LUNCH LINKS HAS LINE MOVEMENT

I’m no mathematician, but Iowa already holds a 2-0 lead over the Cyclones in the most recent installment of the Cy-Hawk series, what with both the women’s team and the Iowa managers taking down the Cylcones in hoops last night. (3-0 if you count football, which we are).

Seriously, you should check out Jay Bilas’ pregame scouting reports of the Iowa-ISU managers game. Some are truly LOL funny.

-Sticking with Cy-Hawk news, Randy Peterson wrote ... something about this game. Complete with quotes from graduated Cyclone players, which is honestly something I have never seen before in a game preview.

-Following the women’s win over Iowa State, Lisa Bluder did the worm for her team. It’s lit, as the kids say.

-Jeremiah Davis writes that trash talk plays a role in this series, because duh, but it also brings up Fran McCaffery’s #PhillyRoots

“Whatever works for you. Some guys don’t like it, some guys love it. Some guys respond to it because they don’t feel like hearing it anymore,” McCaffery said. “Everybody’s different in that sense. So I don’t pay attention to it. When you’ve played the game where I grew up, it’s just an expectation.

-Peculiarly, the line has moved drastically for this Iowa-Iowa State contest. That’s some odd reverse-line movement from Verne Lundquist’s Friends in the Desert, but Vegas always knows something we don’t. Iowa is 1-5 at the spread this year, so I think it’s safe to say oddsmakers are just like us, in that they haven’t quite yet figured out this Iowa team.

-Former Hawkeye Jay Norvell was named the head coach at Nevada. Norvell was most recently the receivers coach at Arizona State. That is one strange ladder he climbed to the top.

-Chad Leistikow talked with Chad Greenway to revisit his infamous offsides call from the 2006 Outback Bowl. It’s a good one.

In fact, Greenway told a story this week about going to a Florida bar the night of the game (yes, he was of age back then). While he had a beer with his father, a fan approached Greenway with a printed-out screen shot of the onside kick – confirming Greenway was behind the line of scrimmage when the ball was kicked.

Greenway, a real pro’s pro, was nominated for this year’s Walter Payton Man of the Year Award as well. Skol.

Desmond King named first-team all-American, according to PFF

Not a great look, Indiana!

-Will Ferrell is playing a professional esports gamer in an upcoming film, because of course he is.

-Today marks the 36th-anniversary of the death of John Lennon. Here’s Jimmy Breslin’s obituary of Lennon from deadline 36 years ago. A must-read.

Go Hawks.