News broke last night that Derrell Johnson-Koulianos had been arrested and suspended from the team. Marc Morehouse broke the news and has the whole story on the charges and a copy of the court document. What it basically boils down to is that DJK lived with a drug dealer and was doing drugs (marijuana, cocaine, and prescription drugs) himself. He is now faced with 7 drug-related charges and is making an initial court appearance this morning.
Coach Ferentz released a statement that DJK is suspended, which probably means his career at Iowa is over: "I am highly disappointed to learn of the charges. Derrell has been suspended from all team activities."
I have long bit my tongue and have not publicly acknowledged my disapproval for DJK. I told my family over Thanksgiving that he was my least favorite Hawkeye ever. I generally try not to say too much negative about a player. They are just college kids after all and are not paid to play. The personal attacks of Iowa players this past month via Facebook were terrible. But DJK is making it too hard not to say something now.
Archive page 37
BlogPoll: Week 14
There was very little movement in my ballot this week. Most of the top 25 didn't play, and those who did won. Nebraska and Missouri both get knocked for the Huskers loss in the Big 12 Championship Game. Northern Illinois drops out as they lost in the MAC Championship Game, and then lost their coach to Minnesota. In the Huskies place, UCF rejoins the top 25 beating SMU to win C-USA.
Fight For Iowa Ballot - Week 15
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Auburn Tigers | -- |
| 2 | Oregon Ducks | -- |
| 3 | TCU Horned Frogs | -- |
| 4 | Wisconsin Badgers | -- |
| 5 | Ohio St. Buckeyes | -- |
| 6 | Stanford Cardinal | -- |
| 7 | Michigan St. Spartans | -- |
| 8 | Arkansas Razorbacks | -- |
| 9 | Nevada Wolf Pack | -- |
| 10 | Boise St. Broncos | -- |
| 11 | Virginia Tech Hokies |  1 |
| 12 | Oklahoma Sooners | 2 |
| 13 | Oklahoma St. Cowboys | 2 |
| 14 | LSU Tigers | 2 |
| 15 | Nebraska Cornhuskers |  -4 |
| 16 | Missouri Tigers | -3 |
| 17 | Alabama Crimson Tide | -- |
| 18 | South Carolina Gamecocks | -- |
| 19 | Florida St. Seminoles | -- |
| 20 | West Virginia Mountaineers | -- |
| 21 | Texas A&M Aggies | -- |
| 22 | Utah Utes | 1 |
| 23 | Central Florida Knights | -- |
| 24 | Mississippi St. Bulldogs | -- |
| 25 | Hawaii Warriors | -- |
| Dropouts: Northern Illinois Huskies | ||
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings »
Insight Bowl: Iowa vs. Missouri
Insight Bowl
What: Iowa vs. MissouriWhere: Sun Devil Stadium, Tempe, AZ
When: 9:00 PM, December 28th
TV: ESPN
It is fitting that after an extremely disappointing season that Iowa is headed to a disappointing bowl game to face as disappointing opponent. Not that Missouri is a bad opponent per se. They had a good season, finished 10-2, and are ranked in the top 15. They are in a state that borders Iowa and there are actually a handful of Iowa players from that state. They were schedule to play Iowa earlier this decade but back out which left some bad blood between the school. So that makings for some kind of excitement is there. But Missouri is just not exciting.
Part of it is the fact that there was a lot of speculation that Iowa would be playing Nebraska, which would have been an awesome preview to next year's 12-team Big Ten. Another part of it is that Iowa could have been playing in a much better bowl game against a higher profile opponent. Even after losing to Minnesota (sorry to bring that up) Iowa still had a shot at the Outback Bowl (they were for sure going to get the bid before the loss) or the Gator Bowl, but were jumped by both Penn State and Michigan, two teams they beat, and fell down to the Insight Bowl. Either one of the other bowls would have provided a match up with a SEC team, either Florida or Mississippi State.
And one last thing...the Insight Bowl is played in Tempe, Arizona at 9:00 PM (CST) on Tuesday December 28th. There are a lot of Iowans living in Arizona that will snatch up tickets to this game, but for fans that already traveled to the Arizona game earlier this year, I would guess they are not as excited about a return visit. I could be wrong on that though...maybe people are tired of going to Florida for bowl games. The late kickoff is also annoying. At least the game is on ESPN this year instead of the NFL Network so I can watch it from home. But still, I have to stay up late on a Tuesday night. It's not a big deal by any means, just annoying.
But hey. It's still a bowl game and given Iowa's past maybe I should just be happy with that. If Iowa's wins I'll be excited and it'll provide some momentum into the off season that will hopefully turn the attitude about the program around.
BlogPoll: Week 13
Just catching up on some stuff from when my laptop was down.
Fight For Iowa Ballot - Week 14
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Auburn Tigers | -- |
| 2 | Oregon Ducks | 2 |
| 3 | TCU Horned Frogs | -- |
| 4 | Wisconsin Badgers | 3 |
| 5 | Ohio St. Buckeyes | -- |
| 6 | Stanford Cardinal | 3 |
| 7 | Michigan St. Spartans | -1 |
| 8 | Arkansas Razorbacks | 5 |
| 9 | Nevada Wolf Pack | 2 |
| 10 | Boise St. Broncos | -8 |
| 11 | Nebraska Cornhuskers | 3 |
| 12 | Virginia Tech Hokies | 3 |
| 13 | Missouri Tigers | 4 |
| 14 | Oklahoma Sooners | 4 |
| 15 | Oklahoma St. Cowboys | -7 |
| 16 | LSU Tigers | -6 |
| 17 | Alabama Crimson Tide | -5 |
| 18 | South Carolina Gamecocks | -2 |
| 19 | Florida St. Seminoles | 1 |
| 20 | West Virginia Mountaineers | -- |
| 21 | Texas A&M Aggies | 1 |
| 22 | Northern Illinois Huskies | 1 |
| 23 | Utah Utes | 2 |
| 24 | Mississippi St. Bulldogs | -3 |
| 25 | Hawaii Warriors | -- |
| Dropouts: Arizona Wildcats, Iowa Hawkeyes | ||
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings »
Injury = Opportunity
About a year ago I wrote a post titled "Injuries - The Silver Lining" to highlight the fact that even though some key injuries may have cost Iowa one or two game last year, the backups got meaningful experience which would help the team down the road. Well...I think I should have saved that post for this year. Besides the extremely impactful injury to Ricky Stanzi, last year does not really compare to this year in terms of youth gaining experience due to injuries. This year, injuries really just hit two areas, really, really hard: runningback and linebacker.
Out: Adam Robinson, Jewel Hampton, Paki O'Meara, and Jason White; In: Marcus Coker
Basically every runningback who we thought last winter would factor into Iowa's rushing attack this year either missed part of the season, or the whole season. Even the young beneficiary of playing time missed the first 6 weeks of practice with a broken collar bone. Coker though looked impressive the last month of the season. Yes, he has made his share of freshman mistakes, but he has been one of the bright spots during a very dark time.
Out: Jeff Tarpinian, Jeremiha Hunter, Troy Johnson, Tyler Nielsen, and Bruce Davis; In: James Morris and Shane DiBona
Both the Out and the In list could actually go one. Iowa used 10 different linebackers this year and of the 6 linebackers listed on the original 2-deeps in August only 1, Lance Tillison, played in every game this year. James Morris, though, also played in every game and was the starting MLB the last 5 weeks. He too had his share of true freshman mistakes, but is the future at MLB and his future looks very bright. DiBona also started a couple games late in the year and is probably the favorite right now for the WLB spot next year.
A few others:
Out: Adam Robinson, Jewel Hampton, Paki O'Meara, and Jason White; In: Marcus Coker
Basically every runningback who we thought last winter would factor into Iowa's rushing attack this year either missed part of the season, or the whole season. Even the young beneficiary of playing time missed the first 6 weeks of practice with a broken collar bone. Coker though looked impressive the last month of the season. Yes, he has made his share of freshman mistakes, but he has been one of the bright spots during a very dark time.
Out: Jeff Tarpinian, Jeremiha Hunter, Troy Johnson, Tyler Nielsen, and Bruce Davis; In: James Morris and Shane DiBona
Both the Out and the In list could actually go one. Iowa used 10 different linebackers this year and of the 6 linebackers listed on the original 2-deeps in August only 1, Lance Tillison, played in every game this year. James Morris, though, also played in every game and was the starting MLB the last 5 weeks. He too had his share of true freshman mistakes, but is the future at MLB and his future looks very bright. DiBona also started a couple games late in the year and is probably the favorite right now for the WLB spot next year.
A few others:
- Out: Brett Morse; In: Brad Rogers - Rogers started one game and looked good at fullback.
- Out: Daniel Murray; In: Mike Meyer - Another freshman who made some mistakes, but overall played well and should have a good future with the Hawkeyes.
- Out: Shaun Prater, Micah Hyde; In: B.J. Lowery, Greg Castillo - Castillo saw quite a bit of time last year too as a backup. Lowery didn't play much, but saw meaningful action in the last game when both corners were injured.