Cyclones Blown Away, Nebraska Hammered, UNI Keeps Rolling

(Zach)

-Well that was a brilliant 34-33 Cyclone pick by me.

-Was Iowa State out of it's league against Texas?  Score says yes.  Problem was ISU not only shot themselves in the foot with turnovers, they basically took a 12-gage shotgun to the mouth with dumb penalties.  Iowa State was better than this, but when you make those kind of mistakes, can't say you didn't have it coming.

-Paul Rhoads has done a helluva job with this program, but what the heck is going on with these terrible starts?  They lived on the edge for three weeks and finally ran into a team that could shove them off the cliff, and they had two weeks to get ready for this game.  And there's even less margin for error now with 3 of the next 4 on the road.  Talking to the players (more on tomorrow's show) nobody really understands it. 

-Texas is good again, which is no surprise.  I still don't think this is a great Texas team.  Had ISU not been taken completely out of their game plan early by their issues they would have had the chance to gash a weak Longhorn run D, and ISU's defense played well up until they were basically running on fumes toward the end of a long first half.  I will say this for Texas though-the swagger is back.  I overheard them yelling in pregame that they'd make this a blowout by halftime.  They backed it up.

-Really hope Leonard Johnson's okay.  He had a dumb penalty early that probably cost ISU the game, but he really is a good guy.  Scary moment when he went down late and had to be carted off.  Even Rhoads and Mack Brown hugged on the sideline seeing him down.

Suck it NU

-Nebraska was welcomed to the Big Ten with a 48-17 butt kicking in Madison.  Maybe this will also wake up arrogant Husker fans who think this is still 1995-vintage NU football.  Since 2000 the Corn is 2-16 vs. Top Ten teams.

-After this week, it's looking more and more like the Big Ten is a weak league with one great team (Wisconsin). 

-If Iowa loses to Northwestern for a sixth time in seven years we need to see if there's a spygate deal going on.  The Wildcats lost an 18 point lead and the game in the final moments to Illinois 38-35.  Purdue got absolutely destroyed by an average Notre Dame team.  Ohio State managed just seven points at the horseshoe in a 10-7 loss to Michigan State.  And Minnesota......well.....at least they tried?

-Penn State looked far from impressive in a 16-10 win at lowly Indiana.  The Hawks are in Happy Valley next week after this bye.  Iowa does well there when the Nittany Lions are good.  This is not an imposing Penn State squad and this is a game Iowa should win.

-I'd like say the schedule sets up well for Iowa.  The road games at Penn State, Minnesota and Purdue all look like very winnable games.  Heck the home schedule might be more difficult.  Take away Nebraska's run game and Taylor Martinez goes to pieces.  There's no reason a good Iowa team can't win the division and play Wisconsin for the Big Ten title.  Thing is we still don't know if this is a good Iowa team.

-FCS 2nd ranked Northern Iowa is REALLY good.  They hammered Missouri State 42-7 in Springfield, and Mark Farley is the winningest coach in Missouri Valley/formerly Gateway Conference history.  Tirrell Rennie looks like a better passer and that offense is a bear to stop.  This might be the team that can bring a national title to Cedar Falls, and we'll start to see if that's the case over the next month.  Next week they get a tough Indiana State team in the UNI Dome, and then two weeks after that Southern Illinois, followed by a game at fellow top five team North Dakota State.