I agree, Mike. Let’s not forget what happened to Basabe when he added weight after his freshman year. Too many extra pounds could slow Woodbury down– though I don’t know exactly how much would be too much for him, considering his frame. He does need to get stronger. I’m hoping he can do that without [...]

It’s a weird lie we college sports fans have to tell ourselves: that these games are about pride and tradition, even while we are reminded daily that the money involved—through TV contracts, ticket sales, advertising, merchandise—is so staggeringly huge that it can destroy that tradition. Take the Pandora’s box of conference realignment, if you want [...]

But fans have to travel, too. And it’s hard to build tradition in the conference when none of your opponents are anywhere near you. It sucks that Delany opted out of a pure East/West split that would have preserved Iowa-Wisconsin-Minnesota (and Nebraska), but that’s what we’re left with. And that means Iowa gets stuck with [...]

Jimmy Cracker:

I find Dochterman (and Hlas and Morehouse) to be among the best Hawkeye sportswriters in the biz. If you want milquetoast writing, there are plenty of places to find it. The Gazette ain’t one of them.

Um, from what I understand Archie Miller is NOT upset about Dayton playing a road game. He repeatedly said it’s the reality of the situation. As in, he’s not complaining.
Kudos to Scott for an interesting piece on Dayton’s coach. Quick turnaround and a good read.

Dec. 27: W. Michigan
Dec. 30: Iowa
Dec. 31: Texas A&M
UCLA
Jan. 2: Penn St.
Michigan State
Nebraska
Florida
Wisconsin
Jan. 3: Virginia Tech
TB: 101

Iowa is +7 in 1st downs by my count, but the ISU game is what really hurts. It’s the only one where Iowa gained fewer 1st downs (ISU’s 26 to Iowa’s 18). Take away the ISU game and Iowa is +15. Safe to say, this won’t be a typically stout Iowa defense, at least not [...]

“Ohio State: A school so nice, it’s listed twice.”

Wisconsin seems like a clear favorite to me. The Buckeyes look wounded, and PSU probably won’t put all the pieces together. But if the Badgers’ fancy new QB flops in the Big Ten, then it could get interesting.

If they’d gone with an East/West geographical split instead, the divisions would be looking pretty even right now. In fact, with Wisconsin and Nebraska together, and OSU in its current predicament, the West would be considered the stronger division. Delaney would look like a genius: virtually every meaningful rivalry preserved, straightforward divisions, a looming showdown [...]

McNutt is an impressive athlete, and the Hawks will need his talent and experience on offense. But I’d say Reiff is even more important to the success of this year’s team: He’s the leader of an O-line that must protect a new starting QB and open holes for a new starting RB. Vandenberg and Coker [...]

Brad Herman has pretty much locked up #1 TE, so barring a major change in the offensive game plan CJ won’t see many passes thrown his way this year. My guess is he’ll have somewhere in the neighborhood of 10-15 receptions. He’ll be the guy in ’12 and ’13. What’s really disappointing is that, thanks [...]

Marc, do you know how the BTN schedules its games? Do they have to wait until ABC/ESPN/etc. take their pick, or can they call dibs on certain games? I wonder if the lack of prime time Nebraska games on BTN didn’t have more to do with the Huskers being such a hot TV property. I’ll [...]

Interesting point. That would be useful in recruiting, too.

I totally see where you’re coming from, Doc. And I have to say that my initial reaction to your article was, “Yeah, this seems pretty fair to me.” But while I wouldn’t be opposed to this solution if we went to 9 games, in my opinion it does favor the stronger teams. If we’re only [...]

Sorry. That should be “2011? 2012?”

Garth: I agree with your point that teams like OSU and Nebraska benefit from not having to play themselves, while Indiana and Illinois are hurt because they can’t play themselves. The pool of potential opponents is less challenging for top teams than lower teams (The average opponent rank for OSU is 7, while for Indiana [...]

Interesting possibility, Doc, but I’m not sure it’s the best way. The Big Ten’s “seeding” plan for the two divisions was based primarily on competitive balance, which it determined using each team’s winning % since 1993. If we rank the teams based on that, it would look like this: 1. Ohio State 2. Nebraska 3. [...]

There’s no question Gable is the most successful Iowa coach in any sport, ever. But when I think “Icon,” I don’t just think about success, I think about the face of the university. I think about personality. And when it comes to the University of Iowa, that will always and forever be Hayden Fry.

Seth and Scott Avett are indeed brothers, and their band plays some fine music indeed.

Johnson has HIV, not AIDS. They aren’t the same thing. And he is one of the greatest basketball players of all-time. He may have made poor decisions in his personal relationships, but his “lifestyle choices” were no worse than, say, Tiger Woods. Nobody deserves HIV or AIDS, or any other disease, regardless of what you [...]