"Don't remember the Maine" is the new slogan if you're a Black Bears fan these days. Iowa coasted easily through their season opener in front of the 31st straight sellout crowd at Kinnick Stadium, using the game to work out both Christensen and Stanzi at QB along with our stable of running backs and the two kickers, Mossbrucker and Murray. It was a good scrimmage essentially, especially once we went up 32-3 fairly early in the 2nd half. Iowa dominated every facet and the negative aspects to their performance were few and far between. It's hard to take much from a performance against such an average 1-AA team, but the Hawkeyes already looked much improved on offense and special teams from last year. Shonn Greene was the main man in his 1st game back, putting in serious hardwork with 22 carries and 109 yards, forcing his way in for our 1st touchdown after leading us down the field on the 1st drive. We haven't scored on our 1st possesion in what seems like decades, so that was a huge relief and a great feeling to march right down the field from the get go and just run it down an undermanned team's throats. The running game was fantastic all day long, piling up about 250 yards thanks to Greene, the inspired running from beloved walk-on Paki O'Meara, and the dazzling second half show put on by freshman Jewel Hampton, one of the fastest backs I've ever seen in an Iowa uniform and single-handedly the reason Nate Guillory transfered. Hampton came in and scored on his 1st carry, finishing with 68 yards on only 9 carries with two TDs and an assortment of dizzying, cutting slices through the defense. The future is bright with this sleeper recruit, indeed. We are lucky he slipped through the cracks. Jake Christensen started at QB and overall played well, but Stanzi played equal time and was extremly efficient the entire time, not making any mistakes. JC seemed to be more poised in the pocket than last year and he was hitting his targets right in the chest; he threw a beautiful touchdown pass on the run in the redzone to Brandon Myers, and he looked towards his checkdown targets more. He threw one horrible pick trying to hit a wide-open Paul Chaney, and he still struggles throwing deep touch passes, but overall I thought he was better and more consistent. Stanzi is much more calm and mobile in the pocket, with a controlling presence and better ability to avoid pressure. He moved the ball down the field well, but never could finish his drives in the endzone either until Jewel came in and made the other team look silly. I thought both were fairly even in their performances, and you can bet Kirk will need another week of watching them rotate before he can decided on a set starter. On the bright side there, neither of them looked incapable of starting so I think we'll be fine with whoever is under center. The offensive line looked better than last year, but they were also physically dominate over the Maine D-line so it was impossible to see if they really are improved. Only one sack was allowed and holes were being opened all day, so hopefully we can keep this up ging into the meat of our schedule because we do have some big boys. Fullback Brett Morse blocked well for our running game as well. As for the wideouts, we really dominated with the running game and short passes so it's hard to judge them as a group, but it sure felt good to see Brodell out there. Andy showed his speed early with a pretty 20 yard reverse, and he definitely knows how to get open and get in space downfield. It feels great to have our go-to guy out there again. DJK made some nice catches, but he was quiet all day and still had some drop issues. 1st game, so I'll forgive him. Chaney and Sandeman both made some nice plays when called upon, and even young guys like Ben Evans and Demarco Paine made some catches, showing the improved depth Iowa has this year. Brandon Myers was Jake's favorite target, open all the time up the middle and catching our lone TD pass. Overall a nice effort that will only get better when more guys get healthy. The defense surprisingly had some trouble against the run at 1st, but Maine ran a spread offense with everyone spaced out across the field so that was to be expected. They were just working out some kinks. Maine's offense also gave us some help with bad drops, but overall I was impressed with some of our defensive playmakers. Clayborn and Edds are both incredible disrupters, Clayborn always getting pressure and stuffing the run. He also blocked a pass that led to a Pat Angerer pick. Edds made a sack for a safety and also deflected a pass for an INT by Bradley Fletcher, leading the team in tackles as well. King and Kroul were pressured all day with double-teams but they still produced big and caused problems up the middle, while Jeremiha Hunter made plenty of nice tackles replacing Jeff Tarpinian at linebacker. The secondary was okay, minus a few Harold Dalton facemasks. Fletcher is much improved and is our lockdown corner, but he still doesn't turn his head enough, while Amari Spievy got picked on a little bit in his 1st start. It was a pretty good effort by everyone back there, but they did get bailed out by some Maine drops. Like everything else, tough to judge. Our special teams was perhaps the biggest surprise after last year's debacle, our most impressive unit all day except for our backs. Freshman kicker Trent Mossbrucker booted in two nice field goals, while Daniel Murray stepped in for a longer 44-yarder and nailed in. Both are good sides, as kicking did not look good at all last year or in our recent open scrimmage. Ryan Donahue didn't get much action, thank God, but on his lone punt he pinned the Black Bears inside the 3, further proof that he has improved to best punter in the conference status. Andy Brodell also gave us fantastic field position on every punt, but I doubt he can get 15 yards a return against a team like Wisconsin or Penn State. Overall it was just a really nice, dominate 46-3 blowout, the kind of game we should have against a team like Maine. We did everything we were supposed to and it feels good to start the season off with a bang. Look for more QB switching next week until we can figure out a definite starter and more reliance on the run, as well as a better defensive effort against the run. Next week with FIU should be more of the same. Go Hawks!

Before the start of college football season, and Iowa's opener against Maine! I just can't wait. Black and gold thoughts consume every fabric of my brain, and basically all I do with my life is monotonously pour over every update and new nugget of information with vigor, watchin old youtube and scothawk videos to get myself ready for the season. As if I needed anymore motivation. Right now my only big concerns are the Moeaki and Stross injury rumors...I guess if you're a glass half full guy you could say this is a good time to have injuries, but we cannot afford to have these guys hurt again. Moeaki's really concerns me, because they are saying it's a broken foot and those can potentially keep you out for awhile. Hopefully it's not that and if it is, it's a minor break, but we shall find out all of this info at the big 2-hour open scrimmage today, where the media and fans will swarm upon Kinnick. At least we can thank the heavens for giving us good tight end depth and a proven stud in Brandon Myers, but Moeaki has Dallas Clark-level potential. Enough said. Stross's injury is supposedly the hamstring that bugged him for most of last year, so it's not good if it's still giving him problems. Stross is a great deep threat and had impressive rapport with Christensen, so we need him on the field. Luckily our 1st two games are glorified scrimmages and should give these guys a chance to recover and get ready for more relevant, competitive contests. As far as the running back situation, it's still fairly unclear, with a bevy of guys looking pretty good. Shonn Greene has looked huge and impressive ever since he's been getting good reps in practice, and I would expect him to be the starter from day 1 thanks mainly to his experience. A running back by committe approach is the most likely, however. Paki O'meara has still looked good, bringing experience and an impressive work ethic as well, while freshman Jewel Hampton has ran hard/hungry, looking like the best bet as far as frosh go to get some time. Nate Guillory is fast as lighting, but he's got such skinny legs I don't know how he's going to be able to block. And at Iowa, running backs have to block. Finally, we have special teams menace Jayme Murphy, too white to be taken seriously, and freshman Jeff Brinson, who's been fairly quiet in practice, looking like he just spent his entire summer at Hardees. I still see Shonn starting, with Paki, Nate, and Jewel all getting some carries at 1st to sort out some sort of a rhythm or rotation. Jake Christensen is still barely holding onto the QB spot, as it has been his to lose since last year, but Stanzi sure is looking good and he's definitely challenging jake and giving him good competition. Like I've been saying since last year, I think Jake will be much improved and will have a good/great year, but if he struggles early Ferentz won't cut him so much slack like last season and will put Stanzi in. The wideouts look strong and deep, but I'd breathe much easier if Stross was healthy. The secondary looks young, but like it could be one our most athletic ever. You won't see any more Shadas struggling to keep up back there. The experienced and much improved Bradley Fletcher has one corner spot locked down, with super-athlete Jordan Bernstein likley taking the other. Jordan was the best athlete in Iowa two years ago, coming from Des Moines, and he looks ripped and ready to go. Young playmaker Brett Greenwood still has free safety locked down, but word out of camp is that heavy-hitter Harold Dalton is being pushed hard by relative unknown Lance Tillison for the starting strong safety spot. Always love some good competition. The D-line is set, and for the linebackers it looks like Jacody Coleman and Jeff Tarpinian are both the likely candidates to take over for Humpal and Klinkenborg and start alongside AJ Edds. The offensive line should be much improved with the tough trial by fire they experienced last season, with less shuffling around and more consistency and stability. Lots of good competition and lots of hype all over the line, and they should basically be better this year by default. One more position of concern is placekicking...Kirk sounds very unimpressed every time he talks about Daniel Murray, who showed good flashes last season but then baffled with botched extra points and a weak leg. Look for freshman Trent Mossbrucker, from Indiana, to get a serious look at placekicking duties, especially if Murray struggles early. Field goals really could have made all the difference last year, and Kirk knows it. Here's to a happy and healthy national championship for my Hawkeyes this year!!