Posts Tagged ‘Iowa’
P.S.R. 1-120: Week 10 Re-Ranking
By Paul Myerberg // Oct 31, 2011
With the weekend in the books, here’s a look at how the country ranks — using the original rankings as the starting point, with the season’s results as rationale for any movement. The top 25 teams land a one-sentence breakdown. The rest? Not so much. Part of the perks of being one of the best. Think your team is too low? Feel another team deserves more credit, less credit? Let’s hear it below. It’s a delicate ranking process, but with nearly two months in the books, things are growing clearer.
Tags: Alabama, Arkansas, Boise State, California, Iowa, L.S.U., Minnesota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Stanford, Texas Tech, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Wyoming
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Ten Themes for Saturday: Week 4
By Paul Myerberg // Sep 24, 2011
Ten teams, themes, games and players to watch on Saturday. Pretty straightforward. Here we go:
Arkansas’ huge opportunity A great challenge comes with the possibility for a great reward, which in Arkansas’ case would be a huge climb into the title picture. That’s what awaits with Alabama — well, that and a nasty defense, a powerful running game and a coaching staff well-versed in everything Bobby Petrino and the Razorbacks want to do offensively. It won’t be easy: the game’s in rowdy Tuscaloosa, and the Crimson Tide seem to be as good as everyone expected. But the chance at something big is there for Arkansas, should it reach out and steal a win, and there’s another chance waiting just around the corner. Texas A&M is up next for the Razorbacks, so imagine if they knock off Alabama on the road and the Aggies on a neutral field. You’ll see the Razorbacks extremely high in each poll, obviously, if not in the top spot. And if Arkansas win both those games, it’s very conceivable to see it head into the season finale with L.S.U. at 11-0. Imagine if both teams are undefeated. That would be something, wouldn’t it?
Tags: Al Golden, Alabama, Arizona State, Arkansas, Bill Snyder, Boise State, Florida International, Georgia Tech, Houston, Iowa, James Vandenberg, Kansas State, Matt Barkley, Miami (Fla.), Missouri, Ohio, Oregon State, Rick Neuheisel, San Diego State, Texas A&M, U.C.L.A., U.N.C, U.S.C., Wyoming
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Have A Look at Grandma’s Figurine
By Paul Myerberg // Aug 19, 2011
Hey Iowa and Iowa State,
It’s your grandma. I received your letter. Glad to see you’re both growing up so fast! Your grandfather says hello. He’s out in the fields clearing away the geese. Those whippersnappers just won’t leave us alone! Anyway, your grandpa says he’s so proud of how well both of you are doing under your coaches. Iowa State, we just love Paul Rhoads! He’s so sweet and sensitive, like the time he said he “was so damn proud” to be your coach. I just cried and cried, I was so happy. Iowa, please tell me that young Vandenderg is doing well. Please remind him to write his mother, she misses him so. Anyway, I’ve included this nice figurine out of my figurine chest – remember when you helped me pick that out back in aught-six? – for you to use. Maybe it can be the new Cy-Hawk Trophy? That would make me so happy. Now Iowa State, don’t forget that we’re all hoping you keep things up. Iowa, please kick the ever-loving bananas out of Nebraska.
XOXOXOXO,
Grandma
Above is the new Cy-Hawk Trophy between Iowa and Iowa State. It’s unbelievably bad. Seriously: if I didn’t see it with my own two eyes I wouldn’t believe it. Atrociously awful. Once-in-a-lifetime sort of ridiculous. What was wrong with the old trophy? This does not make sense.
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Tags: Cy-Hawk Trophy, Iowa, Iowa State
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No. 38: Iowa
By Paul Myerberg // Jul 27, 2011
Here’s some good news for Iowa: the Hawkeyes have entered the season unranked in The Associated Press poll four times under Kirk Ferentz since 2002. No, that’s not the good news. The good news is this: Iowa ended three of those seasons with a national ranking, coming out of relative obscurity to factor into the national mix. The Hawkeyes did so in 2002 and 2003, starting both years with little acclaim but ending them ranked No. 8 nationally, and entered the 2008 season unranked but ended with a No. 20 ranking. Conversely, Iowa entered 2005, 2006 and 2010 with a national ranking but ended up outside the poll. So there’s something to the general idea that Iowa plays its best football when counted out; there’s some statistical proof. Just so you know, it seems that a fairly long shot that Iowa will be ranked entering the 2011 season.
Tags: Big Ten, Brandon Binns, Iowa, James Morris, James Vandenberg, Kirk Ferentz, Marcus Coker, Marvin McNutt, Micah Hyde, Mike Daniels, Norm Parker, Riley Reiff, Shaun Prater, Tyler Nielsen
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A Grab Bag of Quarterback Depth
By Paul Myerberg // Apr 25, 2011
It was never a fair comparison: Iowa and Wisconsin both lost a senior quarterback, but the Hawkeyes have had a succession plan in place since 2009, while Wisconsin — prior to losing Curt Phillips — wanted Jon Budmayr to win the job, not have it handed to him. When Wisconsin revealed late last week that Phillips had suffered a setback in his recovery from a knee injury, it became clear that Budmayr’s time is officially now, even if this is how the quarterback competition might have eventually played out. As noted last week, however, this hurts the Badgers’ depth at the position.
Tags: Big Ten, Dan Persa, Denard Robinson, Devin Gardner, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, James Vandenberg, Jon Budmayr, MarQueis Gray, Matt McGloin, Michigan, Minnesota, Nathan Scheelhaase, Northwestern, Paul Petrino, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin
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Insight Bowl: Iowa vs. Missouri
By Paul Myerberg // Dec 28, 2010
Roughly 230 miles separate Iowa City, home of the University of Iowa, and Columbia, Mo., home of the University of Iowa: over the second half of 2010, it seemed a similarly large gulf separated these two teams from the other — while both saw national title hopes evaporate down the stretch, Iowa’s late-season collapse stands in juxtaposition to Missouri’s consistent standard of high-caliber play. To be fair, Missouri and Iowa share a sense of failed expectations; Iowa’s bitter final two months of 2010 simply outweighs any negatives Missouri faced this fall, even if the Tigers will not soon forget a final Big 12 go-round that included a road loss to rival Nebraska.
Tags: Adrian Clayborn, Andrew Gachkar, Gary Pinkel, Insight Bowl, Iowa, Michael Egnew, Missouri, Ricky Stanzi
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Hiccup… Hiccup… Hiccup…
By Paul Myerberg // Dec 27, 2010
Hiccup… Iowa, 7-2 overall, 4-1 in the Big Ten, drops another loss to newfound rival Northwestern. Hiccup… still with an outside shot at the Rose Bowl, the Hawkeyes go toe-to-toe with Ohio State but fall, 20-17, after failing to prevent a late O.S.U. score. Hiccup… with nothing left to play for, Iowa failed to even remotely show up in an atrociously bad loss to Minnesota in the season finale. Then comes the off-field news, the suspensions, an arrest, injuries — the sense, for the second time in the last handful of seasons, that Kirk Ferentz does not lead this Iowa football program with a steady enough hand. Hiccup after hiccup, misstep after misstep, the hits just keep on coming for Ferentz and the Hawkeyes.
Tags: Adam Robinson, Derrell Johnson-Koulianos, Iowa, Kirk Ferentz
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2010 End-of-Year Awards: Big Ten
By Paul Myerberg // Dec 10, 2010
It’s a great problem for a conference to have, though Michigan State can only sit back and wonder what might have been. The Big Ten had three teams finish with matching 11-1 records, 7-1 in conference play, meaning that three’s a crowd — one team had to stay home from B.C.S. play. Thanks to each team’s starting position, one would imagine, Michigan State became the odd team out. Wisconsin and Ohio State, on the other hand, head to the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl, respectively. The top-heavy nature of the conference belied a weak middle: five teams finished 7-5 or 6-6 overall. The two programs at the bottom of the conference — Minnesota and Indiana — opted for a coaching change.
Tags: Big Ten, Bob Bostad, Dan Persa, Denard Robinson, Don Treadwell, Iowa, James White, Mark Dantonio, Ryan Kerrigan
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