Aboojum is very, very high on this team, sorta like a guy named SMA on BHGP (???).

It will be interesting to see how the players respond to walking around campus and being told they're ready to play the BCS championship game now, having clubbed a I-AA team and the unfortunate cousins to the west.

I realized this afternoon what I found so striking about yesterday: Iowa looked as crisp and as in-tempo as they did for GT and S. Carolina -- in other words, they looked like they had been practicing for this game for six weeks. It was just staggering how efficient they were. I don't think they looked that good beating Minnesota 55-0.

I thought he returned one kickoff left when it looked to be set up for right.

I think 60% is high. What we're seeing, for example, with five-wide is only the first (that little drag route to the back) of what I am sure is a sequence. (Example: one of the things Shanahan would do in Denver is start five wide with two backs on the outside, then shift one back into formation, which exposes the man/zone cover decision of the defense, prior to snap, enabling the QB to know pre-snap what his coverage was going to be.) As you note, the Reisner TD sequences off the inside zone, which kicks into bootleg, which introduces the new little fade to Reisner (if I am correct; I don't remember seeing that little dump to the tight-end before).

Clayborn definitely issues the quote of the game, there at the end.

I don't know how you stop this offense. I know how you stop Michigan: you stop Denard. But I don't think you can stop this offense because it is so balanced, and shifts gears immediately if you try to take something away. You want to stop the run? All four receivers seem to be open. You give your DBs some help? Robinson will take you downtown. It's textbook constraint play management: counting hats and flipping the switch and putting the ball where the D has chosen to put fewer guys. Has there been a better, more balanced offense for Iowa since 2002? I don't think it's even close.

And the most incredible thing is that I think the O-Line -- the biggest question mark on the team -- appears to be better than last year's (as of the second game). I loved all the QB sneaks: just total arrogance about being able to control the LOS and push them back.

Evidently, the odds of NDSU ever getting a paycheck from KU again are poor.

Football's a tough business. Ask Terry Allen.

EIU: 16 yards net passing, 15 yards net rushing in the second half. Usually, in games like this, the losing team pads out its numbers in garbage time. So I thought that was very impressive, as was the fact that they did this while Clayborn had a very quiet game. (I would like to see a breakdown of how many times they ran or rolled to their left. Not too many.)

Thanks for posting all of the SID material; the drive chart also is very descriptive, showing how Iowa took the third quarter off.

In regard to ISU, I thought the only time we looked particularly young was when Hyde lost his guy twice in 60 seconds, and they scored. Will they go right at him? I thought that the only time Artaud looked inefficient was when he was trying to go intermediate depth down the middle, but our D requires a guy currently with one hand and zero 2010 minutes to defend the middle. So maybe the key matchup is the HermanArtaud patience v. greed impulse.

I suppose that ISU will have to decide whether or not to bring blitz pressure. They average only 257 across the D-line. You'd think Stanzi and the tight ends would shred them if they do, but maybe the coaches will refuse to risk another Wooten event.

Since we know that KOK does the Bill Walsh, script the first 15 plays thing, it's notable to me that we came out throwing first.

The last thing was the coolest thing for me in this game. Remember the 4th and 2 on around their 40? How many times have you seen Iowa come out in 5-wide on 4th and 2 with a lead on the opponents' side of the field? Just showing this once will change D-coordinators' matchups on that down and distance, the rest of the season.

Thank you.

I'm in the enterprise software business. If I issued a press release before a contract was valid (via execution by all parties), I would lose that contract. Hence my perspective.

I note that I said nothing, characterized nothing, used no bad words, provided no judgments. I just thought it was a funny link! I don't even know what relevance it has to "too long didn't read" [hey it's a lot of work to use punctuation and the shift key] Please don't ban me like Brian Cook did. ill rite shortr.

Have I got a link for you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RrreVthWRY&fe...

It's The Onion, so open at your own risk.

I thought that the ISU O-line was very effective and Artaud showed both great patience and accuracy on all of the underneath passing. It appears to me that the Herman offense has been installed, and I thought its timing in this game was impressive for a first game. I also think that all the underneath stuff is so quick to execute that even our D-line will struggle to disrupt it. I would be surprised if our O-line outplays their's next week, incidentally.

Herman set 50 team records in two years at Rice, so he is to be underestimated at one's risk. If Artaud stays patient and accurate it will be an interesting game.

That said, NIU's quarterback was either destroyed by nerves or is incompetent. He didn't appear to belong out there, he was missing so badly. They had open receivers all game, and a stud at RB.