Well its taken me a while to write this not only because of the start of basketball season but because it has taken me quite a long time to get over the depressing fact that this not only is the worst loss in the school's history but it probably killed our season unless we can pull off an improbable upset of michigan this weekend. we are always great in bounce-back games and haven't lost back-to-back since 2001 but this is the best michigan team in years and playing them at their place doesnt help much. well just a pretty sickening loss that left a bitter taste in my mouth and in every iowa fan's mouth for sure. they way we played in the 2nd though we deserved to lose, so that lessens the impact and the surprise of it all because anyone could see it coming. we jumped on them early with some good offensive balance, albert young still isn't back but simms can hit that hole fast and gave us some nice runs, while a long td pass from tate to scott chandler put us up 21-7 and had me sitting back comfortably thinking this would be our yearly dismantling of a crappy hoosiers team. but im afraid indiana is a team on the rise and they played with a lot of emotion at home and for their coach terry hoepner, coming back from brain surgery only a week ago. the hoosiers' freshman sensation at QB, the athletic and strong-armed kellen lewis, solidified his spot as indiana quarterback of the future while tossing former starter-turned scrub blake powers to the side while putting on an amazing 2nd half, connecting with 6 ft. 7 wideout james hardy multiple times for scores. with tate in there and considering the team we were playing, i didn't get too worried, but we had no answer for their offense and could not sustain a drive either. hardy was such a matchup nightmare for our undersized cornerbacks and their backs were running all over us, it was just a nightmare and really frustrating to watch. no pressure, no stops, no nothing from our defense in that 2nd half. injuries to a bundle of key players hurt us big time as well, as we lost playmaking run-stuffer mitch king in the middle, which hurt our run defense, and our top wideout, dominique douglas, who's been one of tate's favorite options and our most consistent. hard-hitting safety marcus paschal only played garbage time so he made no impact in the passing game and like ive already mentioned, albert young never played so we didn't have that reliability at running back, as evidenced by simm's 2nd half fumble and subsequent tentative running. when you are having a bad day, can't make any stops or sustain drives, it is imperative that you don't turn the ball over but that's exactly what we did, and it's amazing that with all these problems we were still in the game, a testament to how average indiana is as a team. our only 2nd half score came from a goal-line burst from simms, but that was the only time we got in the redzone until our final play, when tate led a spectacular looking drive down the field into hoosier territory and looked like he'd found a perfect rhythm and confidence, until wideout andy brodell let a pass slip off his fingertips as a hoosier cornerback made a diving catch to pick it off. it was a real stab in the heart and i just went numb all over, it took me a few hours to comprehend the fact that we just shot ourselves in the foot and blew our chances at a big-ten title in a season where we really had great expectations. kyle schilcher was also surprisingly bad, missing 2 field goals that could have tied or won the game. i know we will be angry and motivated for michigan but im just not sure if we can ride that energy to a victory over one of the best teams in the nation, i mean who else has to play the number 1 team (ohio state) and the number 2 team (michigan) in the same season? thats gotta be a record or something. well even if we lose next week we can still win out and finish well, landing a spot in another january bowl like we have for the past 3 or 4 years, but i was really hoping for something more this season, i guess that was just wishful thinking because we cannot keep getting by on third-tier recruits like we have in the past...

In honor of midnight madness kicking off across the country this very night, i think its time to give a small hawkeye b-ball preview. its supposed to be a rebuilding year for us this season because 2 or 3 of our starters are gonna be guys who have never played before, but look at the national champion florida gators last year, there had little to no hype because all their players were unproven and look at all the success they ended up having. i think we could be dangerous in the big ten and surprise a lot of people, everyone is counting us out but the rest of the conference is starting over as well, there is no clear-cut favorite. right now i guess the two main teams are wisconsin, who is returning the core of their squad, including prolific scorer alando tucker, and ohio state, who is creating massive hype with their star-studded recruiting class lead by 7-foot beast greg oden, but all of that could change pretty fast. our biggest strength will be the backcourt, where we have the most experience and returning, proven talent. adam haluska will have to carry most of the scoring load and improve his consistency, i expect him to do well and ascend into a leadership role. hes a great athlete, scorer, and when hes on from downtown hes pretty unstoppable. hes just more of a streaky shooter who disappears in key times, but its his senior year so he should get better at all that. mike henderson, our point guard, has quietly been one of our most valuable players the past few years. he will be one of our key players this season, and his improvement last year was very apparent. hes always been a tenacious defender whos known for embarassing opposing point guards by snatching the ball from their nose, and hes a solid playmaker and efficient at running the offense, but the biggest thing that nobody noticed was his offensive improvement. hes pretty quick and dangerous at getting to the basket and making something happen, and hes a really underrated three point shooter. he passed up a lot of attempts last season because we had jeff horner on the team, but now he should have more confidence taking those shots. tony freeman is our other backcourt star, very talented but probably wont start unless the hawks want to use an undersized lineup. freeman is more of a natural 2-guard because hes a great shooter from downtown and a dangerous scorer as well who puts these priorities ahead of playmaking, but he is quickly learning to improve and master the point guard position because he is only 6 feet tall. will be our key player in the near future, like perhaps next season. all the other starters will probably be frosh, one nice thing is that we had a surprisingly great recruiting class, steve alford has always been a bad recruiter whos missed out on such studs as kirk hinrich, kyle korver, and raef lafrentz, so this recruiting class was even more of a treat. one of the other nice things about this class is the athleticism and college-ready strength and game that they bring, the iowa program hasnt had great (or even good) athletes since the BJ Armstrong days and has always been more of a blue-collar program, so its a nice plus. the only other question mark i guess is the center position, either texas juco-transfer kurt looby or 7-foot incumbent seth gorney will start. looby will definitly be the better player and serious stud down the road, hes a great athlete with good size and skill, but hes really raw and more of a potential player, while gorney is big and tough but doesn't have much on the skill side and he looks like butt-head from beavis and butt-head. iowa is always a great defensive program, so thats nothing to worry about, and our backcourt should be one of the best in the big ten, but our season will hinge on the play of the young players, so we are either looking at an NIT appearance/miracle big-ten berth or else a horrible disaster. we could make another legendary big ten tourney run and make it like 3 years ago, and with florida last year im not worried and have faith and anticipation that we could have a surprise season, we always do pretty well when theres no hype on us and it will be interesting to see how this wide-open Big Ten season goes.

This was a immensly important win for us because the hawkeyes desperately needed a rebound game to recover their confidence and pride after the ohio state loss. we won 47-17, easier than any win we have gotten this year excluding maybe montana, but the big storyline for me was how well we ran the ball. our running game has been a major issue all year and we haven't really had that balanced running and passing attack with albert young getting only 50 yards a game, and with albert out against purdue (announced only minutes before tipoff) i didnt expect anything to change. i knew damien simms had an explosive burst up the middle with gamebreaking ability, but he seemed too small to be an every-down back, and shonn greene is a beast, a powerful runner who has looked unstoppable whenever he gets a carry, but he hasn't gotten enough touches to garner any confidence from me. i was even more skeptical, not to mention furious, when simms fumbled the ball on his 1st carry. but they really impressed me and proved me wrong, simms ended up with 2 touchdowns and a couple big runs, getting both of the biggest runs for the iowa running game this year (if that tells u anything), while green continued to look unstoppable whenever he got the ball and got plenty of big 1st downs, a really underrated workhorse who should still get plenty of touches when albert returns. the big question now is if albert is the undisputed number 1 back, he has been overally disappointing this season so far, valuable with his versatility and recieving skills but yet to have a 100 yard game or make iowa's running game enough of a threat. he has nfl-level talent but his underacheiving big time, will be interesting to see how things turn out when he returns. drew tate had a big rebound game, getting two touchdown passes to tight end scott chander (making up for that crushing fumble against osu) and another one to blue-collar fan favorite fullback tom busch, who the broadcasters just could not get enough of. i can see why everyone loves him, when i was up at the iowa-isu game he was talking to a kid with down syndrome and showing him around and introducing the kid to everybody, a really great guy and hardworker with outstanding blocking ability who deserves all the glory he is getting. so our offense was pretty unstoppable with tate rolling and the running game looking unstoppable and making big play after big play, standout recievers were andy brodell, who had a few long receptions, and the consistently good frosh dominic douglas, whos great hands and athletic ability are proving to me that he will be iowa's go-to-guy in the near future. herb grigsby is fast, but too small and hasn't made the impact some thought he would. our defense was also surprisingly dominate overall, just gave up a few big plays at the end, because purdue came out with a high-powered offense with great speed and a solid QB, i honestly thought they would give us problems after watching them hang with notre dame for a while last week. something else to note was adam shada's interception return for a 99 yard touchdown, it was a huge play and the longest INT return in iowa history, and should really give shada a big confidence boost after the disappointing start to the season he had, i have really not been impressed with him and all his grabbing so far but this play could be defining for his season. so a great win for us, and should give us momentum (beating indiana will as well this week, we can't overlook them though) into the game at michigan in 2 weeks.

Theres so much to say about this amazing and powerful game, so much passion and pride for the hawks that go beyond football, that it's nearly impossible for me to put that into words, but ultimately it comes back to football, and this was the biggest and most hyped hawkeyes game in my lifetime so far, and in my father's as well from what he said. I was so happy to see iowa was finally getting national respect and credit for the great and consistent program they have become under kirk ferentz and i felt this game was to be a big culmination of his efforts in turning iowa into a national power so that they don't suck in my prime. the hype for this game and the fact that college gameday was in iowa city almost made it too much, trust me it takes a lot to actually make me tired of hearing about my hawks. the most impressive thing to me however was the fans, america finally got to see that we have the best and most passionate fans in the game, we live and die with hawkeye football. the throngs of drunken students and supportive iowans outside the stadium, in the parking lots, and around the famous Nile Kinnick Statue and the college gameday crew was really awe-inspiring and i got goosebumps when i saw Kinnick at the start of the game, every seat was literally filled with gold, towels waving everywhere in sync, with only a few small dots of red. it was beauty to me, and the fans that came out in crazed support really made me the proudest i have ever felt to be an iowa fan. i knew with our boy drew tate, the most competitive guy in college football and most talented QB OSU has had to face, as well as the huge support of the crowd that we would have a chance to make this legendary upset of epic proportions. unfortunately some dreams, like this one, don't turn out the way they should or the way we want them to, as the biggest game in the history of the iowa program became swept up in a sea of disappointment as the hawks failed to win in front of the record-breaking home crowd and we lost the game that could have made us legends. i am still extremly proud to call myself a hawkeye fan and noone can say that the effort and the intensity weren't there, we played OSU better than anyone except maybe penn state, but against a team this talented you cannot make any mistakes and we had to play the perfect game, and we didn't. the crowd was insane to start the game and still made an impact at spots but ohio state made sure to take them out of the game fast and make sure they weren't a factor by making a quick TD drive right after iowa failed to do anything on their 1st drive. the game ball should go to either troy smith or anthony gonzalez, even though antonio pittman was key to the buckeyes win as well. smith finished with 4 td passes and just under 200 yards, but the most impressive thing for me was his poise and amazing confidence in the face of that iowa crowd, it didn't affect him one bit and he seemed cold and emotion-less as he disected our defense. he made plenty of big plays and vaulted himself forward in the heisman race because of his leadrship and poise under pressure. gonzalez had 2 recieving tds, and one big one that broke the game wide-open and seemed to take the heart out of us. he caught the 1st one of the game, an easy slant route from smith taking advantage of the coverage by marcus paschal, our hard-hitting safety not known for his coverage skills. his biggest score came in the 3rd quarter, when he used his speed and elusive running to break a few tackles and make the iowa defenders just look like fools as he rolled all the way down-field after a short pass to get the big play. we still had a chance at this point and we would get some momentum still, but this play made the gap just too large to surmount. our defensive gameplan was all about stopping the dangerous gamebreaking speed of their wideouts and the passing game, because they had a big advantage over our corners and could have torn us up, but because of that they were able to run the ball all over his for most of the 3rd quarter. thats when the life looked like it was sucking out of us, the controlled the clock and moved the ball with ease thanks to the punishing combination of very underrated speedster pittman and freshman banger chris wells. for the 1st half it was pittman, for the 2nd half it was the beast wells who we couldn't stop, and our failure to stop the running game led to our defeat. ted ginn had a few catches but wasn't a big impact. we had our chances and opportunities, we just didn't take advantage of them and we commited turnovers at very bad times that killed our momentum and took points off the board for us, these mistakes are impossible to recover from in a game like this. drew tate took a long time to get hot and the wideous overall had a horrible performance, lots of drops and they didn't help tate get his confidence up or get a consistent rhythm, not that tate needs help with his confidence, but you can't move the ball when recievers are droppin key passes and makin the crowd fall silent. chandler got a few nice receptions but his performance ultimately left a disgusted taste in my mouth, because of his fumble in the 4th quarter when it looked like we had the momentum and potential to stage a comeback, he caught a big pass then fumbled it too easily, and it killed all our chances and looked like it struck tate in the heart. herb grigsby had a nice reception and dominic douglas played nice overall, but both had some drops and andy brodell, who dropped a big one too (story of the night) was the only one who actually got a touchdown. damien simms was clutch in giving us a spark in the 2nd quarter and getting us in scoring position, and while albert young is not having the season expected and has yet to have a 100-yd. game, he did come through with a big touchdown run, so i can't be too mad. our defense played dominant in spurts, so if you only watched some of the game you might think they were great, but they could not make any stops in the 3rd quarter and they ran all over us thanks to our focus on their passing game, and that was a major momentum killer because we hardly controlled the ball then. our linebackers and defensive front looked good at times, tackled well and put decent defensive pressure (for iowa) on troy smith, but the running game just killed us for a stretch there. drew tate will still go down as one of the best iowa QB's of all time, but he failed at his chance to become a college legend. here are the three main plays that killed us:

1)the 1st one was a combination of the failed fumble recovery of ted ginn's fumble on ohio state's 1st offensive play and drew tate's 1st quarter pick. we couldn't do anything about the fumble because it fell right into ginn's hands, but tate's pick killed a lot of the energy and momentum we had going, it was a bad throw and he threw it too late cause the guy was open. it was a bad start for tate too, he needed to get a good start and play perfect to win, and this bad start solidified the fact that he wouldn't.

2)another big play was when we controlled the momentum and got the ball with great field position on the 50 yard line, and we failed to move the ball at all and get any points, so a big wasted opportunity that basically threw our momentum out the door.

3) the final play that put the dagger in the heart was scott chandler's fumble in the 4th quarter, when there was 9 minutes left and we had a 2-td deficit. tate was movin the ball well and had completed a long pass to chandler, who dropped it pretty quickly and couldnt recover. my heart just sank into depression, because i knew this one was over.

Big news out of the 713 today as the last big free agent left on the market, Bonzi Wells, signed with my team, the Houston Rockets. When i 1st saw the news flash across the ticker, i was ecstatic and fist-pumping like an even whiter version of Tiger Woods. The more i thought about it, however, the less i liked it. Bonzi is a very talented scorer and offensive rebounder when he wants to be, but his production comes in spurts and he has a notorious work ethic problem from his past, though he seems to have pretty much fixed it now. He will give the backcourt a major scoring and energy boost and gives the rockets a rare player who is versatile and athletic, something they lack, and while this move looks good on paper and it's never a bad thing to add a player of Bonzi's caliber, he could end up being lazy and an underachiever like Stromile Swift last year. I'm probably paranoid but Stro's failure in houston last year is still fresh on my mind. The other problem is his position, shooting guard, and how the rockets will fit him in with Tmac and Shane Battier playing the same position. They will probably start by bringing him off the bench, but i think they would be better served putting him in the starting lineup and going with an undersized but a faster and more athletic starting 5. The rockets now have the weapons for a sleek and stylish team like this (a far cry from van gundy's conservative nature), for an example look at what the suns do with their roster, and now picture the rockets doing the same. I just hope Bonzi doesn't get in van gundy's doghouse and wallow on the bench like Swift, as Bonzi is the type of player who would get angry and disruptive with reduced playing time. A lot of questions when it comes to Wells fitting in Houston, but if he can at least put forth some of the production he had in last year's playoffs, stay out of trouble with van gundy and get good minutes, and if he is used in the right way by the coaches to take advantage of his power forward-like talents, then i'm not joking that this could be a championship season for us. Lets hope that at least some of these questions are answered, as of right now i don't thnk Bonzi's the key to our playoff and title hopes, but hopefully my opinion will change as the season rolls on.