Capital One Bowl 2005

This game gives most hawk fans a big goofy grin whenever they talk about it. Some of you know what I'm talking about cause you're still grinning.

This was a big moment in modern hawkeye football. Iowa won the Capital One bowl and had a top ten recruiting class coming in that year as well. The recruiting class didn't pan out how most figured, but that's another post...

Season opener is coming up this weekend! The impression I get from Iowa fans is that playing UNI is a bit like when you were growing up and your parents got the idea to visit some cousins you never really knew. You are supposed to be kinda excited about it and make a good impression, but really, deep down, you're just waiting for it to end so you can head to Pizza Hut afterwards. Well in this case, Pizza Hut is another BCS conference team. I hope they have their game faces on. It's too early to look past anybody.

Nile Kinnick

Between the "soap opera careers" of guys like Brett Favre, the ever-present arrogance of athletes like AI or ManRam, and the drug abuse and sex rampant among all the professional leagues, you have to strain yourself to find positive role models in sports today. The message today is that young athletes just need to worry about getting their's and forget about the consequences.

This was not how Nile Kinnick rolled. He came from a strong family that was heavily involved in politics and the community. As a teenager, he excelled in his studies and multiple sports, but especially football.

When it came time to choose a college, instead of choosing the nearby powerhouse, the University of Minnesota, he chose to attend the University of Iowa because he knew the Hawkeyes were down and wanted to help the program out. His college career started slowly and the team struggled his first 3 years. Despite his impressive personal accomplishments, the team had limited success.

By Kinnick's senior year though, he was ready to change all that. The team finished the year ranked 9th in the country and had a 6-1-1 record. Kinnick was widely lauded as the reason for their success. He won multiple awards including the Big Ten MVP and the Heisman Trophy. His acceptance speech for the Heisman became famous for his humility and grace. In addition to his responsibilities on the football team, he was the student body president his senior year and graduated with honors. He had multiple offers after graduation to play professional football and baseball, but spurned them all to enter law school and to continue to help out the football team as an assistant.

After that year, he made the decision to enter the Naval reserves so he could do his part to help protect and defend the country. He reported for induction 3 days before the attack on Pearl Harbor. While training to be a fighter pilot off the coast of Venezuela, his plane started leaking oil. The leak was so bad that he was forced to eject. We can only assumed what happened next because his body was never found...

It's hard not to think about all the success that could have awaited Kinnick if he had come home safe. Who knows? Governor, Congressman, President? The sky seemed to be the limit for his future. In some ways though, his death may have made a larger impact. Generations of boys can look to his example of selfless sacrifice and see that there are bigger things out there than how many points they had or how much bling is around their neck.

This story almost seems larger than life to me. It's hard to believe that one guy could have accomplished so much by the age of 24! I hope my kids will look him as a inspiration, and I hope that his legacy will inspire more kids to be the right kind of person.

Here are some links to more information on Kinnick. Enjoy

http://iowa.scout.com/2/656367.html

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1066387/6/index.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nile_Kinnick

You're Killin Me Smalls

Once again, I got Schlabached by my computer. We got a new power cord, but then the crazy thing wouldn't charge! So we took it to Best Buy to have their Geek Squad take a look at it. (Seriously, that's what they call themselves.) Anyway, while I was there I noticed something I've never seeen before -


I almost parked there anyway, but I didn't want the Eco-police to write me a ticket. My car is energy efficient, compared to say, a Hummer H2 or a limo.

Not a ton has happen since my last post. The Hawkeyes had an free open practice that I briefly considered trying to attend. It sounds like Stanzi and the D were looking great. Unfortunately, there were a few injuries that became apparent.

Jewell (the running back, not the singer) is still having some problems with the knee. Another starter, Jordan Bernstine, broke his leg and is out for the season. Sounds like he might redshirt though. Also, Bryan Bulaga, a core piece of the starting unit on offense, did not play in the open practice.

Aside from all this, probably the coolest Hawkeye related event over the past few weeks has been a story a friend told me. He grew up in a little town just west of the Des Moines Metro. Almost every day, him and his buddies from school would play football on this huge yard in town. The yard was part of the old governor's mansion from way back. Sounds like a scene right out of The Sandlot or a Norman Rockwell painting. Anyways, a sweet old lady lived there now, and every once in a while would bring them cookies or snacks. One day, she invited all the boys inside while they ate, and told them stories of her brother who was pretty good at football himself. Her brother's name... none other than Nile Kinnick - the only Heisman Trophy winner from Iowa ever! Needless to say, the boys loved hearing her stories.

On my next post, I plan on going over the story of Nile Kinnick's life. If you don't know already, you'll see why my friend and his buddies were so amazed.

Iowa Media Day

Iowa media day took place this week. Here are a few pictures courtesy of the Des Moines Register.

David Cato (31), Jordan Bernstine(4), and Shaun Prater(28) - look like they're planning on a bowl trip already!

Ricky Stanzi (12), James Vandenberg (16)


O-line from the left, Andy Kuempel, Dan Doering, Julian Vandervelde, Dace Richardson, Rafael Eubanks, Josh Koeppel and James Ferentz

Pat Angerer showin' off some ink

Jewell Hampton talking to reporters

Ferentz answering some questions

Here's a link to some video and pics on another blog about the new field turf at Kinnick this year. Looks pretty good. I hope they put a tigerhawk in the middle of the field. That would be sweet.

No More Excuses

Whether it's the sports radio, local tv, or fans just chatting, the subject of football recruiting is a little touchy. Due to Iowa's supposed powerhouse status, the question comes "Why aren't more 4 or 5 star recruits coming to Iowa City?" Hawkeye fans have a "go-to" line and it usually goes something like this, "Iowa does pretty well considering there is such a thin talent base in the state." I hate it when I hear this. It sounds dangerously close to an excuse, kinda like, "I guess we're just as good as can be expected from a bunch of Iowa farmers."

I found an interesting chart showing the population of a state compared to the number of BCS football players they have produced from 2004-2008. Here's a breakdown of the states around Iowa.

State, Pop, BCS players
IL, 13 mil, 194
MO, 5.9 mil, 118
WI, 5.6 mil, 55
MN, 5.2 mil, 66
IA, 3 mil, 61
KS, 2.8 mil, 77
NE, 1.7 mil, 43
SD, 800k, 4

Per population, it's all pretty even. Iowa is not the talent machine that TX, CA, and FL are, but so what? If an athlete comes in, dedicates himself, and buys into the coach's system, more often then not the team will succeed. Here's the key - I heard Collin Cowherd on the radio this week and he said it best. This is a rough quote though.

"In high school, the most talented team wins. In college, the most talented and disciplined team wins. In the pros, the most disciplined, then talented, team wins. You would think that the further up you go, the more important talent becomes. But it's not true because everyone at the top is talented."

I completely agree. It's important not to emphasize a journalist' or websites' rating of a player because you never know the motivation and discipline that player will have on a bigger stage. 5 stars behind his name means nothing if he doesn't listen and learn. The X-factor in all this is the motivation of that player to surpass expectations. If the player knows his role, helps the team, and contributes to winning the game, he has done his job. That's as good as a 5-star rating in my book.

"Schlabached"

Earlier this week, ESPN decided to get creative and create a new competition for all those people who get geeked for fantasy football. They took the 120 D1 BCS conference schools and whittled them down to the top 40 teams based on past, present, and projected future success. There were some interesting results and it certainly got my office talking.

I've know there have been ups and downs in the Iowa football program, but some of the draft spots really left me wondering. Teams like Oregon, Boise State, Cal, and Oklahoma State finished ahead of the Hawkeyes, and what irked me most was the comments left by the writer for ESPN, Mark Schlabach, after Iowa was finally selected. Here is the quote:

Mark Schlabach, ESPN.com: So our arguments are now being reduced to kicking a field goal to beat Penn State? Have the Hawkeyes done anything else this decade

Whoa, whoa, whoa...why all the disrespect? This is coming from the same guy who just picked Boise State at #20. I actually like Boise State, but it's easier to look good when you're in WAC. Has Mr Schlabach forgotten so quickly?

I expect more from a sports writer. Let's see, what has Iowa done in the past decade? 4 bowl wins, 3 seasons with at least 10 wins, 2 Big Ten conference titles. That's a pretty good past decade, let's see how that compares to OK state, whom Mr Schlabach picked just ahead of the hawkeyes...3 bowl wins, 0 seasons with at least 10 wins, and 0 Big 12 conference titles. (I know it's not exactly apples to apples)

Due to this "expert" spewing his garbage, I've decided to make his name a term of derision for anyone who is acting like a know-it-all jerk. For example, "this customer was a total Schlabach to me on the phone" or "that F150 acted like a real Schlabach by cutting me off". See, it fits pretty well

What surprised me most about this was that this is the first experience that I felt Iowa was slighted. From what I've seen over the past 7 years, I might want to get used to it.

One other thing I noticed was the opening line in the description of the team. "Kirk Ferentz has overcome a thin talent base..." That struck me wrong and I did a little research on it. More on that tomorrow...

Iowa vs Michigan, 1985

I apologize to all my readers for the lack of posts recently. I plan on making several posts in the next few days to make up for it, so please keep reading, and that goes for both of you. The reason for the hiatus was my power cord broke and it took some time for the replacement to come in the mail.

Today I want to crack open the history book and take a look back at a classic Iowa game from the past. In 1985, the Iowa Hawkeyes were ranked #1 in the nation and they just happen to meet up with the #2 team in the nation, the Michigan Wolverines, in the regular season. It was a tight game right down to the end. Watch the clip to see how it turned out.



This was pre-BCS days, so this was as close to a national championship that the Hawkeyes could get. Unfortunately they ended up losing to Ohio State during the regular season. They did make it to the Rose Bowl that year, but lost to UCLA. The Michigan win that year may just be the pinnacle of Hawkeye football to date.

A couple thoughts went through my mind while watching this clip.

1st - Hayden Fry made me laugh. Good to know the godfather of modern Iowa Football is a God-fearing man!

2nd - Do you think that Rob Houghtlin ended up like Uncle Rico from Napolean Dynamite? Like never getting past his football days? Well I found this link, so I guess not.

Stay tuned for more tomorrow. You'll get to see what it means to get "Schlabached."