Sittin in the Principal's Office

One final thought on the last game for the Gophers. If a team can be intimidated before showing up to play a game, it was Minnesota. On their first play, the ball was snapped over the QBs head which pushed the offense back to their own 2, followed by a run into the line for no gain, and a third down which only picked up a few yards. Gopher QB Adam Weber ran for his life most of the game and the offense couldn't move the ball at all. On defense, the Gophers did all they could to stop RB Shonn Greene, but the beatings took a toll on the Gophers. Greene finished the game with 144 yards on 22 carries over three quarters. By the end of the half, the Gopher team appeared they wanted to be anywhere but the Metrodome. Minnesota appeared to be beat before the game started. This may be in part to the effect of watching game video and watching each Iowa opponent get physically beat.

Sitting at tonight's Iowa home basketball game with Southeast Missouri State my son asked why didn't more people come. The announced crowd was just over 8,000, generous seeing at least two sections completely empty. Todd Lickliter is building a fundamentally sound basketball team. Perhaps it won't be flashy, but once Todd has his players understanding his system, the Hawkeyes will be a fun team to watch. Over the last few games fans can begin to see what he wants to do. Tonight the Hawks was successful from three and at times, the movement without the ball and passing was fun to watch.

However, it is tough to watch an Iowa basketball game in year two of the Big Ten Network. A year ago the newly formed channel forced Iowa to start many of their games at 8pm. This made it difficult for fans from outside the Iowa City area to attend. And those inside the circle found themselves leaving early so young kids could get to bed on time. This year start times could be either 7pm or 7:30pm. A more manageable time, but the first few games have either not been on television (streamed on-line by BigTenNetwork.com) or on local cable provider's Connections channel. For the first year of the network fans were forced to listen to the games on the radio or purchase a satellite dish. Those who went for the dish have been unable to watch the majority of this season's games. There are alternative channels on Direct TV as well as Dish Network, channels that will show football games not on the main channel. Why can't this be the case for basketball? A year ago the Big Ten Network promoted themselves as the "University of Iowa Network" since you could find more university programming here than anywhere. But it did no good if no one could watch and their start times forced fans away from the arena. This year, a University who prided themself as the first entity to have a state-wide television contract now has little visibility once again.

I'd be very surprised to see the Hawkeyes play in the Champs Sports Bowl

Finally, the Producer of Hawkeye Football on Learfield Sports passed away Sunday afternoon, less than twenty four hours following the Hawkeye win at Minnesota. Patrick Mormann, 31 of Epworth, Iowa died in an automobile accident north of Anamosa. I didn't now Pat well, but would talk with him at home games and on road trips. Pat sat next to me on the plane on our most recent trip. He always had a smile and enjoyed being apart of the broadcast team.