Lunch Links Flexes its Muscles

I dunno about y’all, but I’m still riding the high that was chasing a DOMINANT Iowa basketball win on Sunday with watching the New Orleans Saints lose in heartbreaking fashion. AGAIN. It was the best.

Not much has happened in Hawkeye land since that Illinois win. The women’s basketball team has a big game tonight against No. 5 Rutgers, the best team in the conference.

It’s been a little slow, so ink-stained wretches like Scott Dochterman have had time to flex their muscles. Doc got an exclusive sit-down with Kirk Ferentz, and in it the Dean of college football coaches talks on the playoff (he liked the BCS better) the NCAA (he does go out and say it, but I’d be willing to bet he thinks players should get paid) and concussions (he isn’t really sure what to do).

The story is of course behind a paywall. And if you haven’t subscribed to the Athletic by now you probably won’t. But you should. And out of respect to Doc I’m not going to block quote a lot of his #content here, but I am going to include this:

“I’m glad you asked me this stuff. Nobody has ever asked me this stuff.”

That’s the journalistic equivalence of showboating boys and girls, and it’s goddam delightful to see it play out in this fashion.

Meanwhile, Dochterman’s former colleague at the Gazette, Marc Morehouse talks with Iowa running backs coach Derrick Foster. He wasn’t happy with Iowa’s running game this year, which is good, because I wasn’t either.

Anthony Nelson is the lone Hawkeye at this year’s Senior Bowl, competing for the North, obviously. He’s a big boy.

The rest!

• This makes me very excited about Pat McCaffery.
• Former Iowa wrestling commit Gavin Teasdale is leaving Penn State.
• This awesome thing Joe Wieskamp did:

• George Kittle is in Canton!

• If you only read one thing this week, make it this piece about Celia Barquín Arozamena, the Iowa State golfer who was murdered in the fall.

Go forth, and go Hawks.