Friday, September 26, 2008

FOOTBALL: 2008 Week Five - Iowa Hawkeyes vs.Northwestern Wildcats Preview

vs.

GAME INFO: Sat., Sept. 27th, 2008 - 11:00 AM CST - Kinnick Stadium; Iowa City, IA

IOWA: 3-1 (0-0) NR / Northwestern: 4-0 (0-0) NR

TV COVERAGE: ESPN Classic
IOWA'S GAMEDAY CENTRAL : VIEW HERE

LINE: Iowa is 8.5 point favorite at home



I'm actually in Iowa City for the game this weekend, so I am going to be limited in this prediction.
Both Bacher and Sutton have been banged up this year, but both will be ready for this game. The Wildcats boast seniority, however, some key areas of their team have some youngin' hanging around (namely on the offensive line). Iowa should be able to run at will with Greene, assuming Ken O'Keefe allows it to happen (huge assumption). I really like Iowa in this game, at home, for homecoming.

Offensive Player of the Game: Shonn Greene
Defensive Player of the Game: Mitch King



PREDICTION:
Iowa - 27
NW- 17

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

OT: Xobni - Cool E-mail Organizer

Ran into this application the other day. Very cool.

http://www.xobni.com/

Check out the video:


Lightning fast email search.
The email or person you're looking for appears as you type
Learn More
Email analytics.
Rankings, graphs, and statistics detailing how you and your contacts use email
Navigate your inbox by people.
Discover email's social network - quickly identify a contact's manager, business partner, or assistant
Your personal assistant.
Schedule appointments with a click of a button - Xobni automagically finds open slots in your busy schedule.
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Hello, threaded conversations.
Email how it was meant to be read, with conversations in context

Quick attachment discovery.
Historical attachments available instantly without searching
Phone numbers extracted from emails.
Contact details pop into the sidebar - never search for a phone number again
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Saturday, September 20, 2008

FOOTBALL: 2008 Week Four - Iowa Hawkeyes vs.Pittsburgh Panthers Preview

http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/7/7c/Iowa_Hawkeyes_Logo.svg.png VS. http://graphics.fansonly.com/schools/pitt/graphics/wallpaper/pitt640x480.jpg

GAME INFO: Sat., Sept. 20th, 2008 - 11:00 AM CST - Heinz Field - Pittsburgh, PA
IOWA: 3-0 (0-0) NR / Pittsburgh: 1-1 (0-0) NR

TV COVERAGE: ESPN 2 HD
IOWA'S GAMEDAY CENTRAL : VIEW HERE

LINE: Iowa is 1 point favorite on the road.




It's on the road.
Iowa still doesn't have an answer at QB.
I just don't have a great vibe in this one. Wannstache is not a great coach, Bears fans like myself know that first hand.

I think the Hawks struggle on the road. Low scoring.
I hope Iowa beats them 100-2, but I can't do that.

Offensive Player of the Game: Shonne Greene (until I am proven otherwise, he's my pick every week)
Defensive Player of the Game: Pat Angerer



PREDICTION:
Iowa - 10
Pitt - 13

And, yes, this is the worst prediction post of all time.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

FOOTBALL: 2008 Week Three - Iowa Hawkeyes vs. Iowa State Cyclones Preview

http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/7/7c/Iowa_Hawkeyes_Logo.svg.png VS.

GAME INFO: Sat., Sept. 13th, 2008 - 11:03 AM CST - Kinnick Stadium - Iowa City, IA
IOWA: 2-0 (0-0) NR / ISU: 2-0 (0-0) NR

TV COVERAGE: Big Ten Network - DIRECTV: channel 610 or 610-1 (HD); DISH NETWORK: channel 439 or 9500 (HD); MEDIACOM: Find Your Channel Here
FERENTZ'S MONDAY PRESSER: TRANSCRIPT HERE
IOWA'S GAMEDAY CENTRAL : VIEW HERE

LINE: Iowa is a 14 point favorite at home.


LIVETHREADS/BLOGS:
BlackHeartGoldPants Open Thread
Marc Morehouse LiveBlog



I'm not going to go into much depth here.
Go to the message boards around the Interwebs for all of the info you need.
Gameday is here. Iowa vs. Iowa State. Bitter rivals.
It's rainy down in Iowa City and the field conditions are anything but perfect.
Scary rumor this morning about the BTN not airing the broadcast because of a problem with the A/C in the truck, but it has been fixed.

I look for Iowa to use the pass to open up the running game.
Iowa's big boys on both lines are going to have a field day.
The dual QBs that ISU brings scare me, but not enough.

Offensive Player of the Game: Shonne Greene (until I am proven otherwise, he's my pick every week)
Defensive Player of the Game: Adrian Clayborn



PREDICTION:
Iowa - 31
ISU - 13

FOOTBALL: It's Game Day

That's really all I have to add right now. Excited to get this game started. Going to be a sloppy one in Kinnick with the rain coming down.

Preview/Prediction up before the game.

Early Score Prediction: 31-13 IOWA.

Friday, September 12, 2008

FOOTBALL: Iowa State is Fan-FARKING-tastic (A Retrospect)

Day before the game. Time to reload the blog with some of the ISU farks from over the years.

BJohnson_Cheese.jpg picture by storminspank

bff.jpg picture by storminspank














































Monday, September 08, 2008

FOOTBALL: It's ISU Weak [sic]

http://mostlynothing.com/pictures/Iowa/rolemodel.jpg

Stats mean nothing in this rivalry. OK. I still want to look at them.

Here are the facts:

Both Iowa and Iowa State have played a couple relative cupcakes thus far (ISU's opponents are a bit better than Iowa, granted)... however, both teams if to be taken seriously should have dominated their opponents thus far.

Let's look at the stats, even if they lie this early in the season:


ISU vs. OPPONENTS (SDSU, Kent State)

Scoring: 92, 45
First Downs: 34, 38
Rushing Yards: 389, 423
Passing Yards: 373, 337
Total Offense: 762, 760
Fumbles (Lost): 5 (4), 7 (5)
INTs (Def): 5, 0

ISU is averaging 6 penalties a game at an average of 10+ yards per penalty.
Opponents are averaging 210+ yards rushing per game vs. ISU.
In the SDSU game, no one player had over 100 yards (passing, receiving, running) - the biggest individual stat was Arnaud passing for 98 yards.
ISU has yet to have a 100 yard rusher this season. Scales is averaging 1.9 yards per carry on 26 attempts.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////


IOWA vs. OPPONENTS (Maine, FIU)

Scoring: 88, 3
First Downs: 52, 28
Rushing Yards: 486, 193
Passing Yards: 483, 245
Total Offense: 969, 438
Fumbles (Lost): 3 (1), 2 (1)
INTs (Def): 4, 2

IOWA is averaging 3 penalties a game at an average of 10+ yards per penalty.
Opponents are averaging less than 100 yards rushing per game vs. IOWA.
IOWA has scored 11 TDs and has yet to give up 1.
IOWA has scored more points in the first quarters of their games than they have in the entire second half of the games (mainly because of the starters being pulled and KF's refusal to run up scores).
Shonn Greene has back-to-back 100 yard games in two games where he only play 1 half of football in each - he is averaging almost 7 yards per carry. Greene has outrushed the entire backfield of the Cyclones in only 4+ quarters of action.
Moeaki and Stross haven't played a snap yet this year.

FOOTBALL: Congrats Karl Klug - Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week

Klug has been named the Big Ten DPOTW for Week 2.
Off the bench, nonetheless.
Klug, a 6-foot-4, 235-pound sophomore from Caledonia, Minn.., posted career highs against FIU with nine tackles and two sacks while also forcing a fumble to help the Hawkeye defense post a shutout. The sophomore tackle’s second sack forced a fumble that was recovered by Iowa on FIU’s final drive. The Hawkeyes limited the Golden Panthers to 56 rushing yards and four-of-15 on third downs.
Congrats, Karl!

Saturday, September 06, 2008

FOOTBALL: You've Been Ricky (Stanzi) Rolled

Well, the FIU game went off without a hitch (except a few idiots inside Kinnick booing Jake Christensen). When you play teams like FIU, the fans and coaches normally do not get to take a huge amount of information away from what they watched on the field. In this case, however, it has become readily apparent that Ricky Stanzi has reached icon status among Iowa fans. Just short of turning water into wine, Ricky can do no wrong right now in the eyes of a lot of fans.

To tribute Ricky's rise to fame, I've commemorated Ricky's first start in this highlight film.

Congratulations, you've been Ricky Rolled.



DIRECT LINK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEADj9RlmVY

Friday, September 05, 2008

FOOTBALL: 2008 Week Two - Iowa Hawkeyes vs. Florida International Golden Panthers Preview

http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/7/7c/Iowa_Hawkeyes_Logo.svg.png VS.

GAME INFO: Sat., Sept. 6th, 2008 - 11:03 AM CST - Kinnick Stadium - Iowa City, IA
IOWA: 1-0 (0-0) NR / FIU: 0-1 (0-0) NR

TV COVERAGE: Big Ten Network - DIRECTV: channel 618 or 618-1 (HD); DISH NETWORK: channel 5442 or 9503 (HD); MEDIACOM: Find Your Channel Here
FERENTZ'S MONDAY PRESSER: TRANSCRIPT HERE
IOWA'S GAMEDAY CENTRAL : VIEW HERE

LINE: Iowa is a 26.5 point favorite at home.




FIU was not impressive at all versus #14 Kansas last week (not a big shock all things considered). McCall completed 1/3 of his passes, didn't get to the 100 yard mark, and threw 2 picks. Their running game was equally bad, with their leading rusher, A'Mod Ned, being held to a mere 42 yards. FIU's lone TD came on a punt return by their most dynamic player, Eugene "TY" Hilton, a freshman with a ton of upside.

Don't look for FIU to give Iowa much trouble on Saturday. The ground game should be consistent all day long, and we hope to see some down-the-field action in the passing game, as well. Pretty sure you'd bet Jewel Hampton was going to run for 450 yards in this game if you asked anyone about him after the Maine game.

RUMORS AND RUMBLINGS: Word about is that Jake Christensen will not start on Saturday, instead Kirk has decided to allow Ricky Stanzi to start against the first team defense of FIU. I've heard anything from "this is absolutely true, bank on it" to "Jake is still the starter". Tyler Sash is supposed to have made his way into the starting lineup, displacing Harold Dalton. I am also interested in seeing who gets the nod at LG. Eubanks did get the nod last week, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Vandervelde getting a lot of reps this week. Brinson may have moved to fullback, which explains the three backs in the halfback rotation (Greene, O'Meara, Hampton).

Offensive Player of the Game: Shonne Greene
Defensive Player of the Game: A.J. Edds



PREDICTION:
Iowa - 44
FIU - 10

FOOTBALL: The Minnesota Golden Gopher Athletic Department Has No Balls



Thomas Neumann from ESPN's Page Two has a brilliant article on the non-conference strength of schedules of the BCS football programs. Neumann took the non-conference schedules of the 60 BCS schools and analysed their opponents over the last decade.

Here's what the data shows:

1.) Minnesota is the weeniest BCS program over the past decade (#1 weakest schedule).

2.) Contrary to popular belief, Iowa does a bang up job scheduling BCS schools in its non-conference schedule (7th out of 60).

Granted, Iowa hasn't done overly well against the BCS schools, but at least the A.D. has gone about scheduling real BCS opponents (18 for the Iowa Hawkeyes vs. 2 for the Minnesota Golden Gophers).

Minny has exactly ONE win versus a BCS opponent in non-conference action. One.

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

MEN'S BB: The Iowa Hawkeye 2008-09 Basketball Schedule Has Been Released



Whether it was travel issues, laziness, or just wanting to keep the fans on the edge or their seats, the University of Iowa has finally released it's 08-09 Men's Basketball Schedule.

Iowa only gets Minnesota once (at home) and Illinois once (away).
Unlike last year, the match-ups between buddies Thad Matta and Todd Lickliter are eons apart; one at the very beginning and one at the very end.

Combined with the previously released non-conference schedule, Iowa will have a group of games (between 12/05 and 1/08) that they will be at Carver for 6 out of the 8 games, with one of the away games being in-state at Drake. It can't hurt leaving the state only once in a month's time.

No concrete predictions yet for the season, but we are looking at somewhere in the high-teens/very low twenties win mark, with a trip to the NIT in line.

Pete Fiutak calls Brett Bielema Fat and Questions Tim Brewster's Hire

That, my friends, is what we call a "Win, Win Situation".

If you don't read Pete Fiutak's stuff, then you are missing out. Writing for CollegeFootballNews.com, he consistently finds a way to meld humor with pertinent information time and time again.

Some nuggets from his latest Cavalcade of Whimsy...

Talking about the Minnesota hire:
“You never trust a big butt and a smile” … Depending on which side of the fence you swing on, it was either a brazen, groundbreaking choice that might seem a bit radical, but could turn out to pay off in a big way, or it was a reckless, irresponsible selection that comes across more like a bad punch line. The interview process wasn’t nearly lengthy enough for some, while others champion the radical nature of the move considering new ideas are so desperately needed.
The high-level experience factor is an issue; there really wasn’t any throw into the equation. The pro side praises the pick, mainly because they have to, even though they would’ve ripped the selection to shreds had it been made by the other side, while the naysayers are slightly worried that a new superstar might have just been unleashed on the scene. There were many safer, veteran prospects out there that could’ve come in and ensured a win right away, but this is a shot for the stars that was either pure genius or total madness. Yes, a year later, Minnesota fans are still trying to figure out the hiring of Tim Brewster.
And don't forget Bielema:
McCrosky: Bad news, the fog is getting thicker.
Johnny: And Leon's getting laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrger.” …

Note to quickly expanding Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema: State Street Brats offers a fine selection of salads and grilled sandwiches, too. There’s no need to go the Double Red Brat route, and definitely move past the Brat and Burger on one bun. The fantastic Badger head coach appears to be on his way to being Bill Parcells in more ways than one.
Genius.

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

FOOTBALL: Kirk Ferentz Weekly Presser (Week Two)



Courtesy of the Big Ten Network

OT: Happy Birthday, BlackHeartGoldPants



To honor the boys' success, here are my top 10 favorite articles of 2008.

Casey McMillan is a Rampaging Terrormonster
Ron Zook Runs Into Tim Brewster
SUCKAS! You Been HOLTZ ROLLED!
Iowa Basketball: Where Amazing Happens
Michigan: Where Plagiarism Happens
The JoePa Chronicles: JoePa Writes Another Programming Note
Kirk Ferentz's Twitter Feed
Jake Christensen on Deal or No Deal
BHGP New Year's Resolutions
Justin Johnson Goes Ass-Bananas - (this was the first time I mentioned on BHGP and I nearly wet my pants with delight).

And of course, I'd have to put in an honorable mention (and shameless, shameless plug) to the only real contribution I have ever given the site... not because of lack of effort, but because of lack of being a good blogger...

BHGP ROUNDTABLE: Iowa Football 2008 (Part One)
BHGP ROUNDTABLE: Iowa Football 2008 (Part Two)

Congrats on turning the big 1, BHGP, but you know you'll always be a 10 in my heart... or a 0... I can't ever remember if I am supposed to carry the 1 or not.