Congrats to ISU on a solid win. Football in Iowa is better all around when State and UNI are competitive. Could be a great battle next Saturday.
Some teams will be ranked mainly because of their "name." Teams like Ohio St., Alabama, Florida, Notre Dame, etc, will get a favorable nod because of past success. As abysmal as Michigan has been the last two years. I'm surprised someone doesn't have them in their top 25.
Sports Illustrated had a write-up probably 5 or 10 years ago on the lingering effects of pro football injuries - 40 year olds with mangled hands, arthritic knees, using canes to help them walk. The human body can only take so much abuse.
Let's hope the waters recede soon. Praying for you folks in Ames. Hasn't the state of Iowa seen enough of this lousy weather the past few years???
Yeah, like it or not, that's the trend. More and more money being spent on coaches and facilities, more pressure to win, more conferences expanding for more money. I'd like to see the university presidents and NCAA put some brakes on all this, but I'm not sure how.
Regarding Michigan, unless they can get better in a hurry, Alabama will use them for cannon fodder. Hardly anybody up here is sold on Rich Rod being the answer. And with Iowa, Wisconsin, MSU, Purdue, etc, all looking to be better this year, it could be a long year for the Wolverines. For someone who has heard plenty of "We've got the biggest stadium, the greatest fight song, the winningest program," ad nauseum, the last two years have been a joy to behold.
That is completely distasteful - and hilarious!
My prediction is that the Brew crew and Rich Rod will be gone at the end of the season. And as mediocre as Minnesota football has been, I have to admit it does look like a nice stadium.
Living up here, MSU hasn't forgotten the last second loss to Iowa. It's one of several games they feel they let get away, so, yes, I would expect a tough battle from Sparty. Ohio State will be very hard to beat as usual, but the game that concerns me is Penn St. I know the Hawks have owned them in recent years, and that's what worries me. I think the Nittany Lions are really, really tired of hearing that they can't beat Iowa.
I remember that loss to Northwestern in '06. That was when Kirk Ferentz made the "we played like a bunch of fat cats" comment. Buffalomo is right in that the really bad games are ones where the Hawks had the better talent but played poorly.
Yes, and this occurred to me after I wrote my previous post: These pro teams have no problem dumping players if they feel they aren't producing. We've all read stories of how guys are told to clean out their lockers when the NFL trims down to 45 players. There's no loyalty or sympathy there. You're basically treated like a commodity. It just so happens that some "commodities" have a lot more value!
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Thingamajig