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It's Not Plagiarism If You Link To It: Iowa Football In A Must Win, Hoops Tip-Off The Season

It's a big sports weekend for the Iowa Hawkeyes. Get prepped with the latest news and stories before it all happens.

By PlannedSickDays
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Fran McCaffery Oct 31 press conference (via Grayhound10)

WEDNESDAY. Fran McCaffery held his first weekly press conference of the basketball season. His Hawkeye men's basketball team will host Quincy on Sunday in an exhibition game at 1:30 PM (CST). McCaffery says the starting five Sunday could be his starting five "for awhile." He added that Eric May could be one of those starters. He noted that he'll have a rotation that will go 10 to 11 players deep this season. Everyone can play Sunday and not jeopardize a red shirt so this may be our only look at Kyle Meyer or Patrick Ingram.

McCaffery talked a little bit about last week's scrimmage with Creighton. He says the team played "substantially better" than last year's game in Wells Fargo Arena. Adam Woodbury held his own against Gregory Echenique. McCaffery called his true freshman center "fearless."

JOSH OGLESBY HAS THE GREEN LIGHT. Last year, McCaffery praised Oglesby's pure shooting stroke. This season, McCaffery would like the sophomore guard to be less hesitant and take the shot when it's there.

THURSDAY. Lisa Bluder also held her first weekly press conference of the season. Jamie Printy will miss this Sunday's exhibition game versus Quincy with a hamstring issue. The injury may keep her out of Iowa's season opener against Northern Illinois. Bluder talked about getting both Bethany Doolittle and Morgan Johnson on the floor at the same time. Doolittle is 6'4" and will try her hand at power forward this early season.

FIELD HOCKEY. The Hawkeye field hockey team started off the Big Ten tournament with a win over Michigan State. Natalie Cafone scored the game winning goal in overtime. The Hawkeyes won the match 2-1. The next game is today. Iowa will face Penn State at 1:30 pm (CDT). The Big Ten Network and BTN2GO will have coverage.

HAWKEYE SOCCER. The ladies didn't have luck on their side when they faced #3 ranked Penn State in the Big Ten quarterfinals. Penn State, the tournament's number one seed, beat Iowa 2-0 in the match. Iowa finished the season 12-6-3 and the 12 wins tie for the second most all-time at Iowa. They will return nine of eleven starters next year.

WRESTLING. Iowa wrestling begins the 2012 season ranked #4 in the USA Today coaches poll. Minnesota begins the year #1 with Penn State #2. Oklahoma State sits in front of the Hawkeyes at #3 and then it's two more Big Ten teams behind Iowa with Ohio State #5 and Illinois #6.

INTERMAT RANKINGS ARE OUT TOO. Matt McDonough is #1 at 125 pounds. Also, Tony Ramos is #3 at 133, Mark Ballweg is #16 at 141, Derek St. John is #1 at 157, Mike Evans is #4 at 165, Ethen Lofthouse is #7 at 174, Grant Gambrall is #11 at 184 and Bobby Telford is your #6 ranked heavyweight.

WEDNESDAY EVENING. Kirk Ferentz joined Gary Dolphin at Carlos O'Kelly's for some chips and Hawk Talk. The crowd wasn't as fired up as the week prior and Ferentz dropped some tidbits of information. They plan to rotate three players at guard Saturday. Red shirt frosh Jordan Walsh is getting his feet wet and will join Nolan MacMillian and Austin Blythe in the rotation. Torrey Campbell and Nate Meier have injuries that may keep them out the rest of the season. And finally, James Morris was in for Brad Rogers last week in punt formation, Johnny Lowedermilk replaced Morris' spot. There was a miscommunication that led to the Northwestern punt block.

FERENTZ AND GREG DAVIS. "Greg's a great guy" said Ferentz. Marc Morehouse notes Iowa's offensive statistics are close to last in nearly everything, ever. Neither Gary Barta or Ferentz are thinking about a change at offensive coordinator. At least not now.

ABOUT THE 13 FRESHMEN IN THE TWO-DEEP. It's not an excuse, per Ferentz. Neither is the attrition from the recruiting classes of '08-09. Interestingly, Ferentz has mentioned several times he has a young team but when asked about the number of freshmen in the two-deep he replied, "I don't follow that stuff." Further proof perhaps, that Ferentz doesn't publish the team's two-deeps?

FOR IOWA TO BEAT INDIANA. They will need to find the defense that had a hand in Iowa's first two conference wins. Since beginning conference play 2-0 the defense has fallen apart. Penn State scored 38 at Iowa and it could have been 50 had PSU not let the foot off the pedal. Northwestern ran for 349 yards against what we thought was a team strength. The Hoosiers are going to throw the ball all over the field and do so with a speedy tempo. Ferentz feels confident they will communicate better this week and play as a team.

PREDICTIONS FOR IOWA AT INDIANA. ESPN Big Ten bloggers Adam Rittenberg and Brian Bennett are split of the winner. Rittenberg takes the Hoosiers while Bennett the Hawks. One of four Athlon Sports contributors (Steve Lassan) pick Iowa. Big Ten Network bloggers Brent Yarnia and Tom Dienhart are siding with the Hoosiers. And finally, Marc Morehouse is giving Indiana an edge in his advantage breakdown and picks the Hoosiers, 31-27.

REMEMBER THE ORANGE BOWL? REMEMBER WHEN FERENTZ SIGNED A CONTRACT EXTENSION? Gary Barta says he'd do it again. Ferentz is the state's highest paid employee with a salary of $3.75 million this year. Marc Morehouse notes that Barta was quick to point out that no tax payer money goes towards paying that salary. The contract, the money, it's always a topic that comes up when Iowa isn't winning football games.

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