Hello football fans!!!
Whoa!
Although it was only 8 days that I went without my computer, it seemed a lot longer. As I told somebody this weekend, I couldn’t tell you the last time I went a week without a computer or without drinking. (Or a combo of the two.) Mix in some vacation days that I took over the weekend with a trip to Iowa City and back, and that left just enough time to do…well…a whole lotta nothing.
And I KNOW that it was the Minnesota game and how dare I miss THAT game. But we were also on a 2-game schneid so I thought changing things up wouldn’t be that bad of an idea. (I didn’t even wear my usual black boxer briefs on Saturday.) And by the way, I would have predicted 27-13.
Blah, blah… Here we go…
———-
“Aaaaaaarrrrrggggggh!!! Get OFF of me!!! You’re killing me!!! Charlie! Mark! You’re too heavy! Aaaaarrrgghhh!!!”
– The Hot Seat
———-
Minnesota Game
It’s the only game that I’ve ever TIVO’d…only to immediately delete it (without re-watching a single snap) as soon as I got home on Sunday to conserve space. I won’t ever have to wonder what it looks like to watch 90-year-old people screw…because that was the football equivalent of it: A lot of missed shots, a lot of tired bodies, and not much actual scoring.
Even so, isn’t it weird that a 12-0 game is SO MUCH UGLIER than a 32-20 game?
I also want to point this out: The coaches played this game to win it. Yes…I’m sure that’s the plan every week – I get that. However, after Robinson went down and we had to rely on a tired, tired, tired (and not healthy) Frosh RB in Brandon Wegher…along with a Frosh QB…the coaches pulled it back. They were looking at their defense – and more importantly Minnesota’s inept offense – and figured that 14 points was enough to win that game. Well, as it turned out, a safety would have been enough, so that’s how they ran their offensive gameplan. It makes sense.
We won the game. So we’re 10 and whew. I mean 10-2.
And living in Minnesota, it’s always good to beat the Gophers – 7/8 since I’ve lived up here btw – and it more importantly kept us alive for a BCS Bowl birth. Speaking of that…
—–
Bowl Picture (from what I can tell)
I’m sure you all know as much as I do. Here goes it anyways:
- The Rules That You Should Know (in case you didn’t know.)
- Your team has to be in the top 14 of the BCS standings.
- Your team has to have at least 9 wins.
- Only two teams from any conference can make it in.
- Oklahoma State IS a threat. Why? Welp…if Texas beats Texas A&M and then goes on to win the Big 12 Championship as they’re predicted to do, there would only be one Big 12 team in the BCS, and that would be the actual BCS Championship. There will be pressure for the Fiesta Bowl to pick the Cowboys since it’s the Fiesta’s “natural” selection to take a Big 12 team here.
However, Ok State couldn’t even fill their own stadium last Thursday night, they have all kinds of issues at QB (much worse than us – we’ll get Stanzi back by the bowl), and they still have to play their bitter rival Oklahoma with all the pressure on them.
- Penn State is a threat. Why? Because THEY ARE…Penn State. Aaand they finished the year “hot”, and they have that old fart Paterno.
Outside of those two reasons, there’s absolutely no reason for the Fiesta or Orange to take Penn State over us. We beat them head-to-head in their own stadium; we are ranked higher in the BCS, our strength-of-schedule is better, which means our resume is better.
- Outside of that, there’s nobody that can jump us. One thing that I believe I see that nobody is talking about: What if Boise State gets beat by Nevada on Saturday? Even more so if Nevada blows the doors off of Boise State. Don’t laugh – Nevada has been on an absolute tear for 8 games.
- My “Hey This Just Might Happen” picks for how it goes down:
BCS Championship
Alabama vs. Texas
Rose Bowl
Ohio State vs. Oregon State
Sugar Bowl
Florida vs. Pittsburgh
Fiesta Bowl
Iowa vs. Oklahoma State
Orange Bowl
Georgia Tech vs. TCU
Go ahead – call me crazy. But none of this is all that hard to believe:
- Pitt beats Cincy. 50/50. If not (no biggie) Cincy plays Fla.
- Oregon St beats Oregon. Since this is @ the ‘zoo…twill be tough.
- Ok St beats Oklahoma. Hey…Oklahoma sucks ass this year.
- Nevada blows out Boise St. Hate the Smurf-Turf, but we’ll see.
The Oregon/Oregon State (and) Pitt/Cincy games are pretty much inconsequential in my line of thinking. That is, the winner of either of those games is in (and I actually like Oregon and Pitt in these two games since they’re at home). I’m picking Oregon State in this scenario just to be crazy.
However, does the Fiesta Bowl take an 11-1 Boise State team that will be somewhere between #10 – #14 in the BCS over a 10-2 Oklahoma State team (that will be in the same BCS range) that’s only conference loss was against Texas? Also, IF Oregon State beats Oregon…does that Boise State win over a suddenly unimpressive 9-3 Oregon really hold that much water? No. (Shoot…Arizona should have beaten Oregon last Saturday too.)
Do you know what else I find interesting about this scenario? Iowa and their fans get into their BCS Bowl game like we all want…only to get a ho-hum match-up against Oklahoma State that everybody will talk shit about. It’s sooooo Iowa for it to go down like just like this…I will now do the Doctor Evil laugh out-loud to myself:
“Hmwaaah. Hmwaaah. HMWAAAH. HMWAAAH. HMWAHAHAAAHHHH!!!! HMWHAHAHAHHHHHH!!!”
———
I will have more next week on year-end football awards for Iowa Football.
And for those of you that know my brother Daron, get a hold of him and talk him into sending me his yearly tailgate awards (always a hoot) so I can put them here on JTG for all to enjoy.
—–
Hawks on the All-Big Ten team(s) :
All-Big Ten Conference Football Team Offense — Coaches Selections
| First team | Position | Second team |
| Daryll Clark, Penn State | Quarterback | Mike Kafka, Northwestern |
| Evan Royster, Penn State | Running Back | Brandon Saine, Ohio State |
| John Clay, Wisconsin | Running Back | Ralph Bolden, Purdue |
| Eric Decker, Minnesota | Receiver | Tandon Doss, Indiana* |
| Blair White, Michigan State | Receiver | Derrell Johnson-Koulianos, Iowa Keith Smith, Purdue* |
| Stefen Wisniewski, Penn State | Center | Rafael Eubanks, Iowa* Joel Nitchman, Michigan State* |
| Dace Richardson, Iowa | Guard | Jon Asamoah, Illinois |
| John Moffitt, Wisconsin | Guard | Justin Boren, Ohio State |
| Bryan Bulaga, Iowa | Tackle | Rodger Saffold, Indiana |
| Dennis Landolt, Penn State | Tackle | Gabe Carimi, Wisconsin |
| Tony Moeaki, Iowa | Tight End | Garrett Graham, Wisconsin |
| Brett Swenson, Michigan State | Kicker | Stefan Demos, Northwestern |
All-Big Ten Conference Football Team Defense — Coaches Selections
| First team | Position | Second team |
| Adrian Clayborn, Iowa | Line | Jammie Kirlew, Indiana |
| Brandon Graham, Michigan | Line | Thaddeus Gibson, Ohio State |
| Jared Odrick, Penn State | Line | Cameron Heyward, Ohio State |
| O’Brien Schofield, Wisconsin | Line | Ryan Kerrigan, Purdue |
| Pat Angerer, Iowa | Linebacker | A.J. Edds, Iowa |
| Greg Jones, Michigan State | Linebacker | Ross Homan, Ohio State |
| Navorro Bowman, Penn State | Linebacker | Sean Lee, Penn State |
| Tyler Sash, Iowa | Defensive Back | Donovan Warren, Michigan* |
| Amari Spievey, Iowa | Defensive Back | Sherrick McManis, Northwestern* |
| Brad Phillips, Northwestern | Defensive Back | Brandon King, Purdue* |
| Kurt Coleman, Ohio State | Defensive Back | David Pender, Purdue* Jay Valai, Wisconsin* |
| Zoltan Mesko, Michigan | Punter | Jeremy Boone, Penn State |
All-Big Ten Conference Football Team Offense — Media Selections
| First team | Position | Second team |
| Daryll Clark, Penn State | Quarterback | Mike Kafka, Northwestern |
| Evan Royster, Penn State | Running Back | Brandon Saine, Ohio State |
| John Clay, Wisconsin* | Running Back | Ralph Bolden, Purdue |
| Tandon Doss, Indiana | Receiver | Blair White, Michigan State |
| Keith Smith, Purdue | Receiver | Zeke Markshausen, Northwestern |
| Stefen Wisniewski, Penn State | Center | Rafael Eubanks, Iowa |
| Justin Boren, Ohio State | Guard | Jon Asamoah, Illinois |
| John Moffitt, Wisconsin | Guard | Dace Richardson, Iowa |
| Bryan Bulaga, Iowa | Tackle | Kyle Calloway, Iowa |
| Gabe Carimi, Wisconsin | Tackle | Dennis Landolt, Penn State |
| Garrett Graham, Wisconsin | Tight End | Tony Moeaki, Iowa |
| Brett Swenson, Michigan State | Kicker | Stefan Demos, Northwestern |
All-Big Ten Conference Football Team Defense — Media Selections
| First team | Position | Second team |
| Adrian Clayborn, Iowa | Line | Jammie Kirlew, Indiana |
| Brandon Graham, Michigan | Line | Thaddeus Gibson, Ohio State |
| Ryan Kerrigan, Purdue | Line | Cameron Heyward, Ohio State |
| O’Brien Schofield, Wisconsin | Line | Jared Odrick, Penn State |
| Pat Angerer, Iowa | Linebacker | Ross Homan, Ohio State |
| Greg Jones, Michigan State* | Linebacker | Josh Hull, Penn State |
| Navorro Bowman, Penn State | Linebacker | Sean Lee, Penn State |
| Tyler Sash, Iowa | Defensive Back | Brett Greenwood, Iowa |
| Donovan Warren, Michigan | Defensive Back | Amari Spievey, Iowa |
| Sherrick McManis, Northwestern | Defensive Back | Brad Phillips, Northwestern |
| Kurt Coleman, Ohio State | Defensive Back | David Pender, Purdue |
| Zoltan Mesko, Michigan | Punter | Jeremy Boone, Penn State |
A few comments:
- I’m surprised to see that Tony Moeaki made the first team Coaches Selection. That’s probably more from coaches’ respect for his skills and that he hung in there than what he was able to do on the field this year.
- I’m shocked to see Rafael Eubanks get so much love – and very proud of the guy. Nothing came easy for this guy over the past few years – this year perhaps being the toughest – and he hung in there and got better. That’s just awesome.
—–
Recruiting
I’ve taken a bit of an “I don’t really care” attitude towards recruiting the past few years when it comes to Iowa Football. I know we’re never going to get a consistent Top 10 recruiting class (we’re somewhere between 25-30 right now) and I don’t really care because we always get guys that fit our system that we develop. Also, we already have 80% of our class put together.
However, I WAS interested in two guys that visited last weekend:
Seantrell Robinson (pr. ‘shawn-trell’)
OT – 5 Stars – Cretin-Derham Hall (St Paul, MN)
This guy interests me because his HS is about 5 minutes from my house, we’ve had luck with Cretin-Derham before, and I had heard that ND was dropping off and that he was coming to Iowa City. However, this guy is not going to play football here. From what I’m hearing up here – it’s either going to be USC or Minnesota. 60/40 USC.
CJ Fiedorowics
TE – 4 Stars – Johnsburg HS (Illinois)
I’m ok with losing Seantrell. I’m not going to be OK losing this guy…even though he’s not officially de-committed from Illinois yet. (This has been going back and forth this fall since Illinois has been sucking it up.)
He…is…a…BEAST. If Mark Bavaro and Dallas Clark could somehow conceive a kid…this is what it would look like. He’s big, strong, has great hands, and can move (although I wouldn’t call him an absolute burner). Either way, he’s a HUGE red zone target – both literally and figuratively – that we’d love to have.
Looking at the TE that we put into the league the last several years – why in the hell would he go to Illinois with Zook? I looked it up – Iowa City is actually closer to Johnsburg, IL than Champain, IL is! Seems like a no-brainer to me.
———-
Week 13 “Precarious Predictions”
YTD NCAA Record 49-51-2 (getting close!)
Last Week 6-4
Iowa ATS 6-4 (no UNI or Minn, btw)
Friday
Big Ten
Illinois @ #5 Cincinnati
11:00 AM / ABC / Line: Cincy by 20.5
I think Illinois runs the ball and surprised people for how close this game will be.
Illini + the points.
Around the Country:
Thursday
#3 Texas @ Texas A&M
7:00 PM / ESPN / Line: 21.5
If you’re a Longhorn fan…on a scale of 1-10…how much does this game scare you? I would say it’s about a 21.5. I’m not saying that A&M pulls this off, but if there’s a bad Texas turnover early in this game…yeeesh.
A&M + the points.
Friday
#2 Alabama @ Auburn
1:30 PM / CBS / Line: OK by 10.5
If you’re a Crimson Tide fan…on a scale of 1-10…how much does this game scare you? I would say it’s at least a 10.5. I’m not saying that Auburn pulls this off, but…
Auburn + the points.
#8 Pittsburgh @ West Virginia
6:00 PM / ESPN2 / Line: West Va by 1
Impossible line to set here…and the “Backyard Brawl” has been a sneaky good game over the past several years. This is more of a gut feeling on this one…
Pitt + the points.
Nevada @ #6 Boise State
9:00 PM / ESPN2 / Line: Boise St by 13.5
Even if Nevada gets behind – with their offense and Boise State’s defense – they have the ability to come back and makes this a game as long as it doesn’t get too outta hand. Nevada believes they can win this game.
Nevada + the points.
Saturday
#12 Oklahoma St @ Oklahoma
11:30 AM / TV? / Line: Sooners by 9.5
What does a #11 ranking, 9-2 record get you going against your 6-5 rival? A nearly double-digit spread?!? Wow. I still think Oklahoma has a great defense that just lost focus last weekend. However, this IS a rivalry and OK State is playing for a BCS spot…especially if Boise State goes down.
OK St + the points.
Florida State @ #1 Florida
2:30 PM / CBS / Line: Florida by 24.5
This looks like too many points. But I believe that the Seminoles and old-man Bobby pretty awful, the Gators are still playing for something huge, aaaaand it’s in The Swamp
Florida covers.
Arkansas @ #15 LSU
7:00 PM / ESPN / Line: LSU by 3.5
Les Miles is a dink. Why didn’t he come right out and take ownership of his obvious blunder at the end of last week? Because the hat – the ASSHAT that is – reads too many of his newspaper clippings, that’s why.
Arkansas + the points.
Notre Dame @ Stanford
7:00 PM / Reg ABC / Line: Stanford by 10
First off, I just want to say that if I could go back in time and skip the Iowa-Minnesota game…and instead watched it from the bar/restaurant that Jimmy “Viggo” Claussen went to after the game and got to see him get punched, I would have. Was it just a drunk a-hole fan? Did he deserve it? I could see it going either way. Back in college, I can certainly remember a lot of drunk a-holes coming up to Timmy Dwight at a bar and saying some stupid stuff to him. However…I can also remember Kevin Kasper going up to innocent people and saying stupid stuff to THEM. Either way – I just would have like to see how that went down.
And ya know what?…a part of me is going to be sad to see ol’ Fat Chaz leave…
ND + the points.
Georgia @ #7 Georgia Tech
7:00 PM / ABC / Line: Tech by 7
Tough, tough game…Georgia Tech really doesn’t have that much to play for (they’re already guaranteed a spot in the ACC Championship). But then again…neither does Georgia.
Georgia State covers.
National Game of the Week
Thursday
JTG vs. Copious Amounts of Beer & Turkey
2:00 PM / My Aunt’s House / Line: JTG + 6 pounds
This line seems too high because I’m already a little over-weight. But then you factor in the amount of beer that I’ll drink the night before at the Turner Hall, that I have no wife/girlfriend to slow me down, and that my mom and aunts are awesome cooks and it’s all over but the screaming at that point.
Heaven help anybody that would ever have to be trapped in a car with me for 4 hours on the way back to Minneapolis the next day.
JTG covers.
———-
HAVE A GREAT THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GO HAWKS!
-Jeffrey the Greek!
Posted by Jeff Buch 
