Black and Gold Nation

Fran McCaffery

pre — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 02:23:33 +0000

Siena coach Fran McCaffery was announced as the new Hawkeye basketball coach. Fran who? Another mid-major coach? I’m not sure what Barta was thinking with this hire. Sure, McCaffery has taken three different teams to the NCAA tournament, including the last seasons with Siena. While that sounds great, I would point out that each time Siena won the MAAC tournament, no at-large bids. Does dominating a small conference impressive if they are never in the top 25? They have a 2-3 record in the NCAAs in the past three years, which is better than we did with Lickliter or even Alford.

The one positive I take from this is he coaches an uptempo style, which will be huge improvement over Lickliter’s lull them to sleep strategy.

We’ll see. McCaffery will have a two year pass to build the team. In year three there needs to be progress or McCaffrery and Barta are gone.

How much longer for Lickliter

pre — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 17:54:38 +0000

The Lickliter death watch has started. My guess, he is gone in the next week. The Hawks have grown worse each year. It doesn’t help that Alford is doing well at UNM. Lickliter can’t recruit and the players he does recruit don’t fit his system very well.

So who is the dream candidate for the next Hawkeye basketball coach?

Big Ten vs. SEC

pre — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 22:18:28 +0000

Popular opinion is that the SEC is the toughest football conference and the Big 10 is one of the weakest. Listen to ESPNU College Football podcast and you’ll hear Beano Cook expound on the weak non conference schedule of the Big 10. I decided to look for myself. First up, the projected top teams of the Big 10. Teams that played in a bowl in 2008 marked with an asterisk.

Ohio St.
Navy *
USC *
@Toledo
New Mexico St

Penn St.
Akron
Syracuse
Temple
E Illinois

Michigan St
Montana St
C Michigan *
@Notre Dame *
W Michigan *

Iowa
UNI
@Iowa St
Arizona *
Arkansas St

Out of 16 nonconference opponents and 6 went to bowls last year and 3 are away games. Only one is considered a top team for 2009. As I’ve said before, Penn State’s schedule is a joke. They could at least play Pitt instead of Temple.

The SEC:

Florida
Charleston Southern
Troy *
Florida International
Florida St *

Alabama
Va Tech *
Florida International
North Texas
Chatanooga

Georgia
Oklahoma St *
Arizona St
Tenn Tech
Ga Tech *

LSU
@Washington (0-12 in 2008)
Lousiana-Layafette
Tulane
La Tech *

Out of 16 nonconference games, 6 are against bowl teams and only one is an away game.

So you look at the nonconference schedules and the Big 10 has USC, while the SEC has Va Tech and Florida St. Both have the same number of bowl teams on their schedules. I seem to recall some nice Iowa victories over the SEC (S Carolina in 2009, LSU in 2005, Florida in 2004). Unfortunately the Nittany Lions bring down the league with their crappy scheduling. Maybe once JoPa retires they can get a coach that doesn’t follow the Bill Snyder school of scheduling.

Transfer

pre — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:40:47 +0000

It was announced that junior linebacker Jacody Coleman was transferring out of Iowa for personal reasons. No idea what those personal reasons are, but Coleman was spotted having lunch with Coach Lickliter the week before.

Iowa 31 South Carolina 10

pre — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 14:00:05 +0000

Iowa crushed South Carolina in the 2009 Outback Bowl. Early on the defense took advantage of mistakes by the Gamecocks. Tyler Sash had two interceptions and the defense also recovered a fumble to give the offense a short field. The offense used Shonn Greene and Brandon Myers to move the ball effectively and had a 21-0 lead at the half. In the third quarter the Hawks built the lead to 31-0 before the Gamecocks managed to score 10 points to end the game. Greene ended up with 121 yards and three TDs, giving him 1850 yards and 20 TDs for the season. Unfortunately that is the last we will see of Shonn in the black and gold as he will go pro.

The one thing I didn’t like was all the talk in the booth about Ferentz going to Cleveland. Now I realize that in the second half there wasn’t much to talk about after it was clear the game was a blow out.

The 2009 Outback Bowl was one of the most dominating Hawkeye bowl victories ever. Maybe the win will push the Hawks into the Top 25 for the final poll of the season.

Greene Doak Walker

pre — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 03:41:15 +0000

Shonn Greene picked up some nice hardware tonight by winning the Doak Walker award and the nation’s best college running back. Greene beat out Javon Ringer from Michigan St and Knowshon Moreno from Georgia. I believe he is the first Hawkeye to ever be nominated for the award, let alone win it. Nice job Shonn. Come back for another season!

Outback Bowl for the Hawks

pre — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 03:46:25 +0000

The Hawks got the nod for Outback Bowl and will be facing South Carolina on Jan 1. The Capital One Bowl selected Michigan St, with the second choice the Outback Bowl took Iowa over Northwestern, in spite of Northwestern’s advantage in record and winning the head-to-head meeting. The Wildcats head to the Alamo Bowl, Minnesota to the Insight and Wisconsin to the Champs Sports.

I like the matchup with the Gamecocks. The Hawks have a good chance of showing the SEC how football is played.

Thank you Ducks

pre — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 22:34:25 +0000

The Oregon Ducks gave the Hawkeyes an early Christmas present by trouncing the Oregon St Beavers. This means Oregon St is no longer a BCS team and Ohio St will take their place. This pretty much guarantees that the Hawks will play on January 1, most likely in the Outback Bowl. So, thanks Ducks.

Iowa 55 Minnesota 0

pre — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 03:32:31 +0000

The Hawks will miss the Metrodome, or Kinnick North, and they gave the hefty dome a fitting sendoff with a 55-0 spanking of the Gophers. Shonn Greene did what he always does, gained over 100 yards (144) and two touchdowns. In doing so, he broke Tavian Banks single season record from 1997 with 1729 yards. Stanzi looked more comfortable than ever, going 15 for 28 for 255 yards and 3 TDs. The defense was amazing, allowing only 134 yards of offense and 7! rushing yards.

Now the Hawks wait. The only way the Hawks get a Jan 1 bowl is if Ohio St gets a BCS. That happens if USC loses to Notre Dame, or the Big 12 gets completely messed up with Texas losing to A&M, Sooners losing to Okla St and Missouri beating the South representative in the Big 12 Championship. The Big 12 has a history of ruining a good thing, but this is pretty far fetched. So it will probably be one of the Champ Sports, Alamo or Insight Bowls. They will be competing with Michigan St, Northwestern and Wisconsin for these spots.

UPDATE:

I forgot one of the most likely ways for Iowa to get to Jan 1. Oregon St could lose to Oregon this weekend. If that happens, Ohio St gets a BCS over Oregon St, and Iowa plays on Jan. 1. So root for the team with the ugly uniforms this weekend.

Updated Hawkeye bowl projections

pre — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 01:18:37 +0000

Hawks are 7-4 after squeaking by Purdue and with one game left, the Hawks bowl possibilities are getting clearer.

ESPN

Mark Schlabach Champs Sports Dec. 27 Orlando, FL vs. Va Tech
Bruce Feldman Champs Sports Dec. 27 Orlando, FL vs. Va Tech

MSNBC

Insight Dec. 31 Tempe, AZ vs. Nebraska

CBS SportsLine

Outback Bowl Jan. 1 Tampa, FL vs. S Carolina

Rivals.com

Alamo Dec. 29 San Antonio, TX vs. Oklahoma St

Scout.com

Alamo Dec. 29 San Antonio, TX vs. Nebraska

SI.com

Outback Bowl Jan. 1 Tampa, FL vs. Ole Miss

Last week it looked like the experts were picking the Hawks to end up in the Outback Bowl against S. Carolina. This week it is all over the place, from Alamo to Outback. The main reason is the experts don’t think Ohio St will get a BCS bowl. That means Ohio St falls to Cap One, Michigan St falls to Outback and so on. The Hawks still need to beat Minnesota. Last season there were plenty of upsets in the last few weeks, so who can tell where the Hawks will go.