A few things about Iowa Football you might not know

Submitted by BrewHawk on

1. We return 8 starters on both offense and defense. Key losses from last year were RB-Shonn Greene, TE-Brandon Meyers, WR-Andy Brodell, C-Rob Bruggeman, G-Seth Olson, DTs-King and Kroul, and CB Bradley Fletcher. Each of these guys were either drafted or given FA contracts, execept for Brodell, who failed his physical after needing to have surgery the year prior to fix a torn hamstring.

2. Our best WR was the 3rd string QB last year (Marvin McNutt).

3. We've run a lot of 4 and 5 wide sets this year, often looking to throw first as defenses have stacked the box with regularity. If Moeaki is healthy, you'll still see your fair share of 2-3 TE sets as well.

4. Our punter is one of the biggest weapons on the team. He's been spotting the ball inside the ten with regularity and can also crank out 60 yard, field-flippers as well.

5. Night games at Kinnick are a rarity, with this being only the third in history that starts after 6:00. Tailgating will still commence before the crack of dawn.

6. Need to be aware of #3 Brandon Wegher, true frosh RB. He's the real deal and should only get better as he matures over the next couple years. Good receiver out of the backfield as well.

7. At one time or another this season(or for Hampton and Bernstine, every game) Iowa has been without the following starters...

RB-Jewel Hampton
WR-DJK
TE-Tony Moeaki
LT-Bryan Bulaga
RT-Kyle Calloway
RG-Julian Vandervelde
CB-Shaun Prater
CB-Jordan Bernstine

...previous editions of Iowa teams could not have sustained these losses and still be undefeated at this point. This is the deepest Hawkeye team I have seen in my 25 years of watching.

8. Hope after Saturday night you guys can resume your asecention back into the elite of CFB. Classy program and the Big Ten needs a successful Michigan program to return to prominence. Hope we both stay healthy. Make sure to wear your long underwear...gonna be a chilly one!

OMG Shirtless

October 6th, 2009 at 2:22 PM ^

I admittedly don't pay enough attention to the opposition, not enough hours in the day for me. So posts like this are a good summary.

Sounds like we should set up Zoltan vs Iowa Punter for a battle to the death.

I'm exited for the game and the atmosphere. I'm actually making the trip down there this weekend. The only thing I'm worried about is pacing my tailgating so I actually remember the game.

Engin77

October 6th, 2009 at 2:23 PM ^

for the kind words. Something you may not know about Michigan, we were 3-9 last year and we're rebuilding. Hawkeyes should be thinking about the next road game at Wisky. (;

GRBluefan

October 6th, 2009 at 2:24 PM ^

thanks for the insight...I admit I don't know much about the Hawks this year.

I posted this in a diary, but have not had a response yet...perhaps you can offer some opinions...

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Going to the game and picking up an RV in Davenport on Friday afternoon and heading to Iowa City. We want to set up the RV on Friday night and be able to keep it in the same spot for Saturday tailgating / boozing. It looks like the Finkbine Golf Course is the only way to do this (the only place that lets people in on Friday night). Is this a good spot to have as home base?

Any suggestions for better alternatives would be most welcome.

http://www.uifootballparking.com/
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BrewHawk

October 6th, 2009 at 3:13 PM ^

Just make sure you get there well before 7pm when the lot opens as there's likely to be a line waiting to get a spot and there's not a ton of room there for RVs. You'll want to cab downtown from there as well, but is only a 5-10 min walk to Kinnick.

Check out the link for more info on restaurants and bars someone made for our Arizona visitors earlier in the year(sorry, you'll have to cut&paste)...

http://forum.goazcats.com/showthread.php?t=93258

Section 1

October 6th, 2009 at 2:53 PM ^

Wasn't there another RB injury in addition to Hampton?

The most remarkable non-quantitative, non-numerical thing about Iowa this year as far as I am aware was Musberger's comment in the waning minutes of the Penn State game that Iowa's coaches and players had played the "smartest" game that he (Musberger) could ever remember seeing. I sort of thought the same thing, but how it is that anybody could rate "smartest" games isn't so clear to me.

Thanks for posting, BrewHawk.

There's a glorious linkage of Iowa's and Michigan's football programs. Nile Kinnick won the Heisman the year before Harmon. Harmon's teammate Forest Evashevski went on to coach at Iowa; Evy was recommended for the job by Fritz Crisler, and Evy's 1950's teams produced some of the greatest wins in Iowa history, including some Big Ten Championships. Evy also served as Iowa's AD, a position that Bump Elliott also held after his coaching career (and Associate AD term) at Michigan was completed. Bump served as Iowa's AD for more than 20 years, and Wikipedia reminds me that it was Bump who did the hiring of Dan Gable, Hayden Fry, Lute Olson and Dr. Tom Davis for Iowa.
That's some history together!

msoccer10

October 6th, 2009 at 2:59 PM ^

Mary Sue Coleman!

But seriously, I am excited for this game and to see if we can get an upset but I am really expecting us to get killed. This may be the best team we play this year (including OSU) and its on the road at night. Yikes! Good luck Iowa. I would rather see the Hawkeyes win the Big Ten than OSU or Penn State. Its good for variety.

brose

October 6th, 2009 at 2:55 PM ^

Other than knowing Iowa was stout on defense I admittedly know very little about them. This helped a lot...should be a blast.

The last night game @ Iowa I saw on TV was OSU in 2006 I think...even though OSU won soundly, what a great environment.

TheIcon34

October 6th, 2009 at 2:59 PM ^

I hope this is the greatest week for breast cancer awareness. As you know, a lot of players and teams incorporated pink into their wardrobe, pink shoes, pink hats, and pink wrist/arm bands.

Iowa has always had pink locker rooms for the visiting team, right down to pink toilets. Michigan will show support for the breast cancer survivors and eke out a win, hopefully.

I seem to recall that a college football team was planning to wear all pink for this year, as it was mentioned in an article last year. Does anyone have info about this?

emmekel

October 6th, 2009 at 3:09 PM ^

rape girls in a special empty dorm that all of the football players have a key to. Then the athletic department and the administration cover it up and it goes away like nothing ever happened. Iowa is awesome!!!!

Blazefire

October 7th, 2009 at 10:29 AM ^

Wow. Just... wow.

Were you raped by football players in a secret room at Iowa? No?

If you disagree with my post, fine, but making sarcastic posts about damning, unsubstantiated claims that suggest criminal activity is not necessary.

allHAILthedeat…

October 7th, 2009 at 10:30 AM ^

some instances where name-calling is appropriate. After making an asinine comment such as that, you clearly earned the title "asshat".


If in the future you make a comment containing an opinion I disagree with, then I'll rebut with my views. That is completely different than the situation here.


You went out of your way to same something stupid about an alleged (note the word alleged) wrong-doing, bring a negative connotation to an otherwise positive post. By doing so, you made yourself look like an ass and reflected poorly on all of mgoblog. Thus your (currently) -24 mgopoints and me calling you an asshat.


If you do not like being called names, I suggest you act in a manner that reflects integrity and respect. If you deserve respect you'll get it. If not, you'll get verbally abused.


Your choice.

I Miss Bursley

October 6th, 2009 at 8:08 PM ^

was that post really necessary? I can't really speak about the rest of the athletic department down there but I have to say college football would be lucky to have more coaches as classy as Ferentz.

That kinda thing happens, unfortunately, every once in a while. You can't pin it on an entire university.
(unless it's ohio state)

emmekel

October 7th, 2009 at 9:56 AM ^

stating a fact about what happened inside their program. If that type of situation happened at Michigan, the AD, the Head Coach and the President would probably be gone. The school didn't act appropriately in that situation and I brought it up in a thread about Iowa football. Big freakin' deal.

MichiganStudent

October 6th, 2009 at 3:15 PM ^

Thanks for the post. I think this game is going to be a very good one. I cannot get a good read on this Iowa team. They have barely beaten some terrible football teams, and then they kick PSU's ass.

BrewHawk

October 6th, 2009 at 4:51 PM ^

...only Tony Moeaki is questionable/probable at this point (outside of Hampton and Bernstine who are done for the year). Otherwise we are at full strength (finally!)

Bulaga was back last week against Ark. St. and looked like he had been off for three weeks, but should be back to full strength against Michigan.

IowaBlueFan

October 6th, 2009 at 3:55 PM ^

He is the real deal, he tore up my High School team in the state championship game last year,
for 4 touchdowns on the ground, and a 100 yard interception return, when we were mounting our comeback that never happened.
but he is fast and can break some tackles.
He plays like a veteren where he follows his blockers well with patience, but he makes plenty of frosh mistakes.

A2toGVSU

October 6th, 2009 at 5:21 PM ^

Question for you, though.
Like many on here, I don't know much about this team other than "I don't know what to make of Iowa - they kicked penn state's ass but have a really rough time with lower tier teams." Did the injuries contribute to that? What was/were the difference(s) between the ArkSt/NIowa games and the PSU game?

tucsonblue

October 6th, 2009 at 10:54 PM ^

Just read the transcript of Ferentz's Tuesday press conference about playing Michigan this weekend, some very interesting stuff in there, including much discussion about Tate's greatness:
http://gazetteonline.com/sports/2009/10/06/ferentz-tuesday-news-confere…
I don't have enough points to post this as a new thread on the board, but one of you (with enough points!) might want to post a new thread highlighting Ferentz's press conf, will surely kick off some good discussion.