A day after Shaun Prater announced that he was returning to Iowa for his senior season, Marvin McNutt and Tyler Sash announced their decisions. McNutt has decided to come back as well. He made a simple announcement on Facebook "I'm going back" that was later confirmed by Iowa. Coach Ferentz said, "I was very happy to learn this morning of Marvin’s intentions to finish his career at Iowa as a senior next fall. Marvin has done some tremendous things for our team the past several years and we anticipate him enjoying a very productive year as both a player and team leader in his senior year."

McNutt coming back is a huge deal for the Hawkeyes next season. He was the leading receiver on the team with 53 receptions for 861 yards and 10 TDs. With a big senior class at receiver leaving (DJK, Sandeman, Chaney, Nordmann), McNutt will likely be the number 1 target again. And, if the Ohio State game was any indication of what McNutt and James Vandenberg can do together, I think the two could put up some big numbers.

Sash on the other hand is not coming back. He's decided to forgo his senior year and enter the draft. Like Prater and McNutt, Sash's decision was announce via social media. He tweeted "After much prayer and deliberation, I've decided now's the right time to go to the next level. Thanks Hawkeyes for all of your support."

While I'm disappointed that he won't be coming back, I think he probably made the right decision. He's had 4 good years at Iowa and has already put up some big numbers on the field with interceptions and tackles. I think he would have been a big part of the defense next year with an inexperienced front 7, but don't know that he could have done much to improve his stock in the draft.

My guess would be that Jordan Bernstine would have the best shot at replacing Sash. Bernstine played a little safety in camp, though played in mostly as a corner/nickel during the season. Some other options might be Tom Donatell, Anthony Hitchens, Jack Swanson, Tanner Miller (if he's not the free safety), or maybe a converted corner like Greg Castillo. Both safety spots will be interesting to watch in the spring and fall.

Iowa just misses out on being ranked

The Hawkeyes win over Missouri in the Insight Bowl was not enough to boost Iowa back into the top 25 rankings. In the AP Poll, Iowa received 54 points and missed out of the top 25 by two spots. The coaches were a little less kind to the Hawks and have them 30th. With the losses of seniors at several key positions (namely quarterback, receiver, and the defensive line), I can't imagine Iowa will be ranked that start the next season.

Shaun Prater announces he'll return

Prater initially made his announcement on Twitter and Facebook. It was later confirmed by the school and Ferentz--"I was very pleased to learn of Shaun Prater’s decision to return to the team for his senior season. Shaun has played very good football for us the past few years and I expect him to continue growing both as a player and team leader next season."

Prater is the first to commit to coming back of the 3 juniors who were toying with the idea of leaving early. McNutt and Sash are the other two. Having Prater back will be very helpful for a defense that will be breaking in a lot of new faces along the front seven and potentially at both safety spots (depending on Sash's decision). Prater with Micah Hyde at the other corner spot could give Iowa one of the best duos in the conference at the position.

I'm going to keep the Fight For Auburn logo up for one more day because I think they deserve it. It was a very exciting game last night...a lot lower scoring than anyone expected, but still exciting. You can't script it up any better to end the game on a field goal for the win.

It was definitely a fun game to have a huge Auburn fan in the house. My wife was elated. I don't think I've ever or will ever again see her that excited over football.

Anyway, congratulations Auburn. And, War Eagle!

I know the description on this blog says "cheering and fight for Iowa Hawkeyes Football all day, every day" but today I am making an exception. Today is all about cheering and fight for Auburn football as the Tigers try to win a Nation Championship. My wife and most of her family went to Auburn and are all huge fans. My in-laws are actually down in Arizona just to tailgate for the game tonight.

However, despite the large amount of fandom around here, I don't actually know a lot about the Tigers. I've watched a handful of their games and of course know about Cam Newton, but that's about it. So, I had my wife contact one of her friends from Auburn to write about a preview of tonight's game.

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Full disclosure up front: I am one of those people that is absolutely insane for AU football. I get an almost equal amount of pleasure from a certain other team's losing as I do when we win. Yep. I'm that guy.

My mom grew up in Auburn and my parents met there in college. My grandfather worked there on their first computer, (I think it was 1994). I didn't get to many games growing up but I watched on TV, wore the t-shirts, knew the players' names, and was harassed when we lost. Literally, if they had a surgery that could make your blood run orange and blue, I'd look into it, (they don't have it yet, btw). Okay, let's just keep everything out in the open: I cried when we came back and beat that other team in the Iron Bowl this year. Tears happened. So I have grown up this way.

As I'm sure you can relate in Iowa, we do not have a pro sports team in the state. So 100% of people's passion, love, and hate go into football. You can't talk about football in this state without talking about our rivalry. If both teams (I like to avoid saying their name) were to have losing seasons in the same year, the state economy would crash and we'd slide back down to being the 50th poorest state, (thank God for Mississippi). So if I sound preoccupied with hating “the bad guys” that is just how it goes. I don't try to hide it. (You know they only have eight national championships and not thirteen, right?). We like to point out that we are the "Auburn Family" instead of the impersonal "____ Nation" that other "universities" around here claim.

My thoughts for the game are simple. Number one: we have Cam Newton. Our offensive line is 8x their d-line’s size. We can score in any way possible when we have the ball. From a hail mary to a reverse end-around 80 yard run, anything is possible at any time, (yes, I know their's does too. I'm getting to it). Do you know how many times we came back from MASSIVE deficits this year? I think it was most of our games we were down. Many times by double digits. We were down 24-0 AT tuscaloosa. That does not happen. Sure, we have not played an offense like theirs and our secondary, as everyone on the planet loves to point out, is not great. But they have not played an offense like ours for four quarters and we have played better defenses and made them look silly. We ran for more yards against LSU than they’ve given up. Ever. LSU. The UO defense will be exhausted in the fourth quarter, (thanks to our size and speed and their lightning fast offense) and our defense has been tested by the SEC for 13 weeks. We win.

As a lifelong Auburn fan, I always told myself if we made it to the NC game I’d do anything to be there. (But I can't, because I'd have to sell myself into indentured servitude to afford it, and I've got stuff that can’t be rescheduled). Can I be honest? I thought it might not happen for 30-40 years. After the ’04 Robbery (and then the bad guys winning it all last year) I started to despair a little. But the truth is, while I'm nervous as heck for Monday night and want to win it so badly, if we don’t, I will be okay. We are still Auburn. As the saying goes, "it's great to be an Auburn Tiger," win or lose. Is that cheesy? Absolutely. True? Yep.

Did I mention I thank God I didn't go to that dumpster-fire of a "school" in tuscaloosa? Just wanted to make sure we are clear on that one. Thanks for reading and War Eagle!

AU = 377
UO = -7

-Nick Melton
Class of 2006

Mikail McCall commits to Iowa

McCall was said to have committed to Iowa about a month ago. There was then a not-so-fast-my-friend type of statement and a then a very soft commitment to Iowa. Well, that is over now as McCall has decided to stop taking college visit and is now firmly a Hawkeye ($). McCall is a 3-star running back from Illinois. It makes perfect sense with Iowa's recent situation at running back for McCall to commit. My guess is that he'll red-shirt with Marcus Coker, De'Andre Johnson, and incoming Rodney Coe in front of him, but with Iowa's recent history at halfback, he might be the starter by week 6.