Marvin McNutt has been named Co-Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week, along with MSU's Kirk Cousins. We've gotten some emails from people saying we're giving McNutt too much praise. I disagree. He's the best Hawkeye wide receiver I've ever seen, and he's one of the best Hawkeye players I've ever seen. He'll be an early round pick in the NFL. I wouldn't be surprised if he plays his way into the 1st-round.
Maybe the Hawks should consider making him a two-way player, for the remaining 5 games. Iowa's defense is bad. The Hawks rank last in opponents 3rd down conversions, and 11th in total defense. They made Indiana look like a good offense, when in fact the Hoosiers have one of the worst offenses in the country.
Here's a wild stat. Over the last 2 seasons, Wisconsin is 17-0 against teams not named Michigan State, while Michigan State is 17-1 against teams not named Iowa.
ABC has chosen Purdue At Wisconsin, over Michigan At Iowa, for the 2:30pm slot, a week from Saturday. Huh? Purdue doesn't stand a chance in Madison. I was looking forward to a mid-afternoon start. Now we're stuck with another 11am snoozer. That's just too early for football games to start. The only teams that have to play 11am games are midwest teams in the central time-zone.
I like the fact that Paul Rhoads is going to give Jared Barnett a chance to start against Texas Tech. The one thing that separates him from Steele Jantz, is Barnett seems to value the football. ISU can't afford to be turning the ball over against anybody. Then again, they also need someone that can make a big play on offense. Jantz has shown he can do it...but Barnett has not.
I don't see any way the Cyclones reach the 5-win mark. Five of their last six games are against teams from the top-20, and their final three are against top-10 teams. A 1-8 Big 12 record will be hard to swallow, but the Cyclones are dealing with one of the toughest schedules in all of football. The problem is, that would leave Paul Rhoads with another decline in wins.
2009: 7-4
2010: 5-7
2011: 4-8?
Some say they aren't seeing any improvement in the Cyclones. It's hard to find improvement when the team keeps losing. Let's face it. It's hard to win at Iowa State. Now, it's nearly impossible to compete for a conference title. Rhoads is the right man for the job, and Cyclone fans know it.
Fred Hoiberg has shown that he's going to recruit 'outside the box' ... he can also recruit outside the country. ISU signs Naz Long, a 6-4 guard from Ontario. Long is ranked as the 7th best prospect in Canada by something called 'North Pole Hoops'. He'll be eligible to play as early as January, but ISU will likely redshirt him, this season. Is it just me, or does it seem like ISU has signed over 30 players over the past year?
Check out this sweet picture of the great Midwest, from space. Pretty neat.
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3 comments:
Every year that Paul Rhodes has been a coach he has faced a more difficult schedule than the year before. I'm reasonably certain when all is said and done ISU will be top 5 strength of schedules nationally this year, possibly 1st. After all this is the first year they're facing ALL of the Big 12 south instead of half of it. For that reason I do not believe that ISU has taken any steps backwards, they've simply had bigger hills to climb.
Listen here Hassell! Yeah, Paul Rodes' record hasn't improved from year to year, but Sonny Loobik started his coaching career going; 8-2, 6-4, 4-6, and 3-7, and he went on to become the greatest college football coach ever! Coach Roads is just setting the table for the biggest and most delicious feast this state will have ever seen!
Paul Roades now, Paul Rhoades tomorrow, and Phil Rhoeds forever!!!
I get tired of everyone putting so much stock in a teams "strength of schedule". Iowa State is so tough, Iowa is weak, blah blah blah. It should not matter who is on the schedule, a team's job is to win the games in front of them. If Iowa State wants to be a top program in the Big 12, or nationally for that matter, they need to beat top teams, plain and simple. Beat Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas on a regular basis. Same goes for Iowa. Beat Michigan, Ohio State, Wisconsin and now Nebraska on a regular basis. Stop whining about who has the tougher road and just man up and play football.
The biggest difference between Iowa and Iowa State is that Iowa has done this a little more frequently.
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