The Hawkeyes
As I usually do I am starting off with the Hawkeye football team. I skipped last week because I couldn’t write about the ridiculously bad performance of the Hawkeyes against Central Michigan. I also couldn’t stand the idiocy of the Hawkeye fan base after such a bad loss. Yep, let’s fire Kirk Ferentz, buy out his contract for $20 million dollars and then see what kind of coach we can afford to replace him. I’m not a Ferentz apologist, I think he needs to take a long hard look at what changes he needs to make to keep up with today’s game, but I also see that he has made some changes and those changes need time to take effect. I follow Hawkeye recruiting closely so I know that this team’s struggles are a direct result of the bad recruiting and retention of the 2008 and 2009 recruiting classes. The reason Iowa has no real pass rush to speak of is because of a failure to recruit DE prospects that are true pass rushers. We have taken many of the guys we have recruited over the past 4 years as DE and turned them into DT and we haven’t found many guys to turn into DE from other positions like we have in the past. Go back to the days of Aaron Kampman or Matt Roth, both LB’s initially, Christian Ballard and Adrian Clayborn were TE prospects and even our best interior pass rushers like Mitch King and Karl Klug were beefed up from other positions. The attrition at D-line is appalling over the last several years and as many people know it was largely due to our former defensive line coach Rick Kaczenski. His personality wasn’t a great fit with the players or the coaching staff which is why he is Nebraska’s D-line coach now. Kirk Ferentz would never throw a guy under a bus or try to hurt a guy’s career which is why you would never hear it from him but it isn’t a coincidence that Nebraska now has defensive linemen quitting their football team. Reese Morgan’s move to the defensive line coach position is a breath of fresh air and should pay dividends for years to come. I’m not absolving Ferentz of the blame for any of this as a matter of fact it falls squarely on him. The level of recruiting (especially the low level of 2008 and 2009) is on him and the problems created by his choice of position coach (Kaczenski) are also on him. It wasn’t just the choice of Kaczenski it was the fact that he was replacing a beloved position coach Ron Aiken with a guy that had a completely different personality. I don’t want to make this out to be entirely the defensive line’s fault because they haven’t played terribly I use them only as an example. If you look at the 2008 recruiting class 12 out the 25 signees either never made it to Iowa or transferred out and there are 4 more that have made little to no on-the-field contribution to the team. The 2009 class is only slightly better having 7 guys either not make it to school, transfer out or simply quit football altogether, this is not a good way to build a team. The good news is that Iowa is having better luck recruiting over the past several years and more help is on the way next year, the bad news is we aren’t Alabama and we can’t just plug in another 4 or 5 star recruit when one guy doesn’t work out. Ferentz’s teams have always been about development and Iowa struggles when that development doesn’t pan out and it takes time to make up for the misses. I believe Ferentz can turn it around because I’ve seen him do it before (I went to college here during Fry’s last season and Ferentz’s first 4), Fry left the cupboard far more bare than it is right now for Ferentz and his new staff members like Brian Ferentz, Levar Woods and Greg Davis are forcing Kirk to look at things differently. And on the defensive side of things it brings me great joy when Phil Parker actually puts in a nickel defense when teams go to multiple WR sets and it will give me even greater joy next year when he can’t use Greg Castillo anymore as our nickel back.
More Hawkeye Notes
-Weisman for Heisman! Way to go Mark Weisman, from back-up FB to star RB in about 6 weeks time, that is impressive. Weisman’s running style is a great fit for our blocking scheme and his attitude is infectious. Offensive linemen love blocking for a guy that will just run over the next line of defenders.
-I want to see us use Damon Bullock as a weapon when he returns from his concussion whether it is as a RB or a slot receiver Bullock can give this offense a playmaker. Let’s not forget that before Bullock got knocked out of the UNI game he was playing pretty well. I’m not saying he takes the starting job back, as a matter of fact he shouldn’t, but the kid is a playmaker and we sorely need those.
-Also let’s not overlook the contribution of Brad Rogers, here’s a kid that got sick a couple of years ago (heart issue) comes back last year and when he took over at FB our running game got a lot better, then this year he loses his starting job to Weisman at FB and now when Weisman gets his chance at RB Rogers steps back in at FB and picks up right where he left off. Rogers is a team player for sure.
-I re-watched the Minnesota game and it’s a good thing Mark Weisman played so well in the first half because after watching it again I saw how poorly Vandenberg played. He was off all through the first half, throwing high missing short or throwing behind receivers, his inaccuracy was obvious.
Major League Baseball notes
-This is for my friend Bill who I know reads this blog, I had a 5000 word post written about the White Sox that was all ready to go and then they choked and missed the playoffs so I had to scrap it, maybe next year Bill.
-For my friend Pete, I’m glad Fantasy baseball is over and you are now barred from talking about it until pitchers and catchers report and since you are going to win your league you owe me because I told you to pick up Mike Trout, and by the way Miguel Cabrera wins the Triple Crown so he gets the MVP not Trout.
-Congrats Miguel Cabrera! First winner of the Triple Crown since 1967.
-Bobby Valentine is going to be fired as manager of the Boston Red Sox after one season (a conclusion that is only shocking to the idiot owners that hired him instead of the guy their GM wanted). To all franchise owners out there this is why you let your GM hire who he wants not the big name you want.
-The Twins were abysmal; the Astros were 11 games back of abysmal. Former Iowa Hawkeye Bo Porter was named the new manager of the Astros I’m not sure who he pissed off but apparently he is being punished for something.
NFL notes
-The Arizona Cardinal are 4-0 with Kevin Kolb at QB, between this and the Iowa Hawkeyes running a flea flicker last week I’m starting to think the Mayans may be right.
-The Jets are a mess and as a Patriots fan I couldn’t be happier.
-I was sure I was going to win my Fantasy match-up this week I was going up against a team with Chris Johnson and Michael Turner at RB, I try to keep this blog clean so I won’t say what I want to say about those two this week just know it rhymes with buck you.
Fall TV
-Fringe was as good as I thought it would be.
-Revolution looks promising.
-The Mob Doctor is on Fox not The CW like I said in my preview although it’s a moot point because I doubt it will be on Fox much longer, it sucks.
The Hott Read 