Last night I had a dream. A great dream where the summer was ending and fall was upon us. And, Iowa football was here again! It was a kind of strange dream though...for some reason the game wasn't on TV though it was supposed to be on channel 11 (I'm not even sure what channel that is). So I scurried off to the computer to follow the game, only to find my brother and his friends recording their latest composition. I kicked them off the computer (the song was they were sining was not good) and found the score. Iowa 48 - UNI 19.
Man I am ready for fall to get here.
Archive page 140
Miscellaneous news
I haven't posted much content in a couple days (sorry!) so here is some miscellaneous recent news about Iowa football.
Good luck to former Hawkeye Kenny Iwebema. The defense end had a baseball sized benign tumor surgically removed from his chest on Monday. Hopefully all is well.
The FieldTurf has arrived at Kinnick Stadium! Who knew it came in roll just like carpet? You can see pictures on Iowa's website.
Tony Moeaki is coming back for his senior season recovering from injury after injury. He is one of the 11 players that must come through this year according to ESPN's Adam Rittenberg. Also recovering from injury is Dace Richardson (Moeaki's former high school teammate.) His career was thought to be over, but his recovery story is one of the Big Ten spring surprises.
Good luck to former Hawkeye Kenny Iwebema. The defense end had a baseball sized benign tumor surgically removed from his chest on Monday. Hopefully all is well.
The FieldTurf has arrived at Kinnick Stadium! Who knew it came in roll just like carpet? You can see pictures on Iowa's website.
Tony Moeaki is coming back for his senior season recovering from injury after injury. He is one of the 11 players that must come through this year according to ESPN's Adam Rittenberg. Also recovering from injury is Dace Richardson (Moeaki's former high school teammate.) His career was thought to be over, but his recovery story is one of the Big Ten spring surprises.
Now with Friend Connect
After hours of struggling to get this to work on Internet Explorer (you should use Firefox people!) I finally added Google's social app Friend Connect to this site. You can join at the bottom of the page and leave "Hawk Thoughts." So, now we can have a little bit of interaction here instead of just a few posts by me a week. I thought this would be good, especially now that there is basically no news coming out about college football. I think message boards are a better place to have good discussions and you can still comment on individual posts. But now there's at least another option.
NOTICE: Google is having some problems with the comments gadget so no Hawk Thoughts for now. Hopefully it will be back soon!
NOTICE: Google is having some problems with the comments gadget so no Hawk Thoughts for now. Hopefully it will be back soon!
A very early look at Northwestern
The Northwestern Wildcats will visit Kinnick Stadium for the second straight year on November 11. Last year, Northwestern handed Iowa its worst defeat of the year (only 5 points though) after knocking out Shonn Greene from the game. This year, the Wildcats lose almost all of the skill players on offense and will rely on a defense that returns 8 starters and only gave up 19.3 points per game last year. If the offense can come together, Northwestern should be able to repeat last year's success (9-4 with a trip to the Alamo Bowl) due to its very easy schedule.
Offense: Key Returning Players
The offense returns very little from 2008. The total offensive yards by the returnees only total 831 (651 are QB Mike Kafka) out of the 4660 gained by Northwestern last year. Kafka was not even a starter last year, but is probably the most important player back on offense. He did start a couple of games while C.J. Bacher was injured, and was decent. He is a good runner and will need to learn to be more consistent and limit his turnover for the Wildcat's offense to succeed. Northwestern also returns 4 from the offensive line (OT Al Netter, C Ben Burkett, OT Desmond Taylor, and OG Doug Bartels) and TE Josh Rooks.
Offense: Key Losses
The Wildcats lose its leading passer, leading rusher, and top 3 leading receiver. C.J. Bacher had 2432 passing yards in 2008 and over 7300 in his career. In the 11 games he started last year the team averaged almost 26 points…in the 2 games he did not play, the team only average 13.5 points. Perhaps an even bigger loss though is RB Tyrell Sutton. Sutton was a threat running the ball and receiving and led the team in all-purpose yards with 1195. The 3 receivers gone are Ross Lane, Eric Peterman, and Rasheed Ward. Each had over 50 catches and over 500 yards last year.
Defense: Key Retuning Players
The Northwestern defense returns 8 starters and is led by Brad Phillips. At safety Phillips led the team with 109 tackles and also had 3 interceptions. The rest of the secondary is back also with S Brendan Smith, CB Sherrick McManis, and CB Jordan Mabin. Smith was 3rd on the team with 82 tackles and McManis was 4th with 67. (Side note: don't linebackers usually have the most tackles? What is up with all these guys from the secondary? I guess it worked though.) Up front DE Corey Wootton returns. Wootton consistently got in the backfield and had 10 sacks in 2008. A couple of linebackers also return (Nate Williams and Quentin Davie) who were both average in 2008.
Defense: Key Losses
The only major loss is LB Prince Kwateng. Kwateng was second on the team in tackles and a team captain. Also gone is DT John Gill and DE Kevin Mims.
Spring Guide: http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/nw/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/2009springguide.pdf
ESPN Spring Wrap: http://myespn.go.com/blogs/bigten/0-3-360/Northwestern-spring-wrap.html
Offense: Key Returning Players
The offense returns very little from 2008. The total offensive yards by the returnees only total 831 (651 are QB Mike Kafka) out of the 4660 gained by Northwestern last year. Kafka was not even a starter last year, but is probably the most important player back on offense. He did start a couple of games while C.J. Bacher was injured, and was decent. He is a good runner and will need to learn to be more consistent and limit his turnover for the Wildcat's offense to succeed. Northwestern also returns 4 from the offensive line (OT Al Netter, C Ben Burkett, OT Desmond Taylor, and OG Doug Bartels) and TE Josh Rooks.
Offense: Key Losses
The Wildcats lose its leading passer, leading rusher, and top 3 leading receiver. C.J. Bacher had 2432 passing yards in 2008 and over 7300 in his career. In the 11 games he started last year the team averaged almost 26 points…in the 2 games he did not play, the team only average 13.5 points. Perhaps an even bigger loss though is RB Tyrell Sutton. Sutton was a threat running the ball and receiving and led the team in all-purpose yards with 1195. The 3 receivers gone are Ross Lane, Eric Peterman, and Rasheed Ward. Each had over 50 catches and over 500 yards last year.
Defense: Key Retuning Players
The Northwestern defense returns 8 starters and is led by Brad Phillips. At safety Phillips led the team with 109 tackles and also had 3 interceptions. The rest of the secondary is back also with S Brendan Smith, CB Sherrick McManis, and CB Jordan Mabin. Smith was 3rd on the team with 82 tackles and McManis was 4th with 67. (Side note: don't linebackers usually have the most tackles? What is up with all these guys from the secondary? I guess it worked though.) Up front DE Corey Wootton returns. Wootton consistently got in the backfield and had 10 sacks in 2008. A couple of linebackers also return (Nate Williams and Quentin Davie) who were both average in 2008.
Defense: Key Losses
The only major loss is LB Prince Kwateng. Kwateng was second on the team in tackles and a team captain. Also gone is DT John Gill and DE Kevin Mims.
Spring Guide: http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/nw/sports/m-footbl/auto_pdf/2009springguide.pdf
ESPN Spring Wrap: http://myespn.go.com/blogs/bigten/0-3-360/Northwestern-spring-wrap.html
Post Spring Big Ten Power Rankings
Two sources have published their post spring power rankings for the Big Ten, and Iowa ranks #3 in both. On ESPN, Rittenberg comments on Stanzi progress and notes that the defense might one of the nation's best. Bleacher Report also mentions Stanzi, but says the road schedule is going to be tough. The two lists are pretty similar and both have OSU 1, PSU 2, and Iowa 3.
ESPN, Bleach Report Rankings
ESPN, Bleach Report Rankings
- OSU, OSU
- PSU, PSU
- Iowa, Iowa
- MSU, Ill
- Ill, MSU
- NW, NW
- Minn, Minn
- Wisc, Wisc
- Mich, Mich
- Ind, Pur
- Pur, Ind