Iowa vs. Penn State: Statistics

Iowa Offense vs. Penn State Defense

Category	Iowa O: Stat	Iowa O: Rank	Penn State D: Stat	Penn State D: Rank	Advantage
Rushing Yards	184.75	38	117.25	39	-
Passing Yards	261.00	32	158.50	17
Passing Efficiency	175.60	4	116.78	44	+
Sacks	2.25	71	1.75	72	-
Total Yards	445.75	50	275.75	18
Scoring	36.00	28	12.75	8
Turnovers	1.00	13	1.75	40
3rd Down Conversion	52.00	14	21.28	3	-
Red Zone %	83.33	54	100.00	113	+

Penn State's defense has been very solid thus far. Aside from the Alabama game (albeit that was really their only test), they haven't given up many yard or many points. They have been particularly effective at getting teams off the field on third down.
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Reminder: Black and Gold Stripes on Saturday

Black & Gold Spirit Day
Odd Section: Wear Black
Even Section: Wear Gold
Students: Wear Black

The university has done a pretty good job marketing Saturday's homecoming game against Penn State as the Black and Gold Spirit Day. I know I've received at least one email on the subject and seen countless tweets. But in case you need another reminder, let me tell you that Saturday has a special color scheme: Black and Gold stripes. The basic plan is if your seats are in an odd numbered section, then wear black. If your seats are in an even numbered section, then wear gold. Students are to wear black. In case you need additional help, I put together a "what to wear" tool to assist you. There is also a chart that was released by Iowa that is helpful. My wife and I are sitting in an even section, so gold for us.

Scheels...I'm on to you
So, tonight after work I headed over to Scheels in Jordan Creek Mall with my wife and son to look for a new gold Iowa shirt for my wife (if only we were in an odd section we would have already been set with our black shirts). As a smart move by Scheels they had a big sign next to all the Hawkeye apparel that advertised the upcoming Black and Gold Spirit Day.
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BlogPoll: Week 4

There are 25 teams still unbeaten and 25 spots on my ballot. You can do the math. It means no Iowa, no Texas, no Miami, etc... A few sets of 4-0 teams are facing off this weekend, so this will be the last week of a no-loss BlogPoll ballot. Other than that, most everyone previously on my ballot took care of business so moved up in place.

Fight For Iowa Ballot - Week 5

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Ohio St. Buckeyes	--
2	Alabama Crimson Tide	--
3	Oregon Ducks	1
4	Nebraska Cornhuskers	-1
5	Boise St. Broncos	--
6	TCU Horned Frogs	--
7	Oklahoma Sooners	--
8	Wisconsin Badgers	--
9	Florida Gators	1
10	Utah Utes	1
11	Arizona Wildcats	1
12	Auburn Tigers	3
13	Stanford Cardinal	1
14	LSU Tigers	3
15	Michigan Wolverines	3
16	Oklahoma St. Cowboys	3
17	USC Trojans	4
18	Nevada Wolf Pack	4
19	Michigan St. Spartans	4
20	N.C. State Wolfpack	4
21	Missouri Tigers	--
22	Northwestern Wildcats	--
23	Kansas St. Wildcats	--
24	Texas A&M Aggies	--
25	Indiana Hoosiers	--
Dropouts: Texas Longhorns, South Carolina Gamecocks, Arkansas Razorbacks, West Virginia Mountaineers, Fresno St. Bulldogs

SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings »

Hawkeye Recruit Roundup: Week 5

Ray Hamilton
W Lakewood 3 - Strongsville 42 | (3-2)
After a poor 0-2 start, Strongsville has rattled off 3 straight wins including this week's rout of Lakewood. I couldn't find any of Hamilton's stats, but here's his take on the game.

Next Game: at Medina - 10/01

Austin Blythe
W Williamsburg 42 - South Tama County 6 | (5-0)
Another week, another big win for the top-ranked Williamsburg Raiders. No mentions of Blythe were found.

Next Game: vs. Benton - 10/01

Austin Vincent
W DeSoto 49 - NOAH Homeschool 18 | (4-1)
NOAH started off the game trying to catch the Eagles off guard with an onside kick. It failed and DeSoto, with excellent field position, went on to score a touchdown. From that point on, DeSoto never looked back going up 35-6 at halftime and ultimately winning 49-18. Vincent caught a pass in the endzone for a successful 2-point conversion.

Next Game: at North Mesquite - 10/07
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Iowa vs. Ball State: Animated Drive Chart

It took Iowa a little bit of time to get rolling, but the second half was nearly perfect as Iowa scored on 4 straight drives. Ball State on the other hand, barely put a drive together and spent almost all of its time on its own half of the field.

FULL SCREEN VERSION

Back on Track

Athletic Directors across the Big Ten all had the same idea setting up their team's schedules this year...finish the non-conference schedule with a tune-up game to get ready for conference play. Iowa did just that on Saturday cruising to 45-point win over Ball State. This game was never in question and actually went better than I was expecting. There was little, if any, hangover from the loss last week as Iowa for the most part came out sharp (let's just say those drops were because of a wet ball...) and executed like they did the first two weeks.

Star players
Adam Robinson: Without any experienced player to back him up, Robinson is going to need to be the featured running back this year. To date, he has lived up to his end of the deal. On Saturday he accounted for 190 of total offense carrying the ball 22 times for 115 yards, and catching the ball 3 times for 75 yards.

Ricky Stanzi: If it wasn't for a few drops, Stanzi might have had a perfect game. He ended up 19/25 passing for 288 yards and 3 TDs. That is Stanzi's fourth straight good performance and he currently is sitting at #5 in the nation for passing efficiency. It is still early, but it appears that whatever he did this off-season to work on not throwing interception and not starting off slow, worked (knock on wood...knock on a whole lot of wood).
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Game Day: Iowa vs. Ball State

The need to know
What: Iowa vs. Ball State
Where: Kinnick Stadium, Iowa City
When: 11:00 AM
TV: BTN

Injury report
Out: Jewel Hampton (torn ACL), Bruce Davis (torn ACL), Jason White (sprained knee), Paki O'Meara (concussion)
Questionable: Daniel Murray (hip flexor)
Very Probable: Marcus Coker (collar bone)

Keys to the game
Clean up special teams: This is a no brainer. Iowa lost last week largely because of its terrible special teams play. Ball State has been excellent thus far on special teams. The Cardinals rank 7th in the country in kickoff returns, while Iowa's kick coverage is 5th worst. Ball State is 10th in net punting and their kicker has made all five of his field goals inside of 30 yards (though he's missed all 4 longer than 30). I don't need to go into how bad Iowa's special teams have been...they just need to be better.
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Iowa vs. Ball State: Statistics

There's no big analysis today with the stats today...I'm letting the number speak for themselves.

Iowa Offense vs. Ball State Defense

Category	Iowa O: Stat	Iowa O: Rank	Ball State D: Stat	Ball State D: Rank	Advantage
Rushing Yards	161.00	56	149.00	64	-
Passing Yards	246.00	36	196.00	56
Passing Efficiency	164.30	12	132.80	84	+
Sacks	3.0	97	1.00	98	-
Total Yards	407.00	50	345.00	62	-
Scoring	33.00	39	20.33	48	-
Turnovers	1.00	15	2.33	19	-
3rd Down Conversion	47.37	30	55.26	113	+
Red Zone %	83.33	58	100.00	99

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Injury Update: Jewel Hampton Torn ACL

I started writing this up yesterday morning, but got distracted and then had a busy day. I was back on Iowa's campus though, which I always enjoy, for an IT career fair. Anyway, now this injury update is coming out kind of late and it pushes back my schedule for other posts. I'll try to get up some kind of preview, probably with statistics, on Ball State tomorrow, then it's game day.

The loss to Arizona was hard to swallow, but was not the worst thing to come out of that game. Kirk Ferentz confirmed on Tuesday during his weekly press conference that Jewel Hampton has injured his knee and will almost certainly miss the rest of the season. Bruce Davis, also with a knee injury, is also most likely out for the year and Paki O'Meara could miss this week's game out with a concussion.
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ESPN2's SportsNation in Iowa City - TODAY

In case you haven't heard, ESPN is sending SportsNation on a mini Big Ten Tour this week. Today the crew will be in Iowa City shooting live from Hubbard Park from 3:00 to 4:00 this afternoon. Fans are definitely encouraged to show up. If you aren't in the IC area, you can watch the show live on ESPN2 or check it out tonight at 11:00 PM also on ESPN2. Kirk Ferentz is schedule to make an appearance at some point as well.

Here's the info from the press release:

ESPN2’s SportsNation to Tour Big Ten Universities, Originate Live from Campuses

BRISTOL, Conn. – (Sept. 15, 2010) – ESPN2’s SportsNation will take its act on the road Monday, Sept. 20 through Thursday, Sept. 23, televised live 4 to 5 p.m. ET, from the campuses of University of Wisconsin, University of Iowa, University of Michigan and Penn State. In addition to airing on ESPN2, a SportsNation Big Ten segment will appear on all episodes of ESPN’s SportsCenter that week.

The ESPN2 program co-hosted by Colin Cowherd and Michelle Beadle incorporates user-generated polls and games based on the days’ leading sports news into a fun, interactive show. Each episode aired live on campus will feature polls and games involving the respective host university’s football program along with special guests.

“The Big Ten conference has some of the most rabid fans in all of college football and having their intensity on set is going to take the show to a crazy new level,” said Cowherd. “I know that our show has a huge following of college kids and I’m fired up to get the chance to be face to face with them.”

Beadle said, “I’m used to feeding off the energy of our in-studio crowd but this is going to be a whole new ball game. The feel of a live college football game combined with the always passionate Big Ten students will be parallel to none.”

Hawkeye Recruit Roundup: Week 4

Ray Hamilton
W Strongsville 42 - Hudson 14 | (2-2)
Strongsville won its second game in a row routing Hudson. Hamilton turned in another big night catching 9 passes for 109 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Next Game: vs. Lakewood - 09/24

Austin Blythe
W Grinnell 7 - Williamsburg 42 | (4-0)
Williamsburg continues to roll as the top ranked team in its class. They scored 28 points in the second quarter and the game was never really in question. You can see Blythe blocking on a number of plays in this KCRG highlight video (Blythe is #77).

Next Game: at South Tama County - 09/24

Austin Vincent
L Round Rock Stony Point 46 - DeSoto 29 | (3-1)
DeSoto scored on 3 of its first 4 possessions but was unable to keep up with that pace eventually falling to Stony Point. DeSoto threw for 339 yards, but had 3 interceptions. No mentions of Vincent were found.

Next Game: at NOAH Homeschool - 09/24

Jake Duzey
L Athens 40 - Royal Oak 7 | (1-2)
I couldn't find much on this game other than the score, but I did find that Duzey had 6 catches for 83 yards.

Next Game: vs. Rochester - 09/24

Riley McMinn
W Rochester 13 - Sacred Heart-Griffin 10 | (3-0)
Rochester ended Sacred Heart's 59-game winning streak in conference games on Friday. The Rockets started the game well and were about to hold off Sacred Heart at the end of the game to preserve the 3-point victory. McMinn has a ton of quotes in this article, but there was no mention on how he played.

Next Game: vs. Taylorville - 09/24
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BlogPoll: Week 3

Before any Iowa fan gets all upset at me for not ranking the Hawkeyes, let me say that I didn't rank a single team with a loss. There are still 34 teams that have yet to lose and because of that are more deserving of a top 25 ranking at this point. Plus, after week 1 I kept Virginia Tech ranked as my only team with a loss in the top 25 and that was a huge mistake. Do I think Iowa will end up out of the top 25 at the end of the season? No. I'll even probably have them back on my ballot next week (assuming they take care of business against a bad Ball State squad).

Fight For Iowa Ballot - Week 4

Rank	Team	Delta
1	Ohio St. Buckeyes	--
2	Alabama Crimson Tide	--
3	Nebraska Cornhuskers	1
4	Oregon Ducks	3
5	Boise St. Broncos	-2
6	TCU Horned Frogs	-1
7	Oklahoma Sooners	1
8	Wisconsin Badgers	1
9	Texas Longhorns	1
10	Florida Gators	1
11	Utah Utes	1
12	Arizona Wildcats	5
13	South Carolina Gamecocks	--
14	Stanford Cardinal	4
15	Auburn Tigers	-1
16	Arkansas Razorbacks	-1
17	LSU Tigers	-1
18	Michigan Wolverines	1
19	Oklahoma St. Cowboys	1
20	West Virginia Mountaineers	1
21	USC Trojans	1
22	Nevada Wolf Pack	3
23	Michigan St. Spartans	--
24	N.C. State Wolfpack	--
25	Fresno St. Bulldogs	--
Dropouts: Iowa Hawkeyes, California Golden Bears, Houston Cougars

SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings »

With that out of the way...it's week 3 and I am starting to rank more on performance than on expectations. Expectations aren't completely void though. Nebraska's high ranking is partially the result of the weak Big 12 North that they will be teeing off against in the upcoming weeks. From top to bottom in the poll this week, most all of the teams I had ranked won, so there weren't too many changes.

Up: I bumped up both Nebraska and Oregon because of their impressive wins the past couple of weeks. I hate to reward Oregon for running up the score on FCS schools, but that win over Tennessee was solid. Arizona and Stanford are also recipients of considerable bumps; Arizona for its win over Iowa and Stanford because they have been very impressive and I think I have under-ranked them thus far.

In: Michigan State, N.C. State, and Fresno State all make their first appearances on my ballot. They are all undefeated and have decent resumes thus far. Michigan State's dramatic win over Notre Dame alone is worthy of a spot on the ballot.

Out: Iowa, Cal, and Houston are all out for losing.

The rest: Everyone else pretty much moved in line accordingly. Some teams struggled against far lesser competition (I'm looking at you Michigan) and went completely untested. For the most part though, it was just ranked teams beating up on  unranked teams.