Yes, it is crazy to jump straight into posting without commenting first, but there's something I have to get off my chest, and I feel like this community would be the best place to do it.

Today, I felt like Iowa football embodied.

I'm a substitute teacher. I graduated in August and all the jobs were gone, so I wake up to a 6AM phone call most days and head out the door with only the slightest inkling of what I am supposed to do. In today's case, I went to a middle school science class. We were watching a movie, which just means I have to keep students focused on a shiny box instead of thinking. This puts me, metaphorically speaking, on defense. Therefore, my philosophy was to bend but not break. I don't need everyone in my class focusing the whole time in order to not have chaos; since most students (like most college football teams) are incapable of doing massive damage in so short a time, the goal is to keep the troublemakers engaged and hope the rest of the class follows suit. As one might expect in a story about Iowa football (or anything derivative thereof), it worked for a while, but I still got dinged for a few failures to cover.

My view of the students was like Vandenberg's view of his WR's: so much was wide open and completely ignored.

My coverage of the class was like the secondary's coverage of receivers: always a second too late, allowing for big unanswered gains.

My consequences were like the offense's plays - sputtering, ham-handed, and ineffective, especially when repeated.

The lines coming out of my mouth were like the offensive and defensive lines - worn out and prone to dumb mistakes.

By contrast, a teacher's aide came in to co-teach the last hour and had the students in their seats, silent, and reading in under half a minute. There was no bending, only consequences. As she was just an aide, though, she was in and out the whole period, and the students found and exploited my weaknesses before she was back from a restroom break. Like we assume JVB feels, I felt crushed, defeated, and humilated, but had no choice but to keep going.

I might be getting a little hard on myself, but that's okay. I see hope in my improvement as I continue developing as a teacher. And to be honest, I have hope in the Hawkeyes for improvement as well. But if they continue playing the way I taught today (or the other way around), it will just be ugly, unwatchable, and unwinnable.