It's The Orange

While some Hawkeye fans may feel slighted by being passed over by the Fiesta Bowl, I am ecstatic. There is no good that can come from playing Boise St. or TCU. If you beat either of these teams, then you just beat a non-bcs school. If you lose, well then you just lost to a non-bcs school. You are either did what you were supposed to or embarrassed yourself.

From a recruiting perspective, Florida is one of the key battlegrounds for the Hawkeye coaching staff. The exposure derived from participating in the Orange Bowl is invaluable for this process. Contrarily, Arizona is not a source of future Hawkeyes.

Kirk Ferentz said he couldn't remember the last time he had to prepare for a true option team. The Yellow Jackets are actually 3 1/2 point favorites which is laughable to me. Stormin' Norm's defense is built on fundamental gap responsibility that relies on its front four to wreak havoc. As a result, defending the option should not be too tall of a task for one of the best defenses in the country.

Here is a link with some interesting perspective on the offense.

The most impressive part of all of this is that Paul Johnson calls all these plays without the use of any kind of a cheat sheet. He literally stands on the sidelines and just tells an oncoming player the play.

Don't get me wrong, GT has an outstanding football team and this will be a great challenge in what I believe will be the best BCS game of them all, however, the matchup seems to favor the Hawks. The GT secondary is suspect and with the emergence of McNutt In Ya Mouth and the steady play of DJK/Stross/Moeaki with a healthy Rick Stanzi throwing to them, Iowa will put points on the board.

Win this game against a top 10 BCS school on a national stage (only game on Tuesday night) and Iowa will assure itself of a top 10 preseason ranking next year.

This will be the final game for guys like Pat Angerer, Tony Moeaki, AJ Edds, Kyle Calloway and most likely Bryan Bulaga and Amari Spievey. Let's send them off with a big W.

For all the Tostitos

On Sunday the BCS will announce its 2010 matchups. With Okie State's loss to Oklahoma, a Texas victory over "I Hate" Nebraska would ensure that the Big 10 will have 2 teams in the BCS.

It will come down to Iowa and Penn State for the right to play for all the Tostitos.

Back on September 26th, Iowa physically dominated PSU in Happy Valley and ultimately won the game 21-10. Yet, there is concern amongst the Hawkeye Nation that the Nittany Lions may earn the bid over the Hawks due to the Joe Paterno factor. In addition, Coach Ferentz and Gary Barta have called a PC tomorrow to presumably campaign for a BCS bid.

I do not share this concern. Why you might ask?

Iowa fans are well-known to be some of the best bowl travelers in the country. Iowa beat PSU in their house. There is a strong contingency of Iowa fans in the Phoenix area, simply ask Mr. Girsch about that one. Iowa beat PSU in their house. Iowa took OSU to OT in the shoe, PSU got blown out by them at home. Iowa beat PSU in their house.

Bottom line, I plan to celebrate the announcement of the Hawkeye bid on Sunday over a nice big bag of Tostitos.

Bring on the Boise State Broncos!

On an unrelated note, the Hawks managed to steal prized TE CJ Fiedorowicz from the Illini. Here is the Sun Times article during which CJ rips the Zooker's joke of a program.

Still Looking for a BCS Bid

While the Hawkeyes had their Rose Bowl dreams dashed on Saturday with a tough 27-24 overtime loss to Ohio State, Iowa's chances for a BCS bowl bid are still very much alive thanks to the great effort that they gave against the Buckeyes and a couple of key losses elsewhere.

While Iowa fans probably aren't taking any comfort in the loss on Saturday, the fact is that the Hawkeye Football team is still in a very good shape when it comes to landing one of the coveted spots in a Bowl Championship Series game in early January.

First, the Hawkeyes exceeded all the experts predictions of a potential blowout loss to the Buckeyes in Columbus. Everyone who follows college football knows that the Horseshoe is one of the toughest places to play and Iowa ran this one right to the end and then some.

Then, losses by USC, who was blown out by Stanford, and a loss by Miami,FL put them on the outside looking in when it comes to a possible BCS bid.

That opens the door a little wider for the Hawkeyes, but they still have work to do.

First and foremost, the most important thing that Iowa can do is keep a prized pig in his southern home for one more year this coming Saturday and defeat Minnesota. Do that and the chances of the Hawkeyes playing in a BCS game are still on the table.

A loss on Saturday and the Hawkeyes are looking squarely in the eye of a return trip to Florida. I think most Iowa fans feel a whole lot better about Iowa's chances of winning this weekend thanks to the performance of redshirt freshman James Vandenberg on Saturday, who filled in and then some for injured starting quarterback Ricky Stanzi, who is sidelined with an ankle injury.

The BCS rankings were released on Sunday and Iowa came in at #13, which is within the Top14 that a team needs to be to be considered for one of the at-large berths. That's the good news.

Now the bad news is that one of their fellow Big Ten schools with a college football icon is also in that mix. That's right, Penn State, who Iowa defeated earlier this year in State College, is right there as well at #14. This weekend the Nittany Lions play Michigan State and if Iowa fans want to take a rooting interest in that one, pick the Spartans.

The other potential at-large school that could be in play is Oklahoma State, who is currently ranked #12 in the BCS poll. They have a date in a couple of weeks with in-state rival Oklahoma in Norman, so Iowa fans might want to get behind Bob Stoops club in that one.

The most likely destination right now for Iowa could be the Fiesta Bowl, which is played on January 4th in Glendale, Arizona. But, there is also a chance that the Orange Bowl could have an opportunity to pick the Hawkeyes as well as the Sugar Bowl, who had a bowl scout in Columbus this past weekend.

The BCS selection process is a bit confusing, so here is a quick rundown of the process. Let's assume that the winner of the SEC Championship game between Alabama and Florida will go to the title game. That is pretty much a given as long as neither team loses any of their remaining regular season contests.

The other team in the national title game will likely be Texas, again assuming they do not lose any of their remaining regular season games and they win the Big 12 title game in early December.

From there, the BCS has designated conferences for the Rose, Sugar, Fiesta, and Orange Bowl. The Rose will be filled by Ohio State and the winner of the Pac-10, which is yet to be decided. The Orange Bowl takes the winner of the ACC title game, which at this point appears to be Georgia Tech. The Fiesta and Sugar would be without their league title rep, the Big 12 and SEC because they would be meeting in the title game.

That means they will get the first at-large selection which comes from a pool of the Big East Champion (Pittsburgh or Cincinnati) and any team in the Top 14 of the final BCS poll. Any team ranked in the top four is assured of being picked so that means at this time, TCU is in.

The selection process then goes as follows, the Sugar would get the first replacement pick and would likely go with the loser of the Alabama/Florida game. Since only two teams from any one league can be picked, any SEC team in the Top 14 is automatically off the board.

But, after that, it gets interesting. The Fiesta would be up next and they have a decision to make. More than likely they will go for an at-large team that will generate fans coming to their city to fill up seats and spend money in their community. That's what bowl games are all about and don't let anyone tell you anything differently.

Again, assuming that teams win out and stay within the Top 14, it could come down to Iowa or Penn State or perhaps, Oklahoma State. All three have great fan bases that tend to travel well, but the Hawkeyes and the Nittany Lions are probably holding an edge here. But, Oklahoma State is close to Arizona, so geography in a tough economy could play a role.

Iowa holds the head to head win over Penn State, but the Nittany Lions have the Paterno factor and that cannot be dismissed. There is a more national appeal with Paterno, like it or not. Right now, I would say it is a coin flip on paper and I can't rule out Oklahoma State if they go to Norman and beat the Sooners.

Perhaps the Fiesta goes in a different direction and picks a team like TCU and then that opens the door to the Orange Bowl, where Iowa brought nearly 50,000 fans to back in January of 2003. Of course, Penn State also traveled plane loads of fans there in the past as well, so again, coin flip. I don't see the Orange passing on a more brand name conference team given that Georgia Tech doesn't have a huge fan following, so it probably won't play out beyond this game.

There is still a Doomsday Scenario that could play out involving Texas the Big 12 title game. If Texas, who will be a huge favorite in the game no matter who they play, happened to lose, then all bets are off. That would send the Big 12 North Champion to the Fiesta Bowl and Texas would get one of the at-large spots and probably put Iowa's BCS hopes on life support. It's an unlikely scenario, but it's still out there.

My best guess right now:

BCS Title game: Alabama vs. Texas
Rose: Ohio State vs. Oregon
Sugar: Florida vs. Cincinnati
Orange: Georgia Tech vs. Boise State
Fiesta: Iowa vs. TCU

If Iowa gets passed over by the BCS after winning this weekend, then a Capital One Bowl re-match with LSU is very likely.

From Rivals.

You've got to be kidding me? We're on the cover? Isn't the World Series going on right now?

Yes Kirk, the Iowa Football team is on the cover of Sports Illustrated after going 3/4 of the season perfect.

Despite being down to their 4th string running back, losing the top two punt returners, and playing without the best offensive player for several weeks, this Iowa football team has just found a way.

Now, if Rick Stanzi could just find a way to lead the offense to a solid 4 quarter effort this team would really be something.

GET THE CORRECT FACTS ON IOWA FOOTBALL
It seems popular for national pundits to criticize the University of Iowa football team these days. Many have said Iowa doesn’t belong on the same board with Florida, Texas, Alabama, Cincinnati, TCU, Oregon or Boise State. Iowa’s schedule has been rated the seventh toughest in the nation. Only one team in Big Ten history has beaten Penn State, Michigan State and Wisconsin on the road in the same season (Michigan did it in 1997). The two schools Iowa does not play in the Big Ten this year have the worst overall records (Purdue and Illinois) in the league. To say Iowa hasn’t played a strong enough schedule is to be totally misinformed. Please look at the facts below.

Number of opponents defeated that currently have winning records:
1. Iowa (6)
2. Texas (5)
3. Cincinnati (4)
TCU (4)
4. Oregon (3)
Alabama (3)
5. Boise State (2)
Florida (2); to be fair there are several that are .500

Total won-lost records (and winning %) of defeated opponents:
1. Iowa 44-31 (.586)
2. Florida 36-29 (.553)
3. Texas 35-30 (.538)
4. Oregon 29-28 (.508)
5. TCU 34-33 (.507)
6. Alabama 32-33 (.492)
7. Cincinnati 30-36 (.454)
8. Boise State 27-37 (.421)

Total won-lost records of opponents defeated in their home stadiums (i.e. road wins)
1. Texas 15-9 (.714)
2. Iowa 23-12 (.657)
3. Alabama 14-10 (.583)
4. Florida 15-11 (.576)
5. TCU 19-14 (.575)
6. Cincinnati 21-20 (.512)
7. Boise State 14-18 (.437)
8. Oregon 6-10 (.375)

Number of defeated opponents ranked in current BCS Top 25:
1. Iowa 3 (Penn State 11, Arizona 18, Wisconsin 21)
Oregon 3 (USC 12, Utah 14, California 20)
2. Texas 2 (Oklahoma State 19, Oklahoma 24)
3. Florida 1 (LSU 9)
Alabama (Virginia Tech 23)
Boise State 1 (Oregon 8)
Cincinnati 1 (South Florida 25)
4. TCU 0

Won-lost records of remaining teams left on schedule:
1. Alabama 22-12 (.647)
2. Iowa 17-10 (.629)
3. Oregon 19-12 (.612)
4. Cincinnati 19-13 (.593(
5. Texas 18-14 (.562)
6. Boise State 20-22 (.476)
7. TCU 15-17 (.468)
8. Florida 14-11 (.411)

Bulls Ready to Get Started

Basketball season starting is seeming to get lost in all the excitement of the 8-0 Hawkeyes and those great young Blackhawks (i will be going as Toews for halloween). But the Bulls are coming off of a great series to end last year and looking to have another good year as this team matures and grows.

Just a couple things to look for:

1. Derrick Rose was out a lot of the pre-season and look for him to have limited minutes until he is 100% and back up to speed. He will be fine, but Coach does not want to push him and have him re-injure that ankle. That being said, he will end the year again as one of the elite young point guards.

2. Jokim Noam has looked like a monster this pre-season. What does that mean? Maybe nothing, after all it is not the regular season, i mean, it almost like, we talking bout practice. But if nothing else its good sign. He knows where to be and what to do, now he has to execute like that in the season.

3. I know, Deng has more problems than Windows Vista, but he is (supposedly) healthy now. Deng just doesn’t stay healthy. There is no other way to describe it. Deng missed 33 games last year and 20 games the year before. In 2006-07 Deng played in all 82 games and he averaged just less than 19 points a game, but since then his scoring, assists, and rebounding have all declined. If he can stay healthy it would be a huge scoring boost along with a whole year of Salmons.

4. Tyrus Thomas is an athletic freakshow. Unfortunately while his vertical is high, his IQ is about the same number. If he can learn the game better he can be fun to watch. As with Noah, he needs to stay out of foul trouble. If he plays smart he can get 10 points a game and block a shot or two and will probably have one play where he looks like he is defying physics and i look forward to it.

All in all this is still a team looking to come together. They looked like they did that at the end of last year and just did not have enough to finish. Lets get out there and have a great year Bulls!