Anyone, Anywhere, Any Time (So long as it's a regional opponent at Kinnick Stadium and kickoff is set for 11:00).  Before you watch the following video, close the door and call a good drywall contractor.  You're going to run through a wall:

That is the 2010 intro video for the newly retooled GoHawks.com, the Iowa football recruiting propaganda information site first launched a couple of years ago and sporadically updated since.  Upon cursory examination, there are no obvious errors, such as Kirk Ferentz claiming Brian Billick-coached wins in Baltimore as his own.  It seems inconsistent for a program with such a humble, simple, positively hokey persona to create such a slick website, but such sites launched programs like USC nearly a decade ago and are virtually mandatory in the recruiting prestige game.

Caring is Cretinous.  As part of its "Victory Lap Week," SBN Big Ten blog (and Friend of the Pants) The Rivalry, Esq. detailed the top five current rivalries in the Big Ten.  Iowa is involved in two of the top three, and neither involves Minnesota or Wisconsin (each of those garner honorable mention, a point I won't argue in Minnesota's case).  No, Iowa gets its press not for traditional rivalry games played for livestock-themed trophies.  It gets its press for what it does best: Playing up, or down, to the level of its competition.  Number three: Northwestern.

Bama Hawkeye puts it more succinctly: "The teams have split the last ten meetings, with each costing each other a Rose Bowl bid. And, the 'Cats play dirty and hate America."

Just Northwestern? More like just your worst nightmare.

No, Law Buckeye, it's more like just Northwestern, but I see your point.  As interesting as this was the #2 rivalry on the list, Iowa's burgeoning respectothon with Joe Paterno and the Nittany Lions of Penn State.

As Paterno Ave puts it "To be honest, I really don't think of Iowa as a rival. As much heartache as they've caused the Nittany Lions over the recent years, there just isn't anything personal to it. I respect their head coach. I can't think of any players I really hated. And, most importantly, when I see people in black and gold walking around State College on football Saturday, I can't help but think: 'Ouch...you grew up in Iowa.'"

Speaking of ouch how about when the Hawkeyes ruined Penn State's perfect season in 2008 by kicking a last second field goal. Or when they blocked a Nittany Lion punt to turn the tide in last year's upset.

Anyone who read our mindless hate crimes over at TRE earlier this spring knows the BHGP doesn't discriminate between old foes and new ones.  Should expansion throw us into another regional tilt against Nebraska or Missouri, so be it.  But if not, BHGP is on board with ramping up the Iowa-Penn State series.  Hell, we'll even hire a junior high shop class to build a new trophy to rival the Land Grant.

BLURBZ:  mGoBlog reader/diaries contributor/stat geek The Mathlete runs a statistical analysis of the impact of sacks and interceptions on the overall effectiveness of an offense and a defense.  The results explain Iowa's 2009 season: A defense that produces sacks and interceptions is statistically better on downs where neither occur, but the connection between the number of sacks or picks an offense concedes is largely irrelevant to its overall effectiveness.  TRE gets its second link of the day with a write-up of Adrian Clayborn and Broderick Binns, complete with pictures of hot women at a hockey game.  The Only Colors examines the impact of Big Ten expansion on basketball, as Michigan State fans are wont to do.  Hail to the Orange recaps Blogs with Balls 3.