/stiles’d

It is hard to be humble. But’s been hard for much longer than I’ve been in Alabama.

Here’s the reason why.

Joe coaches because he doesn’t know what else to do. He admits as much. Unless he knows he’s hurting the team, something that’s hard to judge I’m sure, he’ll stay. The win totals and bowden and all that stuff is great, but I doubt that’s the sole reason he’s staying around.

…was taping from the heart of a swarm of locusts? Come on, you’re 32 podisodes in. Still no professional sound booth?

Probably the former.

Can you get an interview with the locust outside your house?

1) I think Kevin Newsome will be better than James Vandenberg by the time we get to that loud, angry, inferno of a stadium in Ohio. Doesn’t mean we’re going to win, but I don’t think Ohio State is going to be as good as advertised. Pryor is going to have to improve signifigantly. if their runningbacks don’t improve. I really believe Alabama is the only team that will beat us by double digits because that game is early in the season.
2) I think Iowa will match up better with Ohio State. Stanzi is better than Tolzien and Iowa’s receivers are better. Moreover, Kirk Ferentz >>> Bret Bielema. Iowa wins that game because of karma.

but his notion that Michigan is ready to reemerge is baffling. I think football has, forever, been about QB play. Michigan doesn’t have the kind of QB play that will make it from week to week. I think Iowa had a game plan against Michigan last year that will not carryover in any way, shape or form to this year. Norm believed that stopping the pass was essential to stopping Michigan. Michigan learned too late in the game that running the ball was their only chance. This year I think Norm utilizes a version of the two defensive game plans from last year…GTech and Arizona. Basically they are going to try to rip the QB’s head off and have deep safeties. By the third quarter the QBs will literally be running away from the line of scrimmage. None of this accounts for what might be the third worst defense in the league and a guy named Stanzi with focus and redemption on his mind.

As for the Ohio State game, I think this is a game that will come into focus about two weeks before these teams play. If Iowa loses along the way it could be much like the Penn State win from 2008 for Iowa…losing most of the game and mostly being outplayed only to win with muscle memory. Or, if Iowa is undefeated and Ohio State has dropped one we could see a Buckeye team playing about as loose as they did in the Rose Bowl while Iowa is stiff as a board, not a good visual. But, if both teams come in undefeated I think it is a toss up. Ohio State will have to find a way to remain upbeat in a potentially physical ball game that will be played very conservatively given the track record of both coaches. I would give Iowa the edge because Pryor is not reliable under those circumstances and I would expect Ricky to play a game very similar to Michigan State—no turnovers, very patient.

Last year’s OL was great on paper only. Our three best offensive linemen were Bulaga, Reiff, and Dace — and how often were all three of them healthy and playing at a high level at the same time? Almost never. By the time Bulaga was starting to round into form after the thyroid deal, Dace was done. Reiff was more consistent, but still prone to occasional bits of “oh yeah, that is a redshirt freshman out there.”

Aside from them we had… what? Vandervelde (I always pronounced it without the last e, incidentally, but that’s just because I had a fucking terrible property law professor who pronounced it that way) is a point of concern this year precisely because of the way he played in 2009. Eubanks was a three-year starter that probably should have only been a two-year starter; if Bruggeman hadn’t ripped up his knee prior to 2007, there’s no doubt in my mind that he would have started that year the same way he did in 2008. The coaches loved him and trusted him (with good reason, probably) roughly a billion times more than they did Raffy. And the fifth lineman was, um… Kuempel? Who was so exceptional at his position (or not) that the coaches didn’t seem too concerned about moving him inside for the Orange Bowl, despite playing outside the entire year prior to that point.

I say that not to slag those guys, because I do respect their efforts and think that, for the most part, they did play well last year. We’re not talking banana and turnstile-level ineptitude here by any stretch of the imagination. But it would take some pretty black-and-gold colored glasses to call them a “great” line, IMO. The potential for that was certainly there, but thanks to injuries and inconsistency, I think we rarely (if ever) saw it.

And none of that means that they still won’t be better than the 2010 offensive line; the odds certainly favor that they will be better, if only because of the marked experience edge they have over the 2010 crew. But (1) we don’t know how good (or bad) the 2010 crew will be, (2) the heights of the 2009 crew weren’t really THAT high, and (3) as HS noted, the coaches seem markedly unconcerned about the OL. Which isn’t always the best barometer (I doubt any Iowa fan will forget Norm’s hyperbolic assertion that Humpal and Klink would make us forget about Hodge and Greenway), but could be a sign that (a) the 2010 crew is coming along pretty well and/or (b) they don’t see the 2009 crew as one that was irreplaceable.

But the notion that Michigan won’t lose three in a row to Illinois or Purdue just because it seems absurd on the face of things strikes me as silly — and something that we, as Iowa fans, should be trained to resist. How many times has jNW beaten us now? (No need to time in, chadnudj, I already know: two in a row and four out of five.) How many times has Iowa beaten Penn State in the Aughts? How many times did Iowa State beat Iowa in the Aughts? Etc. Weird shit happens (and, no, I’m not saying that “weird shit happens” explains all of those games — in many of them, the better team simply won. But never in the jNW games.) and sometimes it happens many years in a row.

Do I really expect Illinois to beat Michigan for a third straight year? No. Objectively, rationally, logically… Michigan should win. They are the better team and seemingly better than Illinois at just about every position and along the sidelines. But that was true in many respects last year and they STILL got whupped by 25 points by the Fightin’ Juiceboxes.

Penn State’s recruiting class isn’t great at all, but we weren’t expecting much because we don’t have a lot of scholarships. We had some guy a couple of days ago and he’s pretty good, and Mangiro is good. I don’t follow recruiting much. Brian Cook had some article about “Joe Pa hurting Penn State” or something (Before we signed two good recruits, natch), but I don’t see reason to worry until we have clear evidence that he is in really poor health.

Or commentary/insight to add. Just wanted to say that Bama’s comment about “going back to the year football was invented. All the way back to 1995.” had me rolling on the floor in fits of laugter.