started the 1st quarter getting a good jump on Oklahoma I figured the game was all but over. I didn’t find out about the miracle 4th and 18 that Boise State converted to get into overtime or I might have had a little more faith in the Broncos.

I watched exactly one series where Boise State had the ball. They are so much fun to watch. Everybody shifts at least twice before they snap the ball. And when they do snap the ball, they don’t always snap it to the quarterback. And no matter who they snap the ball to, he’s liable to throw it…unless of course he fakes the throw and hands it off behind his back.

Wacky and hugely entertaining and then the crazy kid asked his cheerleader girlfriend to marry him. For a second, I thought that I was watching a movie. Stuff like that does not happen in real life.

I will always enjoy the Sooners getting beaten, but loosing the way they did was particularly entertaining.

Congratulations Broncos.

Tags: Fiesta Bowl, Oklahoma Sooners, Boise State Broncos

Alamo Bowl - Live Updates - 2nd Half

I decided to cut that bowl game into two posts since I’m sure the first post is getting a bit unwieldy. I’ll cover the second half here.

Third Quarter

Iowa is set to kickoff. I hate taking the ball first because when the other team scores at the end of the half and then gets the ball back on the kickoff, that is a lot of potential momentum swing. Texas returns the ball to the 26. McSweeny, I’m not sure if that is exactly his name, but the receiver that got hurt catching the touchdown, was not really hurt. Just a leg cramp and he’ll be back in the 2nd half. 3rd and 1. We normally do better on 3rd and short than 3rd and long. But, Texas gets an easy 1st down out around the 44. And, then a big pass to Iowa’s 30ish. 24 yards on a slant over the middle. Wide open. Then Iowa gets into the backfield on a shotgun handoff to the RB and sacks him for a loss of 5. 2nd and 15. Texas picks up about 10. Shada giving the receiver plenty of room. Texas had an easy 1st down on the 3rd down pass and the receiver takes his eyes off the ball and botches the play. 4th down, Texas will try a 43 YD FG. Right down the middle. 14 - 13 with 11:43 to go in the 3rd. The defense definitely looked soft on that series and we got lucky the receiver dropped that pass. TV Timeout. It’s been so long since I had the chance to think about buying something. Thanks ESPN.

Iowa fields it on the 5 and runs it out to the 28 where he was tackled by the kicker. What kind of kicker is that far downfield on the kickoff? Play action. Nobody open. Sack. 2nd and 14. Young running right up the middle for about 3 yards. 3rd and 11. Shotgun. Tate hit in the backfield. Drops the ball. Tate picks it up off the bounce and gets a few yards. 4th down. Late flag. Personal foul on both teams after the play. Still 4th down and we’ll be punting with the line of scrimmage at the 28ish. Texas fields it, drops it and Iowa recovers at the 34. HAWKEYES! Looks like Godfrey on the recovery. Texas calls a timeout to get try and get the review. But, the replay clearly showed he fumbled before his knee went down.

Iowa has the ball at the 35, up 14-13 with 9:25 left in the 3rd. What a crazy possession so far. It looks like there was no review, Texas just wasn’t ready to play defense. Play action bootleg run by Tate for 6 yards on first down. Young pounds up the middle for one or two. 3rd and 3. Tate nearly sacked but gets rid of the ball, incomplete. 4th down. 45 YD FG attempt. Way wide left. Nowhere near good. Texas balls with 7:45 to go in the 3rd.

1st down Texas goes deep and gets the ball behind the Hawkeyes. Texas walks into the end zone and McCoy just tied the Freshman season TD record. The defensive guy (Humpal) had decent position, but it was a beautiful pass that hit the receiver perfectly in stride. Extra point good. 7:17 to go, 20-14. We need a Hawkeye touchdown. There was also a personal foul on the touchdown. I think Iwebema hit the QB late. It is being enforced on the kickoff.

Kickoff out of the end zone. Iowa ball on the 20. Tate went to the locker room. Christianson in. No word on why Tate took himself to the locker room. Hand off to Young. Loss of 3. 2nd and 13. Christianson scrambles under pressure. Picks up 10. But flags. Holding called on Elgin. 2nd and about 20ish from the 10. Hand off to Young for no gain. 3rd down and 20. The momentum feels very bad right now. Shotgun. Falls start penalty on Yanda. 3rd and 25. Still no word on Tate except that he is not in the Xray room. Christianson on a QB draw. Tackled at the 2. 4th down. This is bad. Punting from the back of the end zone fielded at the 39, but looses 4 on the run back. Texas ball at Iowa’s 43. 4:12 to go in the 3rd.

McCoy in shotgun at the 43. Deep throw were the receiver pushed off but wasn’t called. Incomplete. They just showed Tate running back to the sideline. Probably had to pee or something harmless like that. He looks fine throwing the ball on the sideline. 3rd and 8 for Texas at Iowa’s 40. Shotgun. Good coverage. Scrambling. Throws the ball incomplete. McCoy spends a lot of time scrambling. Somebody is holding if he is running around that much. No penalty called, though. 4th down. Texas takes a delay of game to get more room to punt. Now on the 45. 2:59 and the clock is running in the 3rd. Punt is fielded at the 17 and some knucklehead on Texas hits Douglas after the fair catch. Way after. Personal foul on the snapper of all people. Odd.

Iowa 1st and 10 with 2:35 in the 3rd. Tate back but no reason given to why he left. Young up the middle across midfield to the 46. The sideline reporter noticed that Tate might have gotten some IV treatment. It’s just like his first game all over again. 1st and 10. Complete pass to Brodell for 6 yards. Brodell has 4 catches for 120 yards already. Nice game. Audible by Tate. Douglas gets physical to make the catch for the first down for 15ish. Ball on the 24. Jail break to Brodell. Touchdown. Can anybody stop that play. 1:08, 20-20 with the extra point still to come. Extra point good. 21-20.

Instead of commercials, they are showing Brodell abusing the defense. 5 receptions, 143 yards, 2 TDs. That is much better than car commercials. Kickoff fiedled at the 4. Run back to the 27. 0:57 left in the 3rd quarter.

McCoy passes for 6 yards. Miles on the tackle. One more play in the 3rd. Shotgun. Pass dumped to the near receiver for a couple. 3rd and short when the 4th starts after the commercial break.

Can I get a GO HAWKS from anybody?

3rd and 2. McCoy completes the pass to Crosby for 8. Ball on the 44. 1st down run to the right side of the line. Gain of about 6. 2nd down. Run to the left for about 20+ to the Iowa 29. 1st down. McCoy completes the pass for about 5. 2nd down. Wide short pass for about 2. Tackled by Merrick. Offside on defense. Mattison. Gives Texas a 1st down on the 19. Shotgun for McCoy. Good coverage and he throws it away while getting hit by Iwebema. Texas has been ranked in over 100 straight AP Polls. Must be nice. 2nd and 10. Pass to the right for about 5. 3rd and 5. Shotgun. McCoy runs right and throws back left. Humpal makes a great play to stop the first down. 4th and 1. The field goal kicker come onto the field. Timeout called by Texas as the play clock runs down too low.

Texas changes there mind and goes for the 4th down. McCoy gets the first down and is tackled out at the 2. Merrick on the tackle. 1st down. Texas runs it in and they will go for 2. The score is 26-21 Texas in the lead. 10:48 left in the game. McCoy dorks around for quite a while before finally throwing the ball to the back of the end zone where nobody catches it. Still no holding or illegal blocks on any of those really long scrambles by McCoy. I’m not saying I see any penalties, but I know how hard it is for the line to block cleanly for that long on those plays where all the receivers are covered.

Kickoff fielded in the end zone. Touchback with 10:42 to go. Iowa ball. 1st down. Fake handoff to Young, pass to Stross and Tate looks like he was hit helmet to helmet late. Roughing the passer #4. Iowa ball on the 47. 1st down. Play action. Nobody open so Tate throws the ball away. 2nd down. Texas is really seeming to rush a lot of people right now. Handoff to Simms who fights for a couple on the left side of the line. 3rd and 7. Shotgun. Tate audibles and heads up to the line to get the snap, but delay of game. I forgot to mention that all of the play clocks are shut down and have been since the 1st quarter. 3rd and 12. Shotgun. Tate his Brodell open for about 15. 1st down at the 37ish. Tate dumpoff pass to Chandler for about 7. 2nd and 3. Tate under center. Handoff to Simms who shakes a couple Texas defenders and makes them look silly to free himself for about a 7 yard run through the right side of the line. 1st down on the 22. Play action. Nothing open Tate stumbles and loses a yard or so. 2nd down. 7:36 to go. Tate throws a screen to Simms who gains about 2 or 3. 3rd and 9. Tate in shotgun but a bad pass behind Brodell. Incomplete pass. 4th down and the field goal team comes on. Schlicher makes the 38 yard field goal. 24-26. Texas in the lead. TV timeout before the kickoff.

Come on Hawks.

6:20 to go. Kickoff to the 7. Texas stopped at the 21. 1st down. McCoy in shotgun. Hand off but Gabelmann stops the run after about 1 yard. 2nd down. Shotgun. McCoy over the middle to Finley for about 6. Another tackle by Gabelmann. 3rd down. Shotgun. Caught 1 yard short of the 1st down and tackled by Godfrey. 4th and 1. Great play by Godfrey. Punt team. Douglas pack to receive. Bad punt. Worse bounce. 19 yard punt and Iowa ball at the Texas 49. 3:35 to go with the clock running on 1st down. Reverse and Douglas tries to pass but is sacked for big loss. Stupid play. 2:56 to go with the clock running 2nd and 21. Tate in shotgun. No good. 3rd and 21. Shotgun. Blitz. Scrambles and gets free but pass is short and Brodell stumbles. Incomplete. 4th and 21 with 2:28. Iowa has 3 timeouts left and will punt from the 41. Punt fielded at the 15. Fair catch. Texas ball with 2:22 to go and the clock will start as soon as the ref whistles the play.

1st down Texas. Handoff up the middle for a couple Iowa calls timeout with 1:54. 2 timeouts left. 2nd down and 9 Texas has the ball. Texas runs the reverse and gets the first down to the 27 which will probably seal this game. Iowa calls a timeout. 1:46 to go. Iowa has 1 timeout left. Texas has 1st down. Hawkeyes need a miracle. Texas runs the ball to the right and stays in bounds for no gain. Iowa calls last timeout with 1:37 to go. 2nd down and 13 Texas. They run to the right up to about the 30. Clock running and will get just under a minute before the next snap. 3rd and 9. Texas calls timeout with 54 seconds to go but the refs are discussing where exactly the clock should be. They come up with 56 seconds. Nobody has any timeouts left. Texas runs for about 5 and just stays in bounds. 4th and 5 with the clock running under 20 seconds. They just showed the replay and he was definitely out of bounds. The refs are talking but they come up with only 10 seconds on the clock.

Punt goes to the 20. and tackled for a loss. After a bunch of crappy kicks, Texas comes up with an insane kick and the clock will start immediately with 2 secs and Iowa on the 17ish. Shoutgun. A couple ladderals and the ball hits the ground. Texas wins 26-24.

Good game Hawks. Time for a date with my wife. I’ll write a wrapup tomorrow.

Alamo Bowl - Live Updates

Time for the pregame. I was expecting to pick Iowa to cover the spread because I expected the spread to be about 13-14 points. I read that the spread is just 9. So, I’ll pick Texas to cover 38-28. But, I have my Hawkeye shirt on and have started rooting for a miracle.

Time to get some coffee and get ready for kickoff.

What do you want to bet Iowa gets the ball first?

First Quarter
I knew we would get the ball first. I’m not sure why we still do that. We have had trouble getting even a first down most of the time, much less scoring. And, then we give the other team good field position. I do like seeing us run on 1st down. We don’t do that nearly enough and I can’t figure out why with the running backs that we have. Hey, a first down. Good start. 0-12 scoring on our opening drives this year. I told you that was a problem. We’re across the midfield because of that goofy Tate spin move that nobody seems to be able to figure out. Go Hawks. Touchdown…oh…down at the one. I’ve been saying all year that we need to run much much more. Time out. Touchdown. Just like we knew how to play football. 7-0 with 11:05 to go in the 1st. I remember playing USC in the bowl game a few years back and running back the opening kick off. I don’t think I have ever been that excited in my life. It didn’t last long. I’ll stay calm to see if we can keep it going.

Is it too early to complain that it seems like the Big Ten teams are always playing about a block from their opponents home stadium in the bolw games. I want the next bowl game to be at Kinnick Stadium…or how about Soldier Field.

I didn’t know Iwebema was playing today. That’s good. And Shada, too. Too bad Klinkenborg got hurt. Punt team! And a stupid penalty on top of it. Give us the ball. 9:07 to go in the 1st.

There was a commercial before Texas got the ball. They go three and out and punt. And, then another time out. Can we all just promise to buy a few things today and get rid of all the commercial breaks.

Holy cow. I didn’t know we had anybody on Iowa fast enough to break a big play like Brodell just did. 63 yard TD with almost all of the yards after the catch. Amazing. 14-0 with 8:30 to go. Wonder if we’ll get another TV timeout.

Covering kickoffs used to be a strength of Iowa over the last few seasons. I wonder why we have so much trouble with that this year. Texas just ran the kickoff passed midfield.

Godfrey has made a couple nice tackles on the corner already. Iwebema with a stupid personal foul. We cannot afford personal fouls. They just showed the replay and it was a officially a stupid personal foul especially since it keeps a drive going that would have ended otherwise. The defense holds them out of the end zone anyway. Nice job. 14-3 with 4:32 left in the first.

Injuries have been reported for both Young and Busch. Hopefully they will both be back today. Busch in particular. The team really feeds off of his energy. He is a crazy man.

Wow. Moeacki got killed on that 3rd and 8. He still should have caught the ball, though. He dropped it before the guy nailed him. 3 and out. 2:52 to go. Nice 49 yard punt out of bounds by Fenstermaker.

Godfrey was right with the receiver on the deep pass/ He’s looking pretty good today. And then Gabelmann stands his receiver up right at the 1st down marker and somehow got the ball out of his hands. Incomplete. 4th down. Give me the ball. Good job jumping on the loose ball after it hit the Hawkeye on the punt Shada. 1:27 left in the 1st.

And Young is officially back and gets 4 on the 1st down. So, far Tate seems to be getting the ball to the receivers and they are catching the ball. That was the most frustrating thing for me to watch all year. They never both wanted to do their job on the same play. End of the 1st. 14-3. Iowa has the ball.

If you happen to be reading this, could you say hi in the comments and feel free to tell me I got something wrong, right, sound stupid, that you love the Hawks or the Longhorns, or your kids. Whatever you want to say.

Second Quarter
The 63 yard TD catch/pass by Brodell/Tate is the longest in Iowa bowl history. How can that be with the teams we had back in the 80s.

Time for another Hawkeye punt. It looks like Texas defense is settling in. Man, Fenstermaker is kicking pretty well today. We’re probably going to end up missing him next year. 13:50 left in the second.

Colt threw the first down pass about 3 yards behind the receiver on a short pass. That was ugly. But, then on 2nd down they get a big broken play after good initial coverage by the Hawks. And, it’s Godfrey that got burnt. Texas is across midfield. Merrick just made a pretty incredible pass deflection to break up the touchdown pass. Merrick with a great another great play to knock the 3rd down pass loose and make Texas have to bunt. Nice D. Great punt for Texas. Out at the 2 with 12:18 to go in the second. Let’s go get a 98 yard touchdown drive.

Awesome. 1st down and no matter what we won’t have a crappy punting position. Nice run by Tate. He’s looking pretty sharp so far. Simms just got another nice gain and then on the next play on 3rd down got the 1st down. The running game is looking sharp, too. I love that jail break play. Brodell just got a ton of yards off of it (42). The play always looks like it is going to get negative yards and I am always tense until they get the big block to spring it free. Injury timeout with just over 7 minutes until half. We’re back and lose a couple on the 1st down run. Wow. 2nd down was ugly too. The offensive line must have fallen asleep during that injury timeout. Illegal touching penalty on Yanda. What a stupid sounding name for a penalty in a game like football. 3rd and 13. Chandler with the nice catch for a 1st down around the 7 yard line. Texas is getting a much better defensive line push against the running game. We can probably get a nice play action play now or early in the next drive. Timeout Hawks about 5 minutes til half. 2nd and goal and we have had the ball over 7 minutes on this drive. WIDE OPEN TOUCHDOWN! But there is penalty that is on Iowa. Inelligible receiver downfield. Bummer. Ferentz is mad. 2nd and goal from the 15. Interception in the end zone. Stupid play. There were a ton of defenders around the ball.

Texas has the ball. That was the longest play ever without a penalty. Well, there was a penalty but they waived it off. McCoy rand around back there for about 30 seconds. That must have been some really good coverage downfield. And, Ferentz is still yelling at the ref. 3rd down and Texas makes an easy play to pick up the first down. Three defenders around the receiver but nobody in position to make a play. On 1st down, McCoy had to throw the ball away because of pressure. 2nd down the tight end dropped a pass he definitely should have caught that would have been about 7 yards. 3d down and they throw the ball about 1 yard but the Texas receiver still gets the 1st down. I hate Iowa’s 3rd down defense. Now, we’re back to 3rd and 5. And yet another easy first down to the 31 with 2:21 in the half. It is crazy how bad we are against 3rd down. Texas has trouble with the snap and looses a few yards on 1st down. Oh, McCoy wasn’t looking at the ball. 2nd and 15 and they pick up just over 10. Less than a minute, Texas has another 1st down at the 20. We need a stop since Texas gets the ball to start the second half. Instead, Texas throws for a TD. Godfrey was the burnt Hawkeye. 6 foot (I would say probably a couple inches shorter) versus somebody a lot taller. And the receiver is injured on the play. It looks like he got hurt by somebody in the band when he tried to run back onto the field from behind the end zone. 45 seconds until half Iowa 14 - Texas 10. TV Timeout since 45 seconds is such a long time to wait before the halftime commercials.

Bowman couldn’t figure out if he was in the end zone or not on the kickoff and just stood there for a second before taking off. Iowa ball on the 10. Tate knees the ball and it is time for halftime. See you in about 20 minutes.

I’m going to start a new post for the 2nd half because this one is just getting too long. The 2nd half of the Alamo Bowl will be here.

Playing Texas in the Alamo Bowl

I’ll go on record as saying that Iowa does not deserve to play in a bowl game this year. Any team that loses 5 of their last 6 games is on shaky ground at best.

The biggest win for the Hawkeyes this season was probably the Northern Illinois game. The only two road wins were at Syracuse and Illinois. That is one sad season.

Then, the scheduling gods determine that the Hawkeyes would be a good match for Texas in the Alamo Bowl. Ouch. I am not expecting an miracles.

The good news about getting into a bowl game is that Iowa gets to practice for several weeks longer than they would have if they did not get a bowl game. And, Iowa could use some practice.

Speaking of stupid rules. Is there one much dumber than saying that only the teams that get into a bowl game get the extra weeks of practice? Isn’t it really the teams that did not make it into a bowl that should need that extra practice the most? The season should end after the BCS Championship game and everybody should be able to practice until then. Some teams end up getting something like 6 or 7 weeks less practice than others. That’s just wrong.

[edited to fix several really horrendous typo/grammar type of things. Must not write while sleeping anymore. Thanks, Jeff for actually bothering to read that as it was originally written]

In state rivalry for the out of state fan

I lived in Iowa for a few years between 1978 to 1982.  I went to Kindergarten, 1st, and part of 2nd grade in Iowa.

I managed to stay a Hawkeye fan even though I spent most of my life in Illinois and never attended the University of Iowa.  Go figure.

The big rivalry was this weekend.  Iowa - Iowa State.

This game means so little to me.  Most of my life being a Hawkeye sports fan was hating Illinois.  And that game is coming up this weekend.

Don’t get me wrong.  I like beating ISU.  It is good for the season’s record.  It is good for in state recruiting.  But, that is where my concern with ISU ends.  I don’t have any friends that are ISU fans.  I didn’t go to school with any ISU fans.  As far as I know, there are no ISU fans.
Beating Illinois is good for the season’s record.  It is good for recruiting in the Chicago suburbs.  It is good for the Big 10 conference record.  And it makes me happy that all the friends I grew up with that were big Illini fans might remember me…and remember that I am making fun of them even though I have lost track of them over the years.
And it is good because I hate the Fighting Illini.

3-0 feels great, but let’s get on with the Big 10 schedule already.