Mike Hlas

Hi, I'm Gazette/TheGazette.com sports columnist Mike Hlas. This is the Hlog. We will meet here, discuss things, and then go [...]
Updated: 2 November 2012 | 8:59 am in The Hlog by Mike Hlas

Most of the expert-pundits and pundit-experts favor Indiana and Oklahoma Saturday

But no one is offering a guarantee. Curious, isn't it?

thegazette.com Copyright 2011 SourceMedia Group. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 

These are things I found on the Internet regarding the Iowa-Indiana and Oklahoma-Iowa State games of Saturday. Click on the links to read their entire pieces and give them the page-views they richly deserve.

OK, I didn’t find a whole lot of love for the Iowa teams. But I’ll look again this afternoon and add to this list.

 

Berry Tramel, The Oklahoman: Oklahoma at Iowa State: Sooners 31-15. The Cyclones are back to Steele Jantz at quarterback, which will help if Jantz doesn’t throw the ball to the Sooners and will hurt if he does. Bet on it hurting. …

Iowa at Indiana: Hoosiers 35-31. Kevin Wilson is 3-5 and could be 5-3, if not for late blown leads against Michigan State and Navy.

 

 

Bob Wojnowski, Detroit News: See, the Big Ten put its championship game in Indianapolis with the understanding Indiana and Purdue never would participate, thus avoiding an unfair home-field advantage.

But now the Hoosiers have rolled to a 3-5 record under a hot new coach, Kevin Something. If Indiana beats Iowa on Saturday, it would have back-to-back Big Ten victories for the first time since 2007 and it also, gasp, would control its fate.

How is that possible, you ask? Like I said, Ohio State and Penn State are ineligible, Wisconsin is awful, and Purdue and Illinois have declined to field teams. If the Hoosiers beat the Hawkeyes and then beat the Badgers at home, they’d hold the head-to-head tiebreaker. …

Iowa at Indiana: This is the biggest event in Bloomington ever, or at least since the basketball squad’s scrimmage Tuesday. Indiana 30-20
Phil Steele, PhilSteele.com: There is no one in the country better than (Bob) Stoops off a loss as he stands at a perfect 20-0 in that situation (since 2004). The Sooners, with a clear offensive edge (#7-80) will want to get last week’s bad taste out of their mouths and do so here.
PHIL’S FORECAST: OKLAHOMA 30, IOWA ST 13
Dave Carey, CBSsports.com: Magic number for Indiana: 8. Consecutive games scoring at least 24 points, a school record.
Hoosiers 27, Hawkeyes 24
David Ubben, ESPN.com: No. 12 Oklahoma 30, Iowa State 17: Nobody likes Oklahoma when it’s angry, but the Sooners are slowed a bit by a gutsy performance from the Cyclones’ defense, inspired by the loss of Jake Knott. It’s close for three quarters, but Oklahoma goes on the road and gets a big win with a late fourth-quarter surge to put the game away.
Matt Hayes and Steve Greenberg, The Sporting News:Hayes: Iowa State 27, Oklahoma 24:That’s right, an upset. There’s only so many times OU can play well, then play awful. Then play well, then play awful. At some point, the awful overtakes the entire process — and the team gives in. That was one distraught team by the end of last week’s beatdown by Notre Dame.Greenberg: Oklahoma 34, Iowa State 17:It’ll be close for a while—I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Cyclones score a couple of first-half touchdowns—but the Sooners are going to settle in and keep moving toward a 10-win regular season. By the way, have you heard how many times ISU has beaten OU in 76 tries? Try five.Adam Rittenberg, ESPN.com: This one certainly could go either way, but Indiana has the momentum after finally getting over the hump in a Big Ten game. Can the Hoosiers win back-to-back league contests for the first time since 2007? I say yes. Indiana gets a good mix of offense from QB Nate Sudfeld and running back Stephen Houston, who runs for a touchdown and hauls in another. Iowa running back Damon Bullock goes for 125 rush yards and two scores, but the Hawkeyes’ offense can’t translate yards into points. Hoosiers cornerback Greg Heban intercepts James Vandenberg to seal the win for IU. … Indiana 31, Iowa 27

Brian Bennett, ESPN.com:  A lot of people will be picking Indiana this week as the Hoosiers seem to have all the momentum. Ah, but Kirk Ferentz’s teams are most dangerous when counted out. This is still a major step up from Illinois for IU, which has trouble handling its (mild) success. Bullock runs for 150 yards and a pair of scores and Micah Hyde grabs a key interception to dash the Hoosiers’ Leaders daydreams. … Iowa 28, Indiana 25

And Jim “J.R.” Ross of WWE picks his beloved Sooners by 9 points over Iowa State.

 

 

 

 

 

Rules of Engagement
  • Be truthful. more
  • Be civil. more
  • Be responsible. more
  • Own your words. more
  • Leave the trolls alone. more
  • Take commercial ads elsewhere. more
  • Know that comments will be moderated. more
  • Or what? more
Most of the expert-pundits and pundit-experts favor Indiana and Oklahoma Saturday
  1. Avatar Image
    Mike Coleman said: On November 2, 2012

    Indiana’s biggest nemesis has been squarely between their shoulders. They lose mental focus and they lose momentum too often and too easily. The late lead they supposedly blew to Navy? Give credit to the Midshipmen, to their discipline and to their hustle – the Mids purely and simply out-cycled the Hoosiers as the game went on (257 yds of rushing offense is proof of that). The Hoosiers phoned it in and they paid for it.
    If Indiana has learned from their mental gaffs, they could prove to be a tough team. Most importantly, Indiana has possibly one of the better defensive lines in the Big Ten and that could force Iowa to pass much more often than desired.


Entertainment from hooplanow.com/music

Featured Jobs from corridorcareers.com