Welcome back and how ya doin' ?
All is well in my world. Scratch that ... things are fabulous, outstanding,
spectacular even. If you are old enough to remember Snagglepuss
you undoubtedly read that sentence with the correct
inflection and are grabbing your side in an attempt to quell your laughter
pains. I will allow you a moment to collect yourself ... are we good now
? Excellent. For while we are dealing with a joyous topic here it
is also a serious one. I won't go so far as to say "serious as a heart
attack". For many reasons but mostly because if you are old enough to
remember Snagglepuss chances are likely that the big one is around the bend.
OK, now that we have weeded out the
easily offended among you ... let's get down to business. The business of
COLLEGE FOOTBALL. It has been a while since I typed at ya about such
things. In fact I need to take a moment to wrap up last season before we can look ahead to this year
As many of you are aware, The Cup has
been residing in its rightful place for the last eight months. That place
is ... of course ... HAWKEYE Country. A land not just of corn and beer but
rather a black and gold utopia of winners! A hamlet of hard-nose,
smash-mouth football. A burg of competent quarterbacks, tight ends built
like tanks and running backs that defy all odds. After defeating all G-CC
contenders [aside from Purdue ... but only because they were not on the schedule]
the Hawks proceeded to put the wreck on Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl.
I gotta be honest with you ... I would have preferred a January One game.
While it is true that the games swell in prestige as the schedule builds toward
the crescendo that is the national championship game [the GMAC Bowl being the
exception that proves the rule] there is something nice, traditional and
respectful about a New Year's Day game. Then again ... considering
the Christmas vacation that we had last year the few extra days might have been a blessing.
Hopefully this year the boy will want to watch more of the game.
Following that deftly crafted
transition we look ahead to the 2010-11 season of the Graham-Cooper Cup ...
Let's start by looking at the
Nittany Lions of the Pennsylvania State University. Do not worry faithful readers ... my residence
in Happy Valley is not softening my Hawkeye resolve. On the contrary, bedding down in enemy
territory has only bolstered by allegiance to the Black & Gold. I only lead off with Paterno's boys as they
provide the best fodder. For example, I
offer the following for your reading pleasure:
It appears that the Nittany Lion mascot is single-handedly attempting to
elevate Dear Old State's standing in the party school hierarchy. One does not have to look too far to
understand where these student athletes and athletic supporters [tee hee] learn
such deplorable behavior. Forty [40] dollars for game day parking ... now
THAT is criminal! Ok back to the
field. One would not think that
replacing a QB the likes of Darryl "can't win a big game" Clark would be much
of a hurdle but if the spring scrimmage was any indication, the Lions have
their work cut out for them. I will give
props to
whomever is responsible for putting Alabama on the schedule. The game against the defending champions of the SEC and the nation is
a dramatic deviation from the cream-puff adversaries that traditionally pepper
PSU's pre-conference schedule. I am
guessing that when the deal was made nobody on the Penn State side was banking
on the Crimson Tide rolling in with a pre-season #1 ranking. I have to assume that the game is going to be
an ESPN Gameday event as I can't imagine there is a bigger matchup that early
in the season. I know ... with a little
research I could confirm such an assumption but I am just trying to ease back
into this. I will be pulling for Penn
State when they travel to Birmingham.
Just think ... if they can get over on Alabama it will be that much
greater when they lose to IOWA this year.
Purdue & Indiana ... I am going to
lump these chumps together. Why? Well for one it is almost dinner time and two
... these are football teams from a basketball state and they play like they know
it. I kid ... and I mean no disrespect but
I am going to make this brief because the tomato pie is starting to smell
really good. We are talking fresh garden
tomatoes here ... mmmm. OK sorry ... back to
football. I was really impressed with
Boilermaker Quarterback Justin Siller and looked forward to seeing him
develop. Unfortunately the young man had
trouble with the student part of the student-athlete equation and was asked to
move on prior to the 2009 season. So it
goes. This year we may see 210 pound junior Robert Marve at the helm of the good ship Boilermaker. I know ... it's a train but please allow me the
wordplay. It will be interesting to see
what the Coral Gables transplant can accomplish. Purdue dodges the Hawkeye bullet again this
year and PSU is also absent from the schedule.
The team travels to Columbus for their showdown with Brutus and open the
season on the road against Notre Dame.
Of course all these games are just a preamble to the inevitable face-off
with Indiana for the Old Oaken Bucket.
Speaking of the Hoosiers ... wow I am
dropping golden segues like a thumb-less man with greasy fingers. OK ... my similes could use some work. Indiana does not have Purdue's scheduling
fortune, with Ohio State, IOWA, Wisconsin and Penn State on the docket. What is interesting to note here is that the
game against Penn State is not being played at Beaver Stadium nor the recently expanded
Memorial Field in Bloomington. Rather
the contest will be held at FedEx Field, home of the Washington Redskins. Not to be confused with the FedEx Orange Bowl
which as we already discussed was won most recently by ... you guessed it ...
THE IOWA HAWKEYES !!! What can I say about this glorious group of
guys that the pre-season rankings has not already said ? Number nine [10 per the USA Today] ... not too
shabby. The Hawks have lost some key
players to the Sunday game and I am very anxious to see how they reload,
especially in the area of the offensive line.
Behind center, the wily veteran Slick Rick Stanzi stands as the field
general. The senior quarterback will be
looking to connect with the pass catching duo of DJK [that is Derrell
Johnson-Koulianos for those not in the know] and Marvin McNutt. Toss in Betterndorf, Iowa standout Colin
Sandeman and tight end Allen Reisner and you got yourself quite an
offense. I know what you are thinking ...
what about the RBs ? I can tell this is
not your first rodeo. While Shonn Greene
continues to receive handoffs from Mark Sanchez with the grace and power of
Mike Tyson on ice skates [seriously ... I gotta get a copy of similes for
dummies] there is some uncertainty in the IOWA backfield. Rising star Brandon Wegher has left the team
to address "undisclosed personal issues" leaving former back-up Adam Robinson
and the injury-plagued Jewel Hampton to handle the ball rushing duties. It should be noted that the latter will be
unavailable for the Hawkeyes season open against perennial powerhouse Eastern
Illinois as he had some ... how do you say ... public urination issues in the
off-season. Boys will be boys. Hampton should be back on the field for the
contest with the vile Cyclones of Iowa State in week two. The Hawkeyes open conference play by
welcoming Penn State to Kinnick Stadium.
That's all I have for you kiddies. The season starts tonight with 18 games of
Division 1-A action.! So let's all root for Marshall to upend Ohio State,
Indiana to start off with a win against Towson and for all of the action of the
USC/Hawaii game to come in the first quarter because I won't be seeing much
more than one quarter of a game that starts at 11 in the PM.
Enjoy your games and until next time ...
GO HAWKS !
