 Marc MorehouseHi, I'm Marc Morehouse. I've covered sports for more than 15 years, mostly in Eastern Iowa. I've had Hayden Fry [...] |
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Why Iowa?
Caption: Iowa Head Coach Kirk Ferentz (left) and Georgia Tech Head Coach Paul Johnson (right) each take an orange from the Orange Bowl Trophy during the Orange Bowl Coach's press conference Monday, Jan. 4, 2010 the Harbor Beach Marriott in Fort Lauderdale, FL. (Brian Ray/The Gazette)
I refuse to call any bowl flak and ask about Iowa.
What are they going to say? They’re hogtied by the possibility that a team they might diss will end up at their gift lounge in three weeks. Or, they’ll say how much they love such-and-such and such-and-such ends up wearing the other bowl guy’s hoodie in three weeks.
“Such-and-such absolutely is in the middle of all of our discussions,” Sponsored exhibition game president and CEO Smiley Face said.
Anyone feel enlightened? Didn’t think so. Waste of time.
I’ll make some calls, but keep an eye on the travel agencies.
So, why Iowa?
1. Fans — Even though this season was a disappointment by every measure, a certain percentage of you, the Iowa football fan, has made the bowl trip the vacation for the year. What percentage? I’m not sure, but enough to keep bowl people interested and Iowa fans’ reputation for “have bowl, will travel” intact.
2. Starpower– Debate performance all you want, Iowa has some fabulous players. This will be your last chance to see defensive end Adrian Clayborn get triple teamed wearing an Iowa uniform. Quarterback Ricky Stanzi would love to send the NFL one last piece of video to consider before April’s draft. Same for Derrell Johnson-Koulianos, who, I think, combines well and maybe goes a step higher in the draft than you might think. Maybe.
Then, of course, what up with juniors Tyler Sash and Marvin McNutt? Stay? Go? Probably won’t know definitively until after the bowl, but that’s become part of Iowa’s bowl suspense the last two seasons. It’s a good thing.
3. Ferentz– Let’s run down the possible coaching matchups:
Outback: Ferentz vs. Saban. — Both worked for Bill Belichickwhen he was head coach for the Cleveland Browns (really?). Ferentz won the last matchup in the ’05 Capital One. Two teams that didn’t win as expected in 2010.
Gator: Ferentz vs. Urban — They met in the 2006 Outback, a game marred by horrific officiating. This time, maybe it won’t be officials from a rec flag football league in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. Again, two teams that didn’t win as expected in 2010. Sensing a theme.
Insight: Ferentz vs. Pinkel/Gundy/Pelini — Yes, yes and yes.
Iowa fan, let go of that whole scheduling flap. That was 2004. The last hole it left in Iowa’s schedule was 2008. Then-Iowa AD Bob Bowlsby might still be carrying the grudge, but other than that, it’s a dead issue with Iowa.
If you need an issue to fire up for Missouri, look no farther than recruiting. Missouri has reached into western Iowa (Hoch brothers), while Iowa has set up shop in St. Louis (Clayborn, McNutt, Don Shumpert, Christian Kirksey and I’ll bet there’s one this year).
Mike Gundy has seemed to move beyond the “I’m a man, I’m 40″ thing into a fine football coach. He was the Big 12′s coach of the year this season.
And maybe, just maybe, the Insight gets the Iowa-Nebraska thing started a year early. I was on the Schick and Nick Show, 1620 KOZN The Zone in Omaha, earlier this week. I brought up the possibility of an Iowa-Nebraska Insight. They said that’s not one they’d heard.
I think Iowa-Missouri makes the most sense.
4. Beer — I’ve heard stories of Iowa people drinking bars in Tampa and Miami clean out of Bud Light.
If it’s not Tampa, you’ll have a new city to terrorize. You can do it.
5. It’s cold — In Cedar Rapids today 23 and partly cloudy, kind of like our lives are lit by a fading 40-watt bulb.
In Tampa, it’s 67 and cloudy but it’s straight sun the rest of the week.
By the end of the week in Jacksonville, Fla., it promises to be 68 and sunny.
This Saturday in Tempe, Ariz, it’ll be 78 and partly sunny.
Iowa will still be 7-5, but at least you’ll be wearing shorts.
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I didn’t think anything bowl-game related would make me laugh this week but you did it – thanks for that. There are certainly some compelling matchups and we will all be in a better frame of mind by the time this thing kicks off. I am hoping for something in Florida but only because I will be there. I think the Insight Bowl is on the NFL network which does not do us a lot of good as far as exposure goes. Then again, the way we have been playing we might want to think about a television deal with the Skokie Public Access folks. They could probably bump a city council meeting for us.
Just for the record, that 2006 Outback Bowl crew could not handle the pressure that the Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada league would undoubtedly bring…
Could be the Outback yet. Don’t think the Outback will put PSU-Bama together again this year. Also, LSU-PSU just played last year in Orlando.
Even Skokie Public Access would turn its nose up to that.
The Insight is on ESPN, this year, so there’s a saving grace for ‘Zona.
Mark, it is Arizona, not Zona. Zona is what the turkeys at ESPN call the turkeys down at the University of Arizona in Tucson. The Insight Bowl is now played in Sun Devil Stadium, the former site of the Fiesta Bowl. It is in Tempe, where you find ASU and Mill Ave. That’s much more than a saving grace! lol
Ouch! I’ve been ESPN’d.
Won’t happen again!
Bowl execs will say that a team is in the mix until they make a final decision. I would probably follow them this year if I had the money, I loved last years Orange Bowl. But all the things you pointed out, that is what I like to see about the bowls. Not what the season looked like, this season looked like 2007, but this time, we get to go to a bowl.
And there is a chance for some redemption.
This is a talented team, but I don’t know what it needs. It’s got December to figure it out.
This is a talented team. I think you were among the earliest to identify the bubble in the depth behind Special Team failures. That remains the most obvious thing the team needs. It’s Special Team play. There isn’t one ST guy, other than Donahue and DJK, that stands out as excellent. And even Donahue, somehow makes top 3 in the Ray Guy Award, doesn’t get All Big 10? It is a coachable thing, though. Guys can be better prepared and become capable of covering kicks, defending fakes. Iowa’s probably going to be as good as the LBs. Does this put it all on Tarp’s shoulders? No, but if he’s in the mix Iowa’s a lot better. Stanzi needs better days, too, but no better than he’s capable of or has logged before. Some seasons you hate to see time between game 12 and the bowl… this year…it’s the best thing going for Iowa. Time to get away and then get it together.
I thought Donahue had a meh year. But some of that was the punt team’s performance. One missed chance to down a ball inside the 10 about every other game or so.
They do think Tarp will be back for the bowl.
This year’s team deserves Detroit in December.
Good point on the potential Outback matchups – remember, we were 7-5 in 2006 when we played Florida.
The chance to notch a win over the always over rated SEC would offer some redemption for this year and provide a nice launching point for 2011. Iowa is 3-1 against the SEC in bowl games since 2000.
Iowa has already played in a bowl game this year. You forgot to count the potty bowl
Thank you for your insightful comment chuck. At least bring some valid discussion to the discussion.
The year was a lost opportunity. I would prefer a Florida bowl due to convenience, but the Insight against a pretty good Big 12 team would be chance to regain a bit of swagger.
Chance to regain swagger, that’s a good theme.
This team could use that for a push into 2011. Lots of new faces.
I agree with you, the toilet bowl is where the Hawkeyes should be.
What the team needs is simply inspired leadership from the coaches. Perhaps KOK and KF have heard enough that they’ll change just a little and try to be a part of 21st Century college football.
Iowa was such a big disappointment this year. They were expected to win it all. I say since they did so poorly, the fans should boycot any bowl game they go to and just stay home. The fans should say this is what you get for such a poor showing.
As a fan, I understand the motivation to skip the bowl. As a long-time bowl attendee, I am certainly considering that. But if I want to get out of Iowa for a week, how does boycotting the bowl “send a message”? The players and coaches already know they underachieved. If I want to go south for a few days, I am still going to consider watching one more Hawk game.
When I see a Tweet from DJK, I’ll work on my itinerary for a bowl game…This year has really soured me on Ferentz, to tell you the truth. Maybe I’ve watched too many of his pressers but, my God, I don’t know how the reporters put up with the snarky attitude every week. I could more easily deal with someone like Bob Knight who will come right out and tell you to “F off”…
There will be a blowup. Sooner or later.
Not much of a limb, but if DJK tweets before the bowl, he’ll be benched. No one wants it to get to that.
What do you mean Marc? Do you think Ferentz will have a meltdown eventually? Is he getting there?
Ferentz. Someone will set him off, probably me.
We see and comment on the end result. We don’t see what it takes to get there. I can see where someone would be sensitive — maybe protective is a better word — about that.
Don’t forget that NO Wisconsin team has EVER beat an Iowa team that finished the season with more than 7 wins….bowls included i believe!!
Speaking of Wisconsin, the air went out of the sails in the 4th qter of the Wisconsin loss, when after getting a turnover deep in Badger territory, we only came away with a field goal. I believe that was the turning point of the SEASON. We were never the same….
As much as everyone hates to place blame on one person (there was certainly plenty to go around), Ricky Stanzi can not keep his wits about him when in pressure situations. The mistakes he made were COSTLY. He was certainly a better QB than last year…but he still couldn’t make crucial decisions with the game on the line. Sure, the play calling was not all his…if any of it at all….but you have make the read and create a play instead of trying to dump off a 3 yard pass on 4th and 19!! I’d have loved to see what we could have done with Vandenberg at the helm. I can’t imagine it would have been any worse….
Next year…..maybe….
There did seem to be an inordinate number of 3 yard ‘check down’ passes this season. However, it’s hard to look at Stanzi’s numbers (up, up, up across the board) and conclude he ‘accidentally’ ended up among the leaders (nationally) in passing efficiency, td/int ratio and so on. What’s more, his yards per attempt are not particularly low (this is the key stat in a passing offense) so he was going downfield. Nonetheless, Stanzi’s games at IU and NW were not full of ‘made plays’ and that is a point where things got derailed. For some reason, perhaps the injuries at RB and RG compounding the weak ST, things got loose for the offense, overall, and Ricky specifically. The offense really got tail-tucked and puckered. All the same, with a weak ST and a void at LB — is that really the situation where you want the offense to dial up ‘riskier’ plays? I’ve concluded Iowa played the last month of the season on Occums Razor (dilemma solvable with 2 bad choices.) Obviously, risk aversion didn’t work out. Playing ‘Riskier’ seems more fun, maybe, but less likely to succeed. The way out has been articulated by Ferentz very clearly – it’s going to be a month long process of Special Teams construction. That phase of the game has been intolerably awful.
If it’s true, I don’t like that stat about Wisconsin.
Didn’t an ESPN analyst predict at the beginning of the season that Iowa would be at the Insight bowl? Message boards were a flame questioning her mental capacity. Now that it looks like a viable option, I wonder if people will be taking back all the slams on her. I kind of doubt it. Either way, I’ll be watching the Hawks wherever they go. They can stitch some things up in December and pull it together. I have faith.
Marc: I don’t sense Captain Kirk’s attitude has been “snarky”. Seems to me that the guy keeps his cool much better than most of us would in similar circumstances. Coach-speak? Sure, but he’s not snarky.
However, you are there in person and see him far more than I.
What do you think?
Maybe not snark, maybe more condescension.
Like I said above, we see and comment on and question the final result. We don’t see what it takes to get there. I can understand the natural reaction to protect the players. I’d be the same way if I were a coach.
Last time Ferentz really let me have it was with players in the room. I didn’t take it personally. We talked afterward. I understood. I think I’m beyond being the kind of person who needs to have the last laugh or have my say, but never say never. I ask what needs to be asked and do it in a respectful manner, but the nature of this deal is always going to be contentious.
I think coaches who act like football is high-level calculus and then treat anyone who asks about it like an idiot are huge phonies. I’ve never sensed that from Kirk Ferentz.
In the end, I’m trying to inform, entertain and maybe illustrate. That’s the goal everytime out. I don’t want to waste your time. That’s an “L” for me.