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It's Not Plagiarism If You Link To It: McCaffery's Squad Heads To Happy Valley

The Hawkeyes take on Penn State in a must win road game.

By PlannedSickDays
Excuse me, I mustache you a question.
Excuse me, I mustache you a question.
Bruce Thorson-US PRESSWIRE

THEY ARE ALL MUST WINS. If Iowa wants to make the NCAA tournament, they can't have a let down on the road against the Big Ten's worst team. Head coach Fran McCaffery doesn't think his team will overlook PSU, having just played them two weeks ago. It could be a difficult atmosphere. Penn State head coach Pat Chambers is offering extra incentive for students to attend the game.

TWO THINGS THE HAWKEYES NEED TO MAKE A TOURNAMENT RUN. They'll have to continue playing solid defense. Especially, guarding the perimeter. They'll also need Eric May to continue his consistently strong play off the bench. Two years ago it was Jarryd Cole that came up big at the end of his senior season. Last year it was Matt Gatens. Let's hope May can have a great run his final month and that it carries his team into the NCAA tournament.

IN FOOTBALL COACHING NEWS. Darrell Wilson's exit to Rutgers may have come as a surprise last evening. Why Kirk Ferentz has yet to comment on departures among the staff could be because there are more than Wilson and he's waiting to do it all at once. Lester Erb is no longer part of the Iowa staff either. Reese Morgan is also rumored to be heading out the door. If so, that means Eric Johnson, Phil Parker and Chris Doyle are the only remaining coaches from Iowa's lone BCS win at the Orange Bowl in 2010.

ROSS WROTE ABOUT THE BIG TEN'S DECISION TO DROP FCS TEAMS FROM THE FOOTBALL SCHEDULE. That decision could be devastating to the state of Iowa's FCS team Northern Iowa. If other BCS conferences decide to follow the Big Ten's lead, FCS programs will be faced with difficult decisions like becoming an FBS football program or scrapping athletic programs altogether.

IOWA'S IN-STATE RIVALRY WITH IOWA STATE COULD BE IN JEOPARDY TOO. WIth a 10-game conference schedule Iowa may look to fill its non-conference games with teams from non-automatic qualifying conferences. That's currently just speculation. Per Gary Barta,

"It's good for the state, and it's good for college football. Hopefully we'll be able to continue that. That's high on the list in terms of goals for me. At this point, nothing that I've heard is forcing a conversation otherwise."

THERE'S PLENTY OF READING ON IOWA'S 2013 RECRUITING CLASS AT THE GAZETTE. Marc Morehouse continues his look at each of Iowa's recruiting class. Today, we have . Derrick Mitchell, Desmond King, John Kenny, A.J. Jones, Jonathan Parker, Josey Jewell, Andre Harris, Brant Gressel and Colin Goebel.

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