Wednesday Scrambler: THERE’S SO MUCH GOING ON

Man oh man, what a start to the short work week! I’m having trouble thinking of a more eventful Tuesday in Hawkeyeland since Derrick Willies left. The opening presser of Spring 2015 when the Jake Rudock news kind of came down was on a Wednesday, so, yeah.

John took care of the nitty-gritty of Tuesday’s press conference earlier today, so we’ll keep this post a little more broad and start with the biggest news — Kirk Ferentz’s retirement/here-is-a-ton-of-money-thank-you-for-saving-my-job contract from Gary Barta.

The extension itself isn’t overly surprising — we knew this was probably coming at some point, especially given the success of last season — what is surprising, at least to some, is the timing of the deal. Well, that and the buyout, which is touched on below. Has Iowa State really turned that bad to a point where Iowa doesn’t care that this is overshadowing perhaps the biggest rivalry game of the year?

That’s not meant to sound too hot-takey, either, although I can hear the Cyclone fans typing furiously now. What other school would announce an enormous extension that’ll dictate the next decade of the program the Tuesday before a game with your in-state rival?

The move from Barta could be a sign of things to come, which would be kind of cool. I’m imagining loose cannon GB walking into a meeting with Jamie Pollard to discuss the future of the Cy-Hawk series, saying “f it, you’re out, ‘Bama’s in’, giving finger pistols, and leaving.

I can dream, right?

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That rivalry thing’s happening too. The sexiest matchup is, of course, Desmond King vs. Allen Lazard. Two things on this: it’s awesome we’re getting a preview into Iowa’s game plan against the best player on the Cyclones.

In football more so than any other sport, it’s not often we hear of a player explicitly giving this type of information to the media, so when the news that King is going to shadow Lazard no matter which side of the field he’s on rolled in, it came as a slight surprise. Check that, a big surprise, which gives me hope for some fire quotes from guys as the season goes on.

The second: will it actually happen?

But please, for the love of all things holy, please be true. Greg Mabin on Lazard is making me anxious already.

Are you sensing a theme of wishful thinking here?

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Love him or hate him, it’s tough to deny the notion that Darren Rovell provides more valuable insight than some of his counterparts at ESPN. This conversation regarding the buyout was fascinating and will be presented without further comment.

Does this bring anything new to the table that we have yet to cover in yesterday’s comments?

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Nate Stanley wears a visor, which is so awesome. It’s a scientific fact* that quarterbacks who wear visors are faster and better than ones who don’t, so the Hawks are definitely winning a National Championship before Stanley’s time is up in Iowa City.

*Does not apply to a former Hawkeye quarterback who will remain unnamed.

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I found myself on another school’s website the other day, and it had the same pop up that you get with AdBlocker on hawkeyesports.com. A fit of rage occurred. Although to update everyone with my ongoing feud in this arena, I’m more frustrated with how clunky every single page is. Give me some responsive code one time for those of us not viewing on the enormous Mac you designed the page on. I’m getting angry again, that’s enough. Ugh.

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Today in looking too much into game one: Considering George Kittle’s blocking prowess is definitely going to take away from his targets, and therefore touchdowns, we won’t get to see him put his arms in the air like a boss, and that will not be fun.

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And finally, a question. If you tweet a thought you have during a game (because humans are awesome and we can do that), do you have to repeat it to your friend(s) watching the game with you?