I nearly forgot that this weekend's game against Iowa State is the throwback game honoring the 1921 and 1922 teams. It looks like some students put together a site as part of a class. Go there to learn about the two undefeated team and purchase a throwback uniform for yourself. They're only like $600.
Link: Official Iowa Throwback Uniforms
Outside of the top couple of teams things were pretty shaky. I tried rewarding schools for beating BCS conference opponents, like Ohio over Penn State and Nevada over Cal. Any team that lost is out, so goodbye to Michigan for at least a couple of weeks. If they beat Notre Dame, then maybe they sneak back in. I put Virginia Tech at 25 as a holding spot, because they play Georgia Tech tonight. My ballot isn't technically due until tomorrow morning, so if VT wins, they'll probably jump up around 15, and if GT wins they will take the 25th spot. Something like that.
Update: I watched that Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech game and I think 25 is probably about right for VT, who squeaked out a win in OT. So I'm leaving my ballot as is.
Anyway, because I do have until tomorrow morning, let me know if I made egregiousness errors. My ballot's after the break.
A win is a win is a win. I had to keep telling myself that on Saturday. It's hard not to come away from that game with some serious worries about the upcoming season. But it's in my nature to remain optimistic and I think there were some signs that Iowa is on the right track.
First things first...since I took the time to write about my keys to the game, I'm going to take the time to recap how they went.
Make Jordan Lynch throw the ball - This was a good reflection of the overall game...Iowa managed to make Lynch throw the ball just enough to matter. Lynch hurt the Hawkeyes with his legs multiple times, especially early in the game. His third down, super obvious to everyone but apparently the Iowa defense, quarterback draws were devastating. The 73-yarder in the third quarter was by far NIU's best offensive play of the game. But Iowa adjusted defensively. They didn't really blitz a lot, or at all, but kept more men in the box to defend the run. After his 73 yard run, Lynch ran the ball 5 more times for just 8 yards.
Making Lynch throw the ball worked great too. He completed just 6 of 16 passes for 54 yards. Those numbers make Vandenberg's look not too shabby (and shabby they definitely were). Besides a nice pass 25-yard pass to Martel Moore (who got away with a push off) over Micah Hyde in man coverage, Lynch really struggled.
In the fourth quarter, when Iowa was mounting a comeback and when the Huskies desperately needed to move down the field after Damon Bullock's go-ahead TD, Lynch was awful. He was 1 of 5 passing for -1 yard (yeah, negative).
Special credit here goes to Greg Castillo who came in for the injured B.J. Lowery (who, side note, should be just fine...just a bruised rib). He didn't miss a stride and promptly came in a broke up a pass. He also had the play of the game saving John Wienke's punt from trickling into the endzone and allowing his teammates to down it inside the 1 yard line. This play ultimately set up the Iowa's lone and game-winning touchdown.
So, there's no proper preview for Northern Illinois this week. I wanted to do one but ran out of time and then ran in to internet issues (thanks Mediacom). Anyway, here are a few keys of the game for tomorrow.
We've all heard about Chandler Harnish by now. Kirk Ferentz has mentioned him like 20 times in the past week. He was an amazing accomplished QB for the Huskies and set both passing and rushing records for NIU. If he was still around, somebody I would be seriously worried about Iowa's inexperienced defense trying to corral. But he's gone, drafted as the last pick. So we turn our focus to Jordan Lynch.
Even with Harnish at the helm last year, Lynch got his share of snaps. He finished 4th on the team in rushing yards with 246 and attempted 20 passes. Important note--There is a new OC in town, but the word is the offense is going to remain much the same so I'm basing a lot of this on last year. Based on the one game I watch of NIU's (the GODADDY.com Bowl), Lynch was primarily used as a run-first quarterback in special packages. A lot of the plays he ran were designed QB runs or option plays. The frequently used him with multiple backs instead of their usual 3-4 wide.
I'll admit it...I had no clue what I was doing when I was filled out my preseason ballot. I usually use a mix of a team's per play statistics, win-loss resume, and my own personal bias when coming up with my rankings. But right now I just have my bias and at lot of incomplete information. I don't follow the rest of the college football world outside of Iowa (and the B1G to some extent) to really know who's who this year. So anyway, here's what I've got for now.