Talk Hawkeyes

Just throw the ball more than 15 yards every single time. We have no idea how to stop it. In fact most of the time, there won’t be a Hawkeye anywhere near the receiver.

Young ran the ball 15 times for 95 yards (6.3 yards per carry).
Sims ran the ball 7 times for 38 yards (5.4 yards per carry).
Christensen ran the ball 15 times for -13 yards (-0.9 yards per carry).

I officially want 25+ carries from Young each game and 15+ carries
from Sims each game.  I want fewer than 5 runs from Christensen.

Sure, Christensen had a lot of yards in the air (308) but this team
MUST commit to running the ball.  Both backs averaged over 5 yards a
carry.  Run the ball.  Then run it again.  There were plenty of
opportunities for Young and Sims to run the ball before that game got
into desperation mode.

I want them to run the ball on almost every 1st down and almost
every 2nd down and almost any 3rd down shorter than 3 yards.  I would
be willing to bet that we end up with a lot fewer 3rd and 8+ yards.

Some quick notes at halftime of the Hoosier/Hawkeye game

When does doing a flip into the end zone mean you are being an ass? Is ti when you jump or when you land? If it is when you jump than that was not a dead ball penalty and should not have been a TD. But what a stupid rule anyway. Man up and take your well deserved taunting. Or maybe do something to shut them up.

Some requests for the second half.

• No flea flickers.
• No shovel passes.
• No bubble screens.
• No passes.

Just run the damn ball down their throat. Every time we do, we end up gaining 4 to 15 yards. I’m happy with that. Every time we don’t run the ball, bad things happen.

I don’t care how many defenders are in the box. Put in 2 tight ends and a full back and keep running right behind the tackle and guard.

And can we please switch to the 10 guys on Hardy defense that I recommended last night? Or at least get him to agree to send 10% of his NFL paychecks to the Iowa booster club since we will go a long way toward boosting his draft position?

Also, can we please get the ball to start the second half someday?

Can we please just fair catch every punt the rest of the game…and maybe the season?

And Christensen. With seconds to go and the clock running and everybody covered…just throw the ball away so you can have as many attempts as possible before the half.

But, nice odd play on the Hail Mary.

But, when did spiking the ball make them throw the “You’re an ass” penalty?

To hell with Coach Alford’s alma mater. I hate Alford and his Hoosiers. What? The Hoosiers have a football team? It’s not time for the Iowa/Indiana instant classic national TV basketball game?

Well, Illinois had a running back dance around for 214 yards on 27 rushes last week. Rumor has it that he broke a sweat on those last few runs and the dirty, rotten cheater Zook recommended Mendenhall tryout for cross country after the spectacular distance performance.

All of those yards came in whatever city that Hoosier school is located in these days and on a day when the Illinois quarterback only completed 13 of 28 passes for 98 yards (with 2 TDs and 2 INTs). Seriously. What kind of productivity can you expect from a man named Juice.

Now the Hoosiers come to Iowa to get thumped.

I know you might try to point out how badly the Hoosiers beat Iowa last year. Let’s face it, Hardy beat the Hawkeyes last year. The rest of the Hoosiers could have stayed home and played XBox and the outcome would have been the same.

We’ve learned our lesson. The game plan this year calls for one man in the box and 10 playing downfield to make sure Hardy doesn’t try to get funky again. It’s foolproof.

The Hawkeyes are going to win by 3 TDs. Unless the team continues to not run Young and Simms as much as they should. If that happens they will win by 2 TDs and a field goal. Unless the field goal kicker kicks it into the defender’s belly again for a third week in a row. If that happens, the Hawkeyes win by 2 TDs.

For the record, if the Hawkeye RBs are averaging over 3.5 yards per carry with 8 guys in the box, let them keep running the ball.

Technorati Tags: Iowa Hawkeyes, Indiana Hoosiers, college football, sports

The Iowa Hawkeyes defense is really good.  Just ask Wisconsin.  The defense hold the Badgers in check most of the night.  The defensive line of Iowa abused the gigantic line of Wisconsin time after time.  That defense kept the Hawkeyes in the game up to the very end.

Everybody seems to be talking like the tide is turning for the Hawkeyes.  We choked against Iowa State but look how close we played to Wisconsin.

But having a defense as good as the Hawkeyes have played in each game this year is not going to actually win any games unless the defense starts converting some turnovers into touchdowns.

The offense and special teams have been atrocious.

If we can’t start putting the football in the end zone, or at least through the uprights, we will continue to have a great defense that keeps the score close but will be unable to beat very many teams.  Especially if the punting team continues to give the other team the ball on midfield.

Hopefully getting back into Kinnick will be good for the young Hawks and they will start to build that confidence against Indiana this Saturday.

Technorati Tags: Iowa Hawkeyes, college football, sports

I was planning on writing a post about how the odds didn’t look good for the Hawkeyes against the Badgers tomorrow.

But then some guy from Sheboygan, Wisconsin decided to do a Google search for Iowa Hawkeyes Suck.

Then I realized that Wisconsin has struggled during their games against average at best teams.  They have not looked nearly as impressive as their early rankings and press coverage would indicate.  Now the Badger faithful are running around the internet desperately looking for confirmation that the Iowa is bad enough for Wisconsin to beat.

They are scared of the Hawkeyes coming to town.  They remember that they couldn’t even manage to beat Chandler when he led the Hawkeyes to victory at Camp Randall.  They know that the Hawkeyes do not give up rushing yards or any sort of touchdown.

A few years back, I watched a cold game at Camp Randall.  It might have been that Chandler game.  I got the souvenir mug of hot cocoa.  The mug is still hanging around in our Rubbermaid cabinet.  The other day my daughter told me that I should use the mug with Herky’s friend on it.

Folks.  Buckeye the Badger is no friend of Herky’s.  Beware all you Badger fans seeking confirmation that Iowa might be bad enough for the Badger’s to beat.  You might want to watch the game on your TV.  Or just read about it in the paper on Sunday.

Technorati Tags: Iowa Hawkeyes, Wisconsin Badgers, college football, sports

Ferentz changed the curfew rule recently due to the Hawkeye players taking turns getting riding in the cop cars.  Now, they have a 10pm out of the downtown area and midnight back in the rooms curfew.  That curfew was apparently already in place everyday except for Saturday so really it is just an extra day a week.

I’m not sure how much effect that is going to have except maybe to warn the players that Ferentz isn’t going to put up with anymore articles in the Sports Citizen that embarrass the University of Iowa more than losing to Iowa State.

But, if he really wanted to get to them, he could have used some of these punishments instead.

• The entire team gets to do some gross, nasty, community service.  Maybe something involving cleaning that disgusting river at the bottom of the hill leading up to the rec center on Sunday morning after the next home game.
• The entire team loses all of the XBox/Playstation/Nintendo privileges for the rest of the season.
• Organize a night where the players and several students get together to watch footage from the Iowa - Iowa State game.  The students are free to ask questions during the video.
• All games the rest of the season will be covered on the black hole of the Big Ten Network.
• Paint the home team locker room pink.
• When the Hawks win the coin toss, chose to kick the ball instead of receive.

Wait, I think most of the players probably already want that last option.  Maybe the school administration should force Ferentz to kickoff whenever possible the rest of the year if he can’t talk his players into not attracting attention from the police for the rest of the season.

Technorati Tags: Iowa Hawkeyes, college football, sports

What gets fans of college football teams like USC and Florida excited?  They go into the season knowing they should win all of their games.  They get pushed a couple times a year but normally manage to pull out the win in the end.  They get any recruit they want so they know going into the season that they are more talented than all of the teams on their schedule.

Rooting for the Iowa Hawkeyes is another thing altogether.

They win a fair number of games but also regularly lose to teams like Iowa State, Indiana, and Northwestern.  They frequently lose out on big recruits.  They regularly have walk ons end up playing as starters.

All of which is part of the fun of rooting for a team like the Hawkeyes.  Sure losing to ISU 7 out of the last 10 times sucks but it makes it all that much sweeter when the team goes crazy and wins every other game like back in 2002.  It makes it that much more fun when the top 5 recruits from Illinois come to Iowa in one year.  It makes winning games at Michigan, Ohio State and Penn State something to actually cheer about rather than just being happy they didn’t lose.

So when Iowa falls apart against a team they should easily handle handle, don’t stress for more than a couple hours.  They are just setting us up for a special memory somewhere down the line.

Let’s hope they are planning one of those memories for this Saturday against Wisconsin.

Technorati Tags: Iowa Hawkeyes, college football

This game is much closer than it should be. Go Hawkeye Momentum!

Field goal attempt hits the upright and bounces the Hawkeye way.

ISU 12 - Iowa 10. Still.

Christensen on the QB keeper for 9. 3rd and 1. Young stuffed for a loss. No first down. Punt goes down to about the 23.

13:23 left, ISU ball. QB keeper and Meyer’s chest meets somebody on Iowa that it isn’t happy to meet, Humpal I think.

3rd and 8, King deflects the pass. Punt team!

Sims catches the screen for 13 or so. Is Young injured? I haven’t seem him since his shoulder got drilled on a play. Christensen scrambles up the middle for a first down.

2nd and 8, Sandeman makes a freak stud catch while getting clobbered. That was the play of the game so far. True freshman.

Christensen sacked, fumbles, recovers. back on the 15. Field goal attempt. Signor. Blocked.

Still ISU 12 - Iowa 10. 7 minutes left.

ISU throws deep to Blythe but well covered. Blythe actually had to almost interfere to keep the ball from Shada. Short pass for nothing. 3rd and 10. Incomplete. Bring out the punt team. And the announcers are absolutely wrong. Shada did not hold Blythe.

Iowa with good field position with 6:35 left.

We need to score right now.

Christensen complete to Moeaki going for about 15. Young gains about 6. He must have just been resting earlier. Young with a nice little juke to gain the 1st down.?

4:40 left. Christensen barely manages to throw the ball out of bounds. Can somebody do something with Bowen please? QB keeper for 7. Nice block by Young.

Cleveland just about makes a nice play but changes his mind at the last second and drops the pass. Time for another fieldgoal. 41 yarder, Signor kicking. Up and GOOD!

Iowa up 13 - 12.

Kickoff to the 20. Stopped at the 32.

ISU ball with 3:34. Meyer complete for 9 to the 41. 3:00 left. ISU plows ahead for about 7. 1st down. I think ISU has all of their time outs left. Meyere sacked by King. 2:22 left.

That should have been offensive interference. No call. Completion way down the field. Why was Klinkenborg covering a WR? ISU on the 17.

I can’t believe that ISU is going to win this. I guess we can still root for an Iwebema blocked field goal kick. 45 seconds. ISU runs up the middle to run the clock. ISU will call the timeout with seconds left, 5 to be exact. 3rd down and ISU will attempt to kick the FG for the win.

Iowa calls a time out to ice the kicker which absolutely never works.

Here comes the kick. Lined up right in the middle 28 yards away. Up and good. ISU will win unless the Hawks run it back.

I am constantly amazed at how bad Iowa is on the road. One second left.

No seconds left.

ISU 12 - Iowa 10.

Quite a run back, but still a loss.

More to come after I find some food.

Because of our stupid decision to always take the ball first at the beginning of the game, ISU will start with the ball.

Shada almost intercepts the ball but takes the opportunity to prove that he belongs on the defensive side of the field by dropping the ball.

FUMBLE. Iowa’s ball. Meyer runs the ball one to many times. Iowa takes advantage by false start on 1st down. 1st and 15.

Christensen complete to Brodell for the 1st down. Is that an offense I smell? Young takes a big hit, but after an 8 yard run on 1st down. Sims for 1. 3rd and less than 1. So, the Iowa guy runs for about 6 and the ref happens to catch that his knee went down after only inches. 4th and 1 and we’re going for it. Bootleg run. TOUCHDOWN!

Iowa 7 - ISU 12.

Quote of the day, “That drive was caused by the fumble.” Thanks Mr. Announcerman.

Kickoff, that guy should have taken the knee since he got clobbered on the 20. ISU ball 1st and 10 from the 20.

Meyer continues dinking. No word on whether he is still dunking or not. Short pass. Even shorter run. 3rd and 6. Short pass and Moylan nails the receiver short of the 1st down. Friends, let’s teach a quick lesson here. On 3rd and 6, throw the ball more than 6 yards or just punt early. Bad kick, Iowa at midfield.

Sims sneaks up the field 17 yards. The momentum seems to be swinging.

Sims runs for a loss of a few and a flag on the play. Facemask, 5 yards. 2nd and 5. Christensen tries to throw an INT but nobody on ISU wants to catch the ball. 3rd down on the ISU 21. Shotgun. Christensen was obviously not listening to my lesson a couple paragraphs ago. 4th and 2 after the completion. 35 yard field goal is good.

ISU 12 - Iowa 10.

Kickoff returned and the ISU guy is clobbered again.

ISU 3rd and 5. ISU receiver goes 6 yards. Shada covers him at 7 yards. Somebody read the lesson above and somebody else didn’t.

See above. It just happened again.

That was holding on Klinkenborg. No call. But he still tackled the runner. 3rd and 6. Let’s see if we have this figured out yet. ISU helps the cause by running for nothing. 4th down. End of the third.

4th quarter to come.