Ray Hamilton
L Brunswick 36 - Strongsville 33 | (5-3)
Strongsville looked like it was going to take a big lead into halftime and cruise to an easy win. With just seconds left before half Brunswick score a TD that cut the Mustangs' lead in half and changed the momentum. Brunswick went to score 26 unanswered points. Hamilton had 6 catches for 78 yards and a late touchdown that made it a 3-point game and gave the Mustang's a chance to win, but the Mustangs were unable to complete the comeback and lost. Here is Hamilton's blog post on the loss. The best part is that he is getting a free lunch from his best friend who committed to play for Michigan.

Next Game: at Nordonia - 10/22

Austin Blythe
W Clear Creek-Amana 23 - Williamsburg 35 | (7-1)
Both teams totaled over 400 yards of offense, but it took Clear Creek-Amana an entire half before it started clicking. Williamsburg held a 14-3 lead at half time and turned it in to a 35-23 victory. No mentions of Blythe were found.

Next Game: at Washington - 10/22

Jake Duzey
W Athens 35 - Oak Park 16 | (3-5)
Athens jumped out to an early lead and led 37-0 at the end of the third quarter. Oak Park scored a couple of late touchdowns, but the game wasn't very close. Duzey had 2 receptions for 60 yards including a 44-yard TD. He also had a special teams score returning a blocked punt 17 yards.

Next Game: at Troy - 10/22

This does not look like the typical Iowa drive chart. There are a lot of long drives, a lot of scoring, and not a lot of punts. Iowa really had good field position for most of the afternoon. Turnovers, good returns, and Michigan kicking two kickoffs out of bounds all greatly helped Iowa's field position. Aside for the first two drives (and the last take-a-knee drive) Iowa scored each time that they started beyond their own 35 yard-line.

FULL SCREEN VERSION

Ricky Stanzi gets recognized

Stanzi, Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week
Stanzi went 17 of 24 for 248 yards with 3 touchdowns and no interceptions against Michigan on Saturday. His performance earned his first ever POTW award. It was his second best performance of the year from an efficiency perspective (Ball State was his best) and improved his overall QB Rating to 180.50, 3rd best in the nation.

Hawkeyes #15 in initial BCS rankings

Full BCS Rankings
So, the computers don't like Iowa. The two human polls (Harris and Coaches) both rank Iowa 12th, but the computer average has Iowa at 17. The computers look at Iowa's strength of schedule and are not impressed, which is understandable I suppose. What is kind of laughable though, is that Oklahoma and LSU are #1 and #2 in the computer average. Anybody who has actually watched either of these teams play knows that they are not the two best teams in the country. I have a hard time even putting them in the top 10, but I guess it's hard to argue with wins.

Iowa will have its chances to move up in the rankings over the next few weeks. The Hawkeyes still have 3 teams in the top 15 (Wisconsin, Michigan State, and Ohio State) on the schedule. The good news too, is that all 3 of those games will be a home. Win all 3, and that's at least 3 spots that the Hawkeyes move up...plus the strength of schedule will move up helping the computer rankings. Just winning this next weekend against Wisconsin could shoot Iowa up into the top 10. Not only would Wisconsin fall, but Oklahoma plays Missouri and Auburn plays LSU. The losers of those games could very well fall below Iowa as well. Plus you could do the whole transitive thing with Iowa beat Wisconsin who beat OSU...thus Iowa should be ahead of OSU. I'm getting ahead of myself though. Iowa still needs to play very well to beat Wisconsin on Saturday.

The game on Saturday went about how I thought it would. There was a lot of offense and a lot of points. Iowa's defense was able to keep Denard Robinson from breaking any big plays and Iowa's offense took advantage of Michigan's poor defense. Before the game, people were talking a lot about how Iowa's defense would perform against Denard Robinson, but the real story of the game was not how either defense played, but rather how the offenses performed.

Iowa's offense was efficient, largely mistake free, and made big plays in key situations. Iowa converted on big third down plays including a couple of 3rd and longs, didn't turn the ball over, and went 5 for 5 in the red-zone. Iowa was almost able to score at will whenever they weren't in conservative mode, and even then that usually worked too. Adam Robinson had a huge game finding large cutback lanes to run through and breaking tackles left and right (I'd be interested to see his YAC numbers). Stanzi was also very efficient. He completed over 70% of his passes and threw 3 TDs (all to DJK) and no picks.

Michigan on the other hand moved the ball well and racked up 522 yards of total offense, but in key situations made huge mistakes. Robinson and Forcier combined for 3 interceptions and Michigan also lost a fumble. Iowa turned the 4 turnovers into 14 points of their own. Michigan also struggled in the red-zone and on third downs, scoring 3 times in 5 tries in the red-zone and converting just 37.5% on third down.

The need to know
What: Iowa at Michigan
Where: Michigan Stadium, Ann Arbor
When: 2:30 PM
TV: ABC/ESPN (Coverage Map)

Iowa Injury report
Out: Jewel Hampton (torn ACL), Bruce Davis (torn ACL), Jason White (sprained knee)
Probable: Daniel Murray (hip flexor), Christian Kirksey (undisclosed), Jeff Tarpinian (multiple injuries), Jordan Bernstine (undisclosed)

Michigan Injury report
Out: Mike Jones (Leg), Martavious Odoms (Foot), Fitzgerald Toussaint (Shoulder), Slyke Van (Clavicle), Mike Williams (Head), Troy Woolfolk (Ankle)

Keys to the game
Robinson vs. Robinson: Whichever Robinson, Denard or Adam, has a better day rushing the ball will probably lead their team to victory. Iowa obviously has to contain Denard Robinson and that has been a hot topic the past two weeks. Look for Iowa to force the handoff on the zone read, try to keep Robinson in the pocket on passing plays, and stop Robinson from getting to the outside on designed QB runs. If Iowa can make Robinson try to win the game with his arm, I'm not sure that is something he can do.

Adam Robinson doesn't need to have a monster game, but needs to take advantage of Michigan's poor defense. If he can get 4-5 yards on first down, Iowa should have no problem moving the ball down the field.

Kicking: Both teams have struggled mightily on special teams. Michigan may not have had the complete breakdowns like Iowa, but has been consistently poor. Iowa has only attempted 3 field goals all year and has relied on true-freshman and walk-on Mike Meyer. Michigan's field goal situation is actually worse. They have tried 2 kickers, but neither has been good. Combined they are 2 of 7 on the year and haven't made a kick over 35 yards. Don't expect either team to settle for a field goal, unless it is like 4th and 15 from the 20 yard line. If a field goal is required though, it will be important to get those 3 points.

Kicking obviously means kick offs and punts. Field position as always will be important too. Most of Iowa's scoring drives this year have come on a shorter field. And, Iowa's defense is going to try to take away the big play, but as a result may give up a lot of the shorter stuff. So, making Michigan drive all the way done the field and requiring Denard Robinson to be patient will be advantage Iowa.

A fast start: Ricky Stanzi has seemingly corrected his major problems from last year: interceptions and slow starts. It'll be important for Stanzi to start well today and not fall behind Michigan's high scoring offense. Even better would be an early lead. Last weekend when Michigan State went up, Michigan almost completely abandoned its running game and had Robinson throwing the ball more than they would probably like him too. Establishing the run early is also important for Iowa. A strong showing by Adam Robinson will open up the play-action game that is the Hawkeye's bread and butter. It will also help by chewing time off the clock and keeping the ball out of Denard Robinson's hands.

Prediction
Iowa's defense keeps Robinson in check for the most part, but he does have a big play or two. The real story, though, will be how Stanzi & Co. tear apart the Michigan defense putting up points early and often. The game ends up close as Michigan scores a late TD, but Iowa hangs on for the win.

Final score: Iowa 34 - Michigan 28