LUNCH LINKS IS ACTUALLY HAVING BRUNCH

Greetings! It’s Wednesday, congratulations on making it halfway through the work week. What better way to celebrate than a brunch time link dump, right? I could certainly go for a mimosa and krakatoa omelette from Bluebird Diner, but I would also settle for brunch at Bob’s Burgers:

ANYWAY.

ICYMI yesterday, Iowa football landed the top 2018 recruit from the state of Iowa! Ben talks about it more in his post, but this is a big win from every angle, especially from the in-state recruiting perspective. Too many times have the Hawkeyes had elite in-state talent in their grasps, only to have it leave for greener pastures at the eleventh hour.

Make sure to take a look at that highlight reel, it’s impressive. The class of 2018 now has the first, second and third highest ranked recruits from Iowa committed to be Hawkeyes.

Now if we could only keep elite basketball talent in state...

Our own Jordan Hansen is fed up with Iowa football’s national perception, and I agree with him.

For me, it’s a little diffrent though. The Hawkeyes getting these huge upset wins in the last two years has been a little frustrating for me. They’re great in the moment, don’t get me wrong, but last year all beating Michigan did was earn Iowa a beating against Florida.

Not only did this year’s Ohio State win earn Kirk some extra cash, but it once again landed Iowa a bowl matchup against a superior bowl opponent. There are many reasons why the reaction from Hawkeye fans has been tepid..

...I mean “greatly exciting.”

Who knows what team we’ll see show up in Yankee stadium. Can we pull out the alternate uniforms again? Really, just wear anything other than these:

God, those hats are atrocious. And I don’t mean the color scheme.

Meanwhile, Kirk Herbstreit thinks Iowa should build a statue of Kirk Ferentz outside Kinnick Stadium. Now, I’m all for this, and I’m almost certain it will happen (barring some unlikely, unforeseen controversy), but let’s focus on the here and now, okay?

We all know Kirk isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. The real question here is whether Kirk Herbstreit can inject anything new into the conversation about Iowa football. He just rattles off the common talking points in this article.

Also, let us know in the comments what pose you want to see on the eventual Kirk Ferentz statue. My vote is for him with a big bucket of bubblegum in one hand and a bag of cash in the other.

So, how’s everyone feeling about the current state of Iowa basketball?

What great company to be in!

I, for one, am angry. Will things get better this season? Most likely. Are their horrific trends emerging from this basketball team that are all coaching issues? Absolutely.

Bad lineups. Long scoring droughts in nearly every game that put the game out of reach. No defensive effort. Missed free throws. Too many turnovers. Not playing Tyler Cook nearly enough (or running the offense through him, as BoilerHawk mentioned in his preview).

I could go on. Obviously (hopefully?) the Hawkeyes will get back into the W column at some point. But that point probably won’t come tomorrow night in Ames.

Sure, the season got back on track around this time last year, but this is a new season with a lot more reason for concern after what we’ve seen in the first nine games of the year. This is a winnable game. But so was pretty much every game this season.

I’m just going to say it: I’m ready for Fran’s seat to be warm.

OTHER THINGS TO READ TODAY

Always read whatever Shea Serrano writes.

Florida State officially hired Willie Taggart from Oregon yesterday. It’s a good hire for FSU but also a huge loss for Oregon, especially this late in the coaching carousel. Let’s see how our friends over at Addicted to Quack took the news.

A “technical issue” caused CBS Sports to post content from SB Nation without attribution...-thinking face emoji-

IMPORTANT UPDATE SINCE PUBLICATION: I can’t believe I didn’t think of including this earlier, but thank God we’re here now: SB Nation’s own Ryan Nanni is going to be the Bloomin’ Onion Man at the Outback Bowl. We did it, everyone. What are the odds Jim Harbaugh tries to steal the costume?

That’s all I got for you. Be nice today.