A little bit of BHGP news: Please join us in welcoming Planned Sick Days to the fold. PSD will be our linkdumper-in-chief, which should increase the number of It's Not Plagiarism posts above its current 4-5 a year rate. As always, standard hazing rules apply. -- PV
If I can accomplish anything today, I want to put this song in your head:
Alright, I'll make this quick. I'm Rick and I tweet and blog as 'PlannedSickDays." I'm an avid reader and fan of the BHGP so joining the club is a no-brainer. Finding and sharing links is what I do and I'm looking forward to sharing them with you. I'll refrain from boring you with too many details and instead get right to the links. Okay?
So, there was a football game? It was the last game in Kinnick this year for 18 Hawkeye seniors. One senior, Marvin McNutt Jr, made the best of his last game gaining 130 yards and two touchdowns. McNutt's one handed amazing catch earned him ESPN's #4 play in their daily Top 10. He also passed DJK as Iowa's all-time receiving yardage leader. Despite a season of accomplishments for McNutt, Marc Morehouse, of the Cedar Rapids Gazette, writes that McNutt is fighting for the team and not the records.
Sadly, Marvin couldn't throw the ball to himself, or play defense. Ferentz said this about the team:
"I guess you’d have to say we weren’t ready," Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said. "We didn’t look ready. We left the door open way too many times in all three phases.
"If you play a good team like Michigan State, it’s going to be tough to win if you’re not playing well."
Weren't ready? At the tenth game of the year I would assume the team would know what it takes to get ready for a big football game. Iowa could still win the Big Ten Legends division with a win over Michigan State (and winning the last two games). It was their last game at home for 18 seniors and they weren't ready?
Michigan State's victory wasn't just the first in Iowa City in over 20 years, it was the most points they've ever scored in Iowa City.
Hold on a minute, I'll be right back. I need a trainer. Thumb cramp.
Okay, I'm back, whew.
I'm not making excuses for Iowa's loss but Dantonio's Spartans were doing Dantonio's Spartans things. If Jerel Worthy played for Ferentz he'd certainly get the muzzle the rest of the season. But, he doesn't, and he let one slip. According to Worthy,
"When an offense is moving like that the smart move is to just go down and just take your time and don’t kind of rush through it, but that’s what we went out, that’s what we went out there and did," Worthy said. "But at the same time, regardless of the injuries, we played our best ball this week and regardless of the injuries, we still went out there and dominated."
Michigan State had a lengthy list of injured following Saturday's game but nothing too serious. Dantonio credited Iowa's physical play as the reason his team called on the trainer so often.
Moving forward, it's contrived rivalry week! Pat Harty, at Hawk Central, warns that this is "a trap game for Iowa." Harty also had a few other reasons to be concerned but I couldn't get past that second sentence.
Purdue quarterback Caleb TerBush was a little banged up Saturday against Ohio State. Purdue coach Danny Hope has yet to decide on a starter for Saturday's match-up with the Hawkeyes. Hope says,
"We have two quarterbacks playing well. We'll make that decision as the week goes on."
Regardless of which quarterback starts they both will play, which means we will see Robert Marve. Marve was the hero last week for Purdue. The Fort Wayne News-Sentinel's Pete DiPrimio writes that Marve is a survivor. Marve says he has seen "a lot of dark nights" which may or may not explain the sweatpants phase.
Let's talk some hoops! Iowa can get to win #350 in Carver Hawkeye tonight by defeating North Carolina A&T. It shouldn't be too difficult a task, NCA&T lost at Creighton Friday night 97-65.
Hopefully, Darius Stokes gets another shot at the breakaway dunk he missed against Chicago State. Stokes took to Twitter following his epic miss to share this with us:
Senior center Andrew Brommer could be back for tonight's game. Brommer missed Iowa's win over Chicago State and missed almost a month of practice. It's Andrew Brommer bobble head night at Carver too. From the man himself, get there early to be sure you get one.
Brommer-time may cut into Aaron White's numbers. The true freshman recorded a double-double (19 pts, 10 boards) in his Hawkeye debut. White is the first Hawkeye to do that since Jess Settles in 1993.
The women's basketball team is not Hawkeye Challenge on Mediacom Court champions. The Hawkeye ladies lost the championship game to UNLV 69-59 and also lost starting center Morgan Johnson to a knee injury. Iowa is now 1-1 on the young season.
Other links of interest:
- The football players talked to the media after the loss to Michigan State, as they always do. If you care to see what they had to say you can here.
- Win or lose, some Hawk fans still had a real good time. The UofI's Department of Safety has been the highlight of my Sundays follow a Hawkeye home game. If you haven't seen the other releases before, search the site for previous news. It will make your Monday.
- Iowa versus Texas A&M in the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Texas? How about the Ticket City Bowl?
- Former Hawkeye defensive back Jovon Johnson is taking home the hardware in Canada. Johnson is a candidate for the CFL's defensive player of the year award.
- Iowa Hoops released a new website that's in a similar to gohawks.com for football.
- The Des Moines Register's Marc Hansen caught up with former Hawkeye running back Mike Saunders.
- Iowa opens as a 2.5 point favorite over Purdue Saturday