GO HAWKS!

Winter games

2007-12-16T20:45:00.000-08:00

The big news is that Iowa once again is in its proper spot as the #1 wrestling team. The win at Ames over the previous #1 without our best wrestler (Mark Perry was out for 1 meet due to a NCAA suspension) was huge.

As for the basketball team, no surprise - they are struggling – the cupboard was almost bare. The good news is that we have 3 solid freshmen – PG Jeff Peterson, wing Jake Kelly and PF Jarryd Cole. Next year’s recruiting class is fairly good. I like Lickliter (aka Lick) and think he will do a good job at Iowa, but it may take a couple years to get back to the NCAA Tournament.

Football recruiting is in full swing. The Hawks are getting some commitments, but only time will tell how they pan out.

Saw Michael’s game Friday. He was very good – played the whole game at PG, was the team’s best defender, had lots of assist and some spectacular drives to the basket. And he played with a lot of energy and emotion.

Merry Christmas and All the Best in 2008!

Jerry

Disappointing season and a terrible last game against Western Michigan

2007-11-21T17:33:00.000-08:00

A loss last Sunday against a losing MAC team in Iowa City is hard to fathom. A win and the Hawks sort of salvage a disappointing year and (very probably) play in the Insight Bowl in Tempe, Az. It was the last game for the Seniors and would have given the Hawks a boost to rebounding next year, but as most often been the case this year, the Hawk offense came out UNready to play.

I hear there is a small chance that we will still be invited to go somewhere since we did have 6 wins and are bowl eligible, but in my opinion – no way do we deserve a bowl game.

So what went wrong for the Hawks this year? Of course, that is not a single reason, but this is my very thumbnail conclusions. Add your own thoughts.

The defense was mostly good (discounting the last game), sometimes very good and basically propped up the team.

Special teams had some ups and downs, but I think they were on balance better than last year. Red shirt Freshman Ryan Donahue emerged as a pretty good punter and the kick and punt coverage was generally fine. Unfortunately, the kickoff coverage team didn’t see the field all that often.

Then there is the offense – lots of problems – an inexperienced OLine has improved and could be really good next year, but did have some problems. There were injuries, but other teams experience that as well. So here is what I consider the biggest problem – the QB. It’s not all on Jake, but the QB is not just another position – it’s the most important position. He had some throws dropped sure, but he was also well off the mark many times and listening to my Hawkeye radio, he has trouble finding the secondary receivers when the primary is covered. Somewhere between Offensive Coordinator and QB coach Kenny O’Keefe, Jake, Wide Receivers Coach Lester Erb and the young wide receivers there is a communication problem. I think the young wide receivers have good potential and with a better QB, we could have a pretty good passing game.

So to me, the number one key to next year is easily improved QB play whether it’s Jake or one of true freshmen and resdshirt freshman on the team.

I’ll remain optimistic for the team next year, but I won’t be predicting 9 – 3.

Moving on, Men’s and Women’s Basketball and Wrestling have all begun well, albeit without tough competition yet. It will get tougher. Some brief notes – 1)Hawkeye wrestling will get back to it’s natural place at the top of the NCAA. Not this year, but we’ll see it within 4 years. 2)The men’s team is 4 – 0 against weak competition, but we can say this – they are playing good D and seem to be working together and Coach Lickliter has made a very good impression, both as far as handling the team and being a down to earth good guy. And here is something else I dig – he shops at the downtown CoOp. and 3)This is a big year for the Women’s team – they have a lot of experience, good players and have a chance(expectation) to make some noise in the Big10.

GO HAWKS.

More later.

JBA I

Stats lie as the Hawks have a huge win

2007-10-30T21:10:00.000-07:00

After a miserable first half, the Hawks put on a rally. Even though the stats say MSU won, the score says otherwise - a huge win for the Hawks. Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good.

On the other hand, we can say that the Hawks kept their heads in the game – caught some breaks and puled out the win. MSU is a good team with more talent.

Next up is at Northwestern. We do not have a good experience against the Wildcats lately.

I’m predicting a UI win.

YAHOO

2007-10-13T13:08:00.000-07:00

Best game for the Hawks for a long time. For a low scoring game, there was a lot of action. Illinois (was #18) is an option offense with a really good running QB, an excellent RB and a first rate WR (only a true freshman) – probably the only option team we will play this year.

To use an over used expression – it was huge for the Iowa FB team. It was just one game, but a good omen for down the line.

Sadly, I admit to being one of many who wondered if this team could turn it around.

Next up is at Purdue which will be tough.
Iowa is using a lot of true freshmen and other young players – especially on the OLine.

YUCK

2007-09-29T20:50:00.000-07:00

Sorry to say there is nothing good to say about the game today. Something is amiss. The Hawks are going to have to play much better to beat PSU, MSU, Purdue (nice win over ND today) and maybe the improved Ill.

Jake had a poor game. Eddie was really ripping him for his fundamentals. Is this a matter of coaching by Kenny O’Keefe or is Jake just too wound up. The Indiana QB had a very good day. It’s a team game, but QB is not just another position.

Northern Iowa won today and they are probably the best team in the state.

Some good Hawkeye news – the women’s volleyball and soccer teams won this weekend – a good step for 2 downtrodden teams. OK, that doesn’t cancel the football loss, but grab the positive.

Finally – GO CUBS!

HAWKEYES PLAY HARD and PROUD

2007-09-23T20:21:00.000-07:00

OK, we didn’t win the game, but the Hawks played miles better than last week against a very good opponent on the road. It was a step. If you watched the game you know it was a hard fought hard hitting (what Eddy Podolak calls a sloberknocker) defensive battle, especially in the first half. There were no scores until well into the second quarter. Iowa has an excellent defensive team. The offense is behind, but learning and improving. I recommend looking at the IC Press Citizen reports and commentary. If the Hawks don’t have a let down from this effort they will comfortably handle Indiana next week.

I had the TV on mute to see replays of big plays and listed to Dolph and Eddy on the radio. I prefer that.

Some young players becoming major factors:
>true sophomore LB AJ Edds had a fantastic game and was the deserved Player of the Game. DT Mitch King also played a great game.
>RS Freshman WR Derrell Johnson-Koulianos (DJK) also was outstanding. What a catch for the TD! Other young freshmen WRs are playing roles – RSs James Cleveland and Paul Cheney and true freshman Colin Sandeman. All have much potential. Cheney was a national high school top 5 sprinter.

Hawks were hard hit with injuries (all in the first quarter), some of them significant.
>K Signor pulled a muscle before the game. RS F Daniel Murray from IC Regina took over and did a good job
>WR Paul Stross is still out for another game or two.
>OG Vandervelde was hurt and will be out for a short time. Dace Richardson is back and apparently ready to move back into the lineup.
>Our most experienced WR by far, Andy Brodell, pulled a hamstring and is out for some time. This hurts. Along with the less serious injury to Stross, this means for now, all of Iowa’s WRs are freshmen.
>Hurting the most is the arm/wrist injury to TE Moleki. He will be out for awhile – maybe the rest of the season. Iowa uses a lot of 2 TE sets and this makes that harder. Moleki was up for the Mackey award and is probably Iowa’s best offensive player.

Notes:
>As I said, the Hawks did themselves proud.
>other than the game injuries, the only real downside was the punting (and there was a lot of punting) where we have been inconsistent all year.

Aldemans Mark, Michael and David are playing well for Mid-Prarie.

On a non sports note – I’m watching the new Ken Burns documentary, “The War”, about WWII. It’s a 7 part series on PBS. I recommend it.

OUCH!

2007-09-16T08:30:00.000-07:00

A sad outcome for the Hawks in Ames – a very bad upset – 15 - 13

Some observations:
>the Hawks came out flat and got completely outplayed in the first half and were probably lucky to be down only 12 points
>Iowa came back and played better in the second half, but it wasn’t enough
>I hate to say this, but the school from Ames deserved the victory
>He didn’t throw any interceptions, but Jake got outplayed by Brett Meyer. Jake will be a good QB, but this was his first experience in a hostile environment and he is gaining experience
>we lost on a last second (literally) field goal

Positive notes:
>Iowa still hasn’t allowed a touchdown
>I don’t think there were any significant injuries coming out of the game

On to Wisconsin – this will be a very tough game to win and will take a huge improvement to even make it close.

GO HAWKS!

DOMINATION, SHUT OUT

2007-09-09T16:20:00.000-07:00

Hawks completely dominated the first half, holding Syracuse to negative yardage and no first downs. Starting very early in the fourth quarter, a lot of reserves began to play. First shut out since 2005. Syracuse was held to 106 total yards with most of those coming against the reserves.

Highlights:
>Syracuse concentrated on stopping the run and Iowa’s passing game took over - really nice job by QB Christensen and the receivers. 3 TDs for TE Moleki who is on the Mackey List. He’s not Dallas Clark yet, but I think he is better already than Chandler who is a rookie in the NFL.
>Lots of improvement for the Hawks. Hard to know even where to start.
>Iowa is playing a lot of true freshmen this year – 10 have taken off the Redshirt. I understand the dynamics involved in the redshirt vs. playing decision, but I’m not sure playing this many is a long term good thing. What do you think?
>Lots of excitement with night games. And the weather was perfect.
>The season is young, but there sure seems to be a different attitude this year.
>Doesn’t appear to be any serious Hawkeye injuries coming out of the game. Coach Carl Jackson got hurt while on the sideline, but the word is he will be OK.

Next up is at the school about 120 miles west of here (can’t remember their name) who incidently lost to pretty good UNI Saturday. This, of course, is a big game for the Hawks, but I think it is always even bigger for the school from Ames. It’s their bowl game and their biggest game of the year, as they try to not be the “second” team in the state.

What is going on with Michigan football?
Glad to see Notre Dame got thumped again.

A non football note – the Iowa Field Hockey team is ranked fourth in the nation.

Bicycling note – as you know, I have a long tradition of bicycle camping-touring. The last few years I have cut myself some slack and “mock” toured which means I load up the bike as if for light camping touring at least 2 consecutive days. (And I have a few miles in the bank from previous years) Anyway, this weekend, I bike “toured-camped” for the 27th consecutive year and counting. Can you dig it?

GO HAWKS!!!

Nice game for the Hawks

2007-09-03T08:25:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Matt and Amy and Junior – the newest Hawkeye fan.

Good way to start the season.
Highlights include:
>great defense – Northern Illinois is a decent team and to hold them to 3 points and to shut down their running game is a great sign for the Hawks.
>2 100 yard rushers – Albert Young and Damian Sims – for the first time since 2005
>Jake played OK, showed poise and got some experience that will help down the road.
>The OLine played well after the first couple of drives and probably out performed expectations. Eddy (Podolak) was quite pleased. They will face tougher DLines, but this was a good start, especially for the 3 OLinemen starting without much or any previous experience.
>over 40,000 Iowa fans were there – you think bowl committees won’t notice that and playing in Chicago gave the team a feel for playing on the road (sort of) and being in recruit rich Chicago can’t hurt.
>looks like there were no serious injuries from the game

downsides:
>we had a slew of penalities
>there were a quite a few dropped passes
But as Captain Kirk says – we can clean those things up.

Syracuse is next – 7:00 CDT in Iowa City. Hawks will be favored. Night games usually have an electric feeling about them.

How about those Appalachian State Mountaineers?

Glad to see that Notre Dame got thumped. I’m tired of their arrogance.

Go Hawks!

Are you ready for Hawkeye Football?

2007-08-31T09:40:00.000-07:00

Are you ready for Hawkeye Football? I am!

9 – 3 regular season – mark it down.

As you may know, last week we had a big disappointment for the football program when 2 players were charged with the unauthorized use of a credit card – WRs Dominque Douglas and Anthony Bowman. They have been indefinitely suspended from the team – barred from all team functions – pending the legal outcome. As far as football goes, the loss of Douglas is significant, but we do have some depth at WR. More importantly, I like the way Kirk has handled this whole situation – quickly suspending them and while hoping they are proven innocent (unlikely) has not made any rash statements. Most likely their football careers at Iowa are over and if they are guilty, I say “Zero Tolerance”. We can not have this kind of stuff. The team seems to have moved on.

Other notes:
>it looks like a lot of true freshman will play – especially on defense where we have little depth on the DL and at DB.
>the first game is at Soldier’s Fields in Chicago against Northern Ill. I like the idea of playing a game there – should be a good experience for the players and a recruiting plus.
>Jake Christensen will be the QB. I’m glad to be moving on from Drew Tate. He was magic his sophomore year, but after that his personality got in the way of the team – particularly last year with his relationship with the receivers.
>Albert Young is supposedly 100% healthy again after being less than that last year.
>The biggest question marks are the OL (it doesn’t help that Dace Richardson is out for a week or 2) and replacing both the punter and the kicker.

To get lots more game information and commentary, go to the Press-Citizen link.

I’m going to try keeping this up if there seems to be interest – i.e. it generates comments with other observations, notes or debate in response.

GO HAWKS!

Another bad day for Iowa football …

2006-11-18T20:59:00.000-08:00

Another bad day for Iowa football …

I’m sure there are a bunch of reasons for this very disappointing season. Here’s one thought – the personality and frustration of Drew Tate was a big downer for the team. But putting the season in perspective – we’ve had a bunch of very good years and I’m looking forward to a big rebound next year. The team will still go to a bowl game – do they deserve to? – no, but since all it takes is a 500 season, they’re eligible. It will be a little while before their destination is known – speculation has it as the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio.

Other Hawkeye news:
>Both the men’s and women’s cross country teams qualified for the NCAA championship meet. That’s kind of neat.
>As I’ve said before, there’s a lot of excitement about the wrestling team with Tom Brands and his top assistant, Dan Gable.
>The men’s BBall team is playing in a Caribbean tournament – yesterday was a big game for heralded freshman, Tyler Smith. If you’re interested in Iowa BBall, remember that name.
>Not sports, but as you know, unfortunately, UI lost President Skorton to Cornell. In the search process – a UI search committee submitted 4 names to the Board of Regents who rejected them all out of hand and did no interviews. The Regents now want to restart the process. Gee, that will be an inducement for a high caliber candidate to apply. There is a lot of justifiable anger at the University about this. I imagine President Skorton is awfully glad to be away from the Iowa Regents.

I created this blog as a learning process and to promote “chatter”. It’s actually surprising easy to set up a blog. I’ve enjoyed it and have subsequently set up a current events blog and soon will create a blog dealing with cancer. And since only Brother Jim gets into the “chatter”, I’m going to concentrate on the other blogs for now.

Go Hawks!

Better

2006-11-11T13:40:00.000-08:00

The Hawks played with heart and grit today. A loss is a loss, but this feels a lot different than the stinkero of last week. And Wisconsin is a good team, perhaps a very good team.

I think the Hawks defense played fairly well. Considering the opponet the rushing game was good, but once again, the passing game was poor. I'm sure there are several reasons for that, starting with the inexperience at WR. We need Ed Hinkel.

I think the Minnesta game is going to be tough.

On another note - I'm still a Tour de France fan and was pleased see that Ivan Basso just signed with the Discovery Team(Lance Armstong's team). He was cleared of drug charges and may be the best post Armstrong rider and is at least in the top 2 or 3.

On to Minnesota.

Today's Press Citizen

2006-11-08T10:08:00.000-08:00

its a particularly good day to check the IC Press Citizen link - there are good stories about Iowa wrestling, football, Drew Tate and the UI basketball recruits

Go Hawks!

Iowa Women's Sports

2006-11-05T19:41:00.000-08:00

Some GOOD Hawkeye news - the Field Hawkeye Team won the Big 10 tournament as the 5 seed.

Also, Congradulations to Alexa who won 2 individual and 2 relay titles at the Girls State Championship. And was the meet's outstanding swimmer.

What the ….

2006-11-04T14:22:00.000-08:00

I don’t know what’s going on with the Iowa football team.

This was a total team loss – offense and defense. NU had not won a Big10 team and was ranked last offensively and defensively in the Big 10.

However, here’s an issue I’m wondering about. Is Drew Tate’s “leadership” style hurting the team – particularly the WRs. Yes, he’s been hurt and is wearing a small non throwing hand “brace” and of course, that does not help, but the point / question I’m getting to is beyond that.

He’s a very competitive and that’s good and sometimes as QB he needs to “correct/get in people’s face/whatever”, but is his hyperness or nature getting in the way of the development of the young WRs with the obvious exception of Dominque Douglas? I don’t know, but I have a slight suspicion that the answer is yes.

Drew was magic two years ago when all the RBs were injured, but since then - more like a little better than average/OK.

Hopefully Drew, the WRs and the whole team will make this question look stupid next Saturday, but Wisconsin is flat out good.

Misc and trivia questions

2006-11-03T06:52:00.000-08:00

No football news. Tomorrow's game time is 11:00.

Basketball guard Mike Henderson injured a finger and will be out 3 to 6 weeks.

Sunday is the NY City Marathon.
1)Who was the last male American winner?
2)and this is an easy one - What country has produced 6 of the last 9 winners in the men's division?

and factoid - Grete Waitz won 9 titles over 11 years.

Northwestern

2006-10-30T19:05:00.000-08:00

this Saturday. If Matt and Amy are rooting for the wrong team, we’ll cut them slack.

Drew Tate is expected to return to practice tomorrow and play Saturday. If there’s any change, I’ll let you know.

Winter preseason polls:

>The wrestling team is ranked fifth. I don’t think the Hawks will win this year and maybe next. Minnesota is loaded for the next two years, but the Hawks will return to their proper place at the top sooner rather than later. Mark it down. Tom Brands has rejuvenated enthusiasm and a Gable type attitude.

>The women’s basketball team is ranked 24th.

QB

2006-10-28T09:18:00.000-07:00

The question of who would start was not revealed until game time - it's Christensen - the RS Freshman lefty. Tate is expected back for the next game. He had surgery on his left thumb (non throwing hand) and basically they're just waiting for the incision to heal.

As I write, Iowa is moving the ball in the first quarter.

Jim, there is a summary of this year's wrestling team at the UI Iowa sports site.

>>>
I' ve had trouble publishing this - I think there is a temporary problem with blogger. It's post game now - Hawks win 24 - 14. Nice game by Jake Christensen - 19 of 30 for 253 yards and the only interception was not on him. DE Bryan Mattison has really been playing well. We get Northwestern at home next week. Other Big Ten games - Indiana looks to be OK - good improvement.

Go Hawks.

Tate probably out of N. Illinois game

2006-10-23T17:30:00.000-07:00

with injured left thumb

Good Game Hawks

2006-10-21T20:27:00.000-07:00

I’m not calling it a “moral victory” because I’ve always thought that is sort of a condescending term. But I will call it a big step forward for the Hawks who played so poorly and lacking something against Indiana. The Hawks played well today and with grit / enthusiasm / intensity. I think they will be fine the rest of the season. Michigan is a very good team and the 20 – 6 score does not reflect the closeness of the game.

What do you think?

Hawkeye Update - 18 October

2006-10-18T19:52:00.000-07:00

Still disappointed and scratching my head over the IU game. But MOVING ON, I think the Hawks will play well Saturday. Trouble is Michigan is damn good. The Hawks could play their best game and still lose at Ann Arbor. Michigan is especially good on defense. They had 7 sacks at PSU. Kickoff is at 2:30 CDT. I’m not predicting a Hawkeye victory, but I am predicting them playing a good game and having a good rest of the season.

Injury Update:
S Marcus Pascal will play (important)
S Marcus Wilson (Pascal’s replacement the last two weeks) can also play
Maybe / Probably will play:
RB Young
WR Douglas
DT King - hamstring injury - really needed to get more pressure on the QB
Very questionable:
OT Richardson
C Eubanks

Also on the depth charts, both Sophomore Andy Brodell and Red Shirt freshman Trey Stross have moved ahead of Herb Grisby at WR. According to Eddy and Dolph, Grisby and Tate were having communication problems against Indiana. Coming into the season, Grisby was the most experienced WR and a lot was expected from him. That really hasn’t happened yet. On the other hand, one of the few bright spots at IU was the play of Stross.

Due to Dace Richardson’s injury, the new starter on the OLine is Wes Aeschliman a 6-8, 315 lb sophomore walk on.

Here’s hoping for a Tigers – Cardinals World Series.

Bad Day for the Hawks

2006-10-14T19:28:00.000-07:00

A very bad day for the Hawks – I’m not sure when the last time Iowa was on the short end of such a big upset. Winning games they were big favorites in has been a hallmark of the Hawks. I was quite certain that the Hawks would roll to victory. I figured it would be at least a 21 point game. Even when the Hawks were down 31 – 28, I was confident they would pull it out. And until the interception, it looked that way. I’ve seen a replay and that was entirely on the receiver – the ball was well thrown, but it just popped out of hands and up in the air for an easy interception. Where's Ed Hinkel when we need him?

Coach Ferentz called it a step backwards.

The Hawks did have some injuries, but that should not have kept them from winning this game. Indiana is not a good team.

Next up it’s on the road at Michigan. Maybe we’ll be on the other side of a big upset.

Way to go HAWKS II!

2006-10-09T19:37:00.000-07:00

I’m happy to have been wrong about thinking the Purdue game would be a much closer contest.

A really good approach by Kirk Ferentz and before him, Hayden Fry, is not to get too high after a win or too low after a loss. A lot easier for the players to talk about than to practice, but they sure rose to the occasion Saturday. It would have been easy to get caught up (down) with the whoppin from OSU. So hats off for putting that game behind them, moving on and playing their best game of the year.

So it’s on to Indiana and we won’t mention who we play after that. The Hawks will be a solid favorite over the Hoosiers. I always have some concern about Big Ten road games, even when the Hawks are clearly the better team. But I don’t think the Hawks will look past Indiana.

We have a minor RB controversy going with a few fans wanting Damian Sims and Shonn Greene to play more and Albert Young less. The good game by Sims and Green against Purdue’s poor defense on Saturday exacerbated this. This is prompted by the fact that Damien Sims has had impressive numbers when he spells AY all season. As does the third RB, Shonn Greene. It’s a good “problem” to have. The other two may in fact be slightly better runners this year, but all Albert did was lead the Big Ten in rushing last year for Big Ten games. And he is also without doubt, a better blocker and pass receiver. I think I’ll leave to Coach Ferentz and his staff because, gee, they may know more about football than me.

5 – 1!

Injury report as of Oct 8:
1)LB Mike Humpal will probably be back
2)Albert Young is doubtful.
3)Safety Pascal is somewhere in between
4)Rafael Eubanks has a sprained ankle now and will probably miss the game.

Way to go HAWKS!

2006-10-07T18:42:00.000-07:00

I thought this was our best game by a good margin.

Purdue came in with a good offense and a poor defense. The poor PU defense helped, but nonetheless, the Hawkeye offense was impressive and sharp. Drew Tate had been practicing all week as opposed to last week when the abdominal strain prevented him from practicing regularly and the difference was obvious. I’ll take 17 of 23 for 252 yards, 2TDs and no interceptions. The ground game rolled up 287 yards.

I was even more impressed with the defense against the passing Boilers. Keep in mind that the Hawks were missing 2 of their top 3 safeties and LB Mike Humpal who also has coverage responsibility with injuries. The afore mentioned Marcus Wilson played well along with true freshman AJ Eds who started at LB in place of Humpal. Unusual for Iowa, we used some “nickel” and occasional “dime” coverage and that worked well too.

I fixed a problem where non bloggers were not able to comment. Thanks to Jim for pointing that out. If you have any problems or suggestions about the way this blog works, please let me know.

More later.

Oct 4 Hawkeye update

2006-10-04T07:24:00.000-07:00

1)The Hawks are very thin at Safety - Our best DB, Marcus Paschal, is out for the Purdue game and the third best safety, Devon Moylan, is done for the season. Redshirt freshman, Marcus Wilson, is starting. He’ll be good some day, but maybe not yet – but then again as the Hawkeye refrain goes – next man in. This is especially critical since Purdue is a passing team.
2)In regards to Drew Tate – apparently he has missed some practice time and the abdominal stain may be altering his throwing motion. The word is that the strain problem is getting better, but we need the old Drew now.
3)Rafael Eubanks is listed on the second team and could play and is starting to practice again. Mike Elgin is now at center and Seth Olsen moves into his guard spot. This is probably not as critical as points 1 and 2. Seth Olsen is close to being a starter anyway.
4)The oddmakers are rating the Hawks a 10 – 11 point favorite over the Boilermakers. I think the Hawks will win, but that may be high.

Top ranked team in Iowa – the number 8 women’s cross country team.

Well, .... shoot

2006-10-01T18:56:00.000-07:00

1)What can we say - Iowa got beat by a better team, maybe a lot better team. Having 2 receivers like Ginn and Gonzalez on the same team is almost unfair.
2)It was an exciting week in Iowa City and the game atmosphere was electric. I thought seeing that sea of gold was spectacular.
3)As for the game there is not a lot to say.
4)I thought the Hawks and especially Drew Tate handled the post game interviews well.
5)I feel confident that the Hawks will learn from this game and improve. Having said that, I’m glad the next game is Iowa City.
6)I think there are 2 exceptional coaches in the Big10 – Kirk Ferentz and Jim Tressel (plus one who was an exceptional coach for decades). Ohio High School football is a football factory and a big advantage to OSU. Combine that with an excellent coach and there success is no surprise.
7)Iowa is thin at safety. It is unclear if Marcus Paschal will be back for the next game. The third best safety, Devan Moylan, is out for awhile with a hamstring injury.
8)Amazingly, Alex Kanellis played in the game despite having had appendicitis a week earlier.
9)4 - 1

On better Hawkeye news – in the World Freestyle Wrestling Championships, two former Hawks did very well. Bill Zadick won the gold and his brother, Mike, won the silver at a lower weight.

Hawkeyes through the Illinois game

2006-10-01T15:32:00.000-07:00

(post Illinois game)

Game On
I could say about the Ohio State game “bringem on”, like George did back in 2003 when asked about insurgents in Iraq. But that hasn’t worked out so well (probably good politics for him at the time though), so I’ll just say “Game On”.

Quick Thoughts
1)4 – 0
2)Ugly win, not impressive - but so what.
3)I heard Drew Tate being interviewed after the game and he said he didn’t start the game with the needed intensity.
3a)I didn’t see most of the second half and was surprised it was only 24 – 7.
4)The Hawks will have to play by far their best game of the year to beat OSU.
5)Alex Kanellis had appendicitis Friday. Other than that there were some injuries that appear to be less severe, hopefully they’ll all be back except Alex for the big game.
6)Illinois stinks.
7)I predict the Hawks win on a very late Kyle Schlicter field goal.

Go Hawks!

(post Iowa State game)
1)Good game; pretty well played by both teams
1a)Good comeback for the Hawks.
1b)Iowa found a diamond in the rough in Dominque Douglas - the lightly recruited true freshman WR.
1c)Unfortunately, senior WR Calvin Davis is done for the year and career with an injury.
2)As usual, Iowa's second team played sky high - its a big big game for them. It is for the Hawks also, but I don't think to the same degree.
2a)Iowa's second team's QB, Meyer, is good.
2b)It wasn't the 20 point victory I predicted, but that's OK.
3)Marcus Pascal missed the game - he's Iowa's best defensive back and his absence hurt the Hawks. Hopefully he'll be back next week.
4)Drew Tate played the whole game and was fine. I guess how he feels tomorrow will be a test.
5)Looking ahead - Illinois is next and on paper we should be a big favorite, but coming on the road between the ISU and Ohio State games, it's not a given. And to me any Big Ten road game is a potential problem. So I'm a little worried.
6)As I said, normally I would root for a Big Ten 10 versus another conference, but for several reasons I was hoping Syracuse would beat the Illini, which they did.
7)Glad Michigan is putting it to Notre Dame on the road.
8)3 - 0, Baby.

Thoughts on the Syracuse game:
1)First and foremost - WHEW!
2)That goal line stand goes into Hawkeye lore. A thing of beauty and muscle and grit.
2A)What about that defensive line and it's 2 juniors and a buch of sophmores in the rotation. Once again proving the Aiken is a tremendous coach. We've got to keep that guy. I've read an internet rumor that he is slated to take over for Norm when he retires.
3)Having survived an ugly ugly game in a hostile environment in 2 OTs - I think it makes the Hawks better for this year and even next.
4)If Tate is unable to play Saturday - Manson will be better with the experience. To be fair to him - he has been practing some at WR and not regularly at QB -so I cut him some slack. And he kept his head in the game and kept trying and did a good job in OT.
5)Having said that - we need Drew Tate at full health to beat Ohio State and I understand why 3 years ago they took the redshirt off Tate to make him the BU to Nathan Chandler over Manson.
5A)If Jason gets off to a bad start Saturday - I really hope the fans don't start booing and calling for Jake Christensen.
6)With a healthy Drew Tate giving his average performance, we beat Iowa's second team by 20+ points. Without him, we beat them by 10+ points. Mark it down.
7)Normally I would root for the Big Ten team over another conference - but Saturday, I'll be for Syracuse beating the crap out of Illinois - for several reasons.
8)If Tate is healthy, I'm not so worried about where we are. That might be a big if.
9)I'm still a little hoarse from the game.
10)Again, WHEW.

IOWA FOOTBALL comments
(pre Syracuse game)
I like this quote from Gary Barta to Jamie Pollard (ISU Athletic director) - "....This is still the HAWKEYE STATE."