This exercise allowed some insight on what has made Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz’s teams work at Iowa. For example, just try to pick an all-Ferentz era offensive line and find a spot for all of the players who made a splash in the NFL. Now, that wasn’t the guide when colleagues Scott Dochterman, Mike Hlas [...]

The concept of playing to one’s potential is an interesting notion. Even if it’s just you asking yourself that question in your mind, it can push you in several different directions. Some of those might not be comfortable. Not every moment in life is a triumph. The question on the Big Ten football scale, with [...]

Let’s send Oklahoma some money. I sent out a link to the central and western Oklahoma Red Cross last night. Here that is:  http://www.redcross.org/ok/oklahoma-city. Here are some other places you can send money to help folks in Oklahoma who lost everything: The Oklahoma Baptist Disaster Relief The Salvation Army United Way of Oklahoma City Feeding America Operation USA Convoy of Hope Direct Relief [...]

There is no correlation between assistant coaches salaries and where your team sits in the Big Ten pecking order. It just kind of works out that way. I’d lean to the fact that there are schools that have money and there are schools that don’t have as much money. Ohio State and Michigan are the [...]

Let’s set the scene here: This was the week of Purdue last November. Iowa needed to win two of its next three to gain bowl eligibility. The Hawkeyes were putting on the military uniforms in salute to Veteran’s Day. At this point, Iowa had lost three straight. Purdue was the one most everyone thought Iowa [...]

The general consensus is that Iowa’s 2014 football schedule is a cool breeze on an island beach. A veritable boat drink with a little reggae in the background. It kind of is. The Hawkeyes will be part of the welcoming crew for Maryland when it joins the Big Ten in 2014. Iowa will travel to [...]

The Big Tough Big Ten doesn’t want anything to do with an outdoor venue for its football championship game. Actually, I don’t see anything wrong with that. Who does an outdoor title game outside of the Pac-12? Where would the B1G have it’s title game? Soldier Field in Chicago? Forget that. The turf there is [...]

Iowa’s first taste of the Big Ten’s newbies will come Oct. 18, 2014 when the Hawkeyes travel to Maryland. The Big Ten released its conference schedules in the last few minutes. There were murmurs of “parity-based” scheduling at the Big Ten meetings earlier this week and, in Iowa’s case, that seemed to hit home. Iowa’s [...]

  — Big Ten athletics directors and commissioner Jim Delany were unanimous in their desire to make 7-5 the minimum record for bowl teams, but with so many bowls, they conceded that isn’t possible and accept that 6-6 teams will be bowl eligible in the Big Ten. “We were hoping the 6-6 would go to 7-5. [...]

  CHICAGO — The buzzwords you hear on the Big Ten’s new bowl lineup are “national,” “diverse” and “recruiting.” The conference has seemingly achieved national with bowl deals from the Holiday Bowl in San Diego to the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium in New York. The diversity stems from the less sexy word, “fatigue.” Many [...]

CHICAGO – These Big Ten May meetings took on a life of their own in 2010 when the conference was in the midst of expansion. The meetings are still going strong as far as news cycles go, with the B1G’s bowl lineup and future schedules being among the topics on Tuesday. Expansion wasn’t a topic. [...]

CHICAGO — Five things that have happened since the last time Iowa and Illinois met on a football field (Nov. 1, 2008): 1) Barack Obama was elected. 2) The Chicago Blackhawks ended a 49-year Stanley Cup drought. 3) Craft beer became a thing. 4) A TV show called “Jersey Shore” came and went. 5) Justin [...]

CHICAGO — You see Wisconsin and Alabama. You see Minnesota and TCU. You see Michigan State and Oregon. And you wonder why you see Iowa and Northern Illinois. Iowa athletics director Gary Barta discussed the parameters for future football schedules during Tuesday’s Big Ten Conference meetings. The Big Ten will release football schedules for the [...]

CHICAGO – That Big Ten bowl shuffle has so far yielded…not great stuff. According to ESPN.com’s Brett McMurphy , the conference will share tie-ins with the Gator Bowl and Music City Bowl with the ACC during a six-year agreement, so three Big Ten teams would go to Jacksonville and three to Nashville in the span. They’ll face SEC [...]

Football scheduling will rule the Latitudes today. First, CBSsports.com broke this morning that Iowa and Northern Illinois will play at Kinnick Stadium in 2018 and 2020. CBS’ Jeremy Fowler also reports the sides have discussed playing three straight games during that span. So far, NIU has elected to keep 2019 open. So, for now, that leaves [...]

Iowa athletics director Gary Barta was on ESPN’s College Football Live on Thursday to discuss FCS-level schools on the Hawkeyes future schedules. Monday, The Gazette reported that Iowa was in a wait-and-see mode in regards to future games with Northern Iowa (2014 and 2018), Illinois State (2015) and North Dakota State (2016). Iowa will play Missouri [...]

Less than two weeks after the project was approved by the State Board of Regents, the new video board and sound project is underway at Kinnick Stadium. The video board/sound upgrades will be up and going this fall. UI athletics director Gary Barta admitted that it will be a tight timeline, but the plan is [...]

I feel a little like ESPN going right to Tebow, Jason Collins, Lebron and Tiger with this topic, but hey, this is what everyone wants to know going into the 2013 season. So, Iowa quarterback. Where is that going? What have we seen? What do we know? What do we think we know? I get [...]