IOWA HOSTS FLORIDA STATE IN B1G-ACC CHALLENGE

The Big Ten-ACC Challenge is back in 2015 for its 17th year, which makes it one of the most oddly resilient institutions in a sport where flux is a constant presence. The Big Ten and ACC look a little different from the conferences that were going at it in 1999—hell, the B1G even plucked a defector from the other side in the process—but here we go again, and it's fun.

To that end, the UI announced today that Iowa gets Florida State to come to town. FSU finished a lackluster 17-16 last season but suffers no major losses to graduation; only backup center Kiel Turpin graduates (this is a tragedy, BTW—facing a 7-foot guy named Kiel would have opened BHGP to a wealth of Richard Kiel references). Xavier-Rathan Mayes is back after being The Guy Who Scored 30 Points In Under Five Minutes Also His Team Still Lost, and head coach Leonard Hamilton brings in top-20 recruit Dwayne Bacon.

Well you know what? In Iowa, bacon gets fried.

Iowa is 4-10-2 (four wins, ten losses, two years not competing) in the B1G-ACC Challenge—which just so happens to mirror the Big Ten's mark of 4-10-2 (two ties, it didn't just take a couple years off, that would be rude). And though the ACC still has an overwhelming lead in the series, it hasn't won a challenge outright since 2008. Likewise, Iowa's overall record is dismal but it's on a two-game winning streak, including last year's trip to Chapel Hill where Mike Gesell became possessed by the power and the glory of Hawkeye Elvis as he sealed the game. That was fun.

Iowa is 3-3 in home action in the Challenge, and FSU is 2-6 on the road.

Yes, that's about all anybody needs to know about this foe! Here's to a spirited contest! [blinks out "DONTMENTIONFOOTBALLTOTHEM" in Morse Code]