Wednesday Scrambler: ‘Sconnie Talk

I’m going to go out on a limb here. Maybe.

I don’t hate Wisconsin. In fact, I really like the Badgers. A lot.

They play a similar style of football to the Hawkeyes, one that’s near and dear to our collective heart. The Heartland Trophy game is usually a very good, very entertaining one, with the all-time series standing at 44-43-2 in favor of Wisconsin — Iowa is 7-8 against Bucky in the Kirk Ferentz era.

Iowa City and Madison are elite Big Ten cities, as are the states they reside in. Camp Randall is dope, Kinnick is too. I’ve always thought Wisconsin had the best fans in the Big Ten outside of Iowa City — respectable people that, just like we do, enjoy drinking beer by the gallon and having a good time.

I know, as a Hawkeye fan and Iowa grad, I’m supposed to hate the Badgers. Maybe. But I can’t. They’re too similar to Iowa, and this yearly series is too good of a rivalry for me to speak ill towards our cheese-loving neighbors. Some may see that as a good enough reason to hate their guts — and to be fair, I’d agree if that were the case in a similar rivalry with bad blood, i.e. the CyHawk game, except if Iowa State had a good program — but this just doesn’t feel like that type of game. It’s usually a contest between two strong football programs with a tremendous amount of respect for one another.

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Before we go any further, just want to make sure everyone knows I will, in no form, be rooting for the Badgers this weekend when they come to Kinnick for an 11 a.m. kickoff (that just feels right, doesn’t it?).

With that said, of the four trophy games the Hawkeyes play each year, I’m hard-pressed to find an opponent more respectable than the Badgers. Hell, even to find one on the schedule, period, than the Badgers.

Again, what is there to hate about a team that plays smash-mouth football, likes to control the line of scrimmage and run the ball, and is full of guys that (probably) “like to bang weights and hunt,” to quote Big Ten scout talking about Andy Janovich?

So we’ll leave with a final question (this post is full of them) and discuss it in the comments.

Do you hate Wisconsin, Iowa fan?

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With tight end and fellow American George Kittle sidelined for a large portion of Saturday’s win over Purdue, we got a glimpse into the future of the Hawkeye tight end position. True freshman Noah Fant snagged the first touchdown of his Iowa career, a 5-yard grab from quarterback C.J. Beathard.

The confidence the Hawks showed in Fant before his touchdown Saturday was an encouraging sight to behold. Beathard shoved a pair of passes his way, the second of which was called incomplete but later overturned when replay showed Fant’s foot down in the end zone.

Fant targets could very well be the case again this weekend, as Kirk Ferentz said Tuesday he’s not expecting much, if anything, from the senior.

Fingers crossed Kittle teaches him the ways of the ‘arms at 2 o’clock, love me’ celebration, because I can’t live without that in my life.

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Peter Jok was projected as the nation’s NUMBER TWO scorer yesterday by Sports Illustrated. NUMBER TWO!!!

The publication put Davidson’s Jack Gibbs at No. 1 with a projected 23.6 per game, with Pete at 21.4 per contest. Grayson Allen, LaSalle’s Jordan Price, and Richmond’s T.J. Cline round out the top 3.

Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports

Iowa has now bested Duke in more categories than Duke has bested Iowa in this season.

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Dallas Clark has a new honor to add to his impressive résumé — ANF Wall of Honor Inductee. Clark will be out and about at the Hawkeye Tailgate before Saturday’s game, but the real point of writing a note on Clark is to remind you how awesome he is.

After he retired in 2014, the Livermore native purchased a 135-acre family farm, and has worked as a custom farmer with a friend.

“I love the lifestyle. I love working and manual labor. I love being outside and working the ground. Like any farmer, you have to adapt, adjust, and try to make it work. The whole idea of that type of work attracted me.”

Clark grows organic corn and beans, as well as grapes. He’s considering other crops too. It should be a cool sight to watch Clark be recognized at Saturdays’ game. What are your favorite memories of him in a Hawkeye uniform?

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Sound the alarms, we have a hot take alert! This may have been lost in the shuffle Monday given the soap opera that was the Big 12 leadership meeting, in which the conference decided against adding members.

Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy had the following to say. You can read the entire quote linked above.

Focus and preparation is different now then it ever has been. And the players that we coach come in and they're not like guys that we coached 10, 15 or 20 years ago. Because your generation spends all their time looking at their phone. My generation spent all our time in the front yard playing games.

Oh god yes! I love it! Tell me how much playing Backyard Baseball and making it down the Columbia River on the Oregon Trail prohibited me from becoming a college athlete. Candy Crush and Farmville have probably set the sport of football back 20 years! And it’s OUR (I’m 23) generation’s fault! Never mind half of the reporters in that room were likely not in the ‘YOUR’ generation he was referring to, Mike wants you to know he hates cellphones, damnit.

The man didn’t walk in five feet of snow to school every day (uphill both ways, of course) to have the sport he loved ruined by those fancy cellphones!

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Tevaun Smith was elevated from the Colts practice squad to the 53 man roster Tuesday, and if he catches a pass, he’ll become the first former Iowa receiver since to do so since ________ in _____ in a regular season NFL game. The answer to this factoid is after this obligatory video.

Ugh. Simpler times.

The answer to the blanks above: Tim Dwight in 2007.

Have a good rest of the week, everybody.