College Football Week 12

We are re-visited by the original yound lady that started our weekly look at cheerleaders in this weekly posting. Brianna of UCLA is courtesy of Sports Illustrated. As said on the SI.com site, she is a Green Bay Packer fan. Good enough for me to highlight her a second time. It is also apporpriate to highlight her as the rivalry of the two BCS LA schools face each other at the Coliseum on Saturday. As the USC Marching Band tweeted today, "It's TROY WEEK! "High up in the hills of Westwood, sprawled offensive to the eye, lies a Cal extension campus known as Westwood High..." No other sport has the rivalries like College Football....Notre Dame lost for the fifth time in their home finale to Connecticut. It is hard to find anyone defending the Irish head coach, Charlie Weis as most have him packing up his office once he returns from Palo Alto this weekend. There are many reasons / excuses thrown out as to how difficult it is to win in South Bend, but there are many advantages to coaching in this Northern Indiana college town. Facilities are unrivaled, support is strong by administration and alumni, and national recognition is second to none. Many names are being thrown out as to Charlie's successor including Urban Meyer at Florida, Bob Stoops at Oklahoma, and Brian Kelley at Cincinnati. The one supposed knock against Notre Dame are the tough academic equirements. If this is such a concern, Notre Dame needs to expand their search beyond the aforementioned names. Meyer and Stoops have established programs have nothing to gain by making the move. Kelley is at an institution that allows him to bring in students that a Notre Dame may decline. If this is the case is Kelley the right match? The one proven coach who has dealt with tough academic guidelines and has a great name in the local recruiting area of South Bend is Pat Fitzgerald of Northwestern. This young coach has done an outstanding coaching job with lesser talent playing similar teams facing Notre Dame. While it would take much to lure Fitzgerald from his alma mater, it will be tough for him to do much more in the Big Ten Conference....Michigan. Wether or not the fans in Ann Arbor want a change, there will be no such change coming. A fan or not of Rich Rodriguez he does deserve at least one more year to get the program back into the top ten that the Wolverine fans are accustomed to. It will also be hard to lure a good coach to Michigan with their Athletic Director on the clock before retiring September 4, 2010. If a change at the top of the football program is to come, a new AD must be hired first. The Wolverines aren't prepared to do that. Michigan fans should be patient as well. Those who wanted Les Miles of LSU in 2007 will have one more year to evaluate him as the Tigers head coach. Miles, who won the National Championship in his third year with the school has had troubles acheiving such level since. While his teams have been very good in a tough SEC, they haven't reached the SEC title game.

College Football Week 4

While many top 20 teams continue to fall, the ladies of Alabama support the Crimson Tide as they continue to stay in the top 5. Alabama has proven to be worthy of their ranking. However Florida and Texas are my two teams that may find themselves being knocked off in the within the next three weeks. Florida must play at LSU in two weeks while Texas takes on Oklahoma in the Red River ShootOut in three weeks.

Talk in the press box following the Hawkeye upset of Penn State focused on ABC's decision to carry the Iowa - Michigan game on the 10th. Other options for the prime time game that week include Baylor at Oklahoma as well as Florida at LSU. However CBS has the first option for the SEC showdown, and if they pass, the broadcast would move to ESPN as ABC cannot show an SEC game in prime time. If that game does appear on cable the broadcast team of Musberger and Herbstreit will be live in Baton Rouge. However a matchup of undefeateds in Iowa City would be tough for ABC to pass up.

A score that went with little notice over the weekend had Idaho beating Northern Illinois in Dekalb. This is the same NIU team which upset Purdue the week before and pushed Wisconsin to the final minute. Idaho moves to 3-1 in the WAC and makes a statement for the improved football competition in the non-BCS conference. A potential key match-up comes in the second to last game of the season when the Vandals travel to Boise to take on the top 10 Broncos.

R & R Day 3

Our last full day in Pensacola Beach and we rode bicycles to make our way around the island. Good exercise and a way to enjoy the Florida sunshine.

We stopped to play miniature golf. We won't discuss who won and who lost, but fun was had by all.


A stop on our ride. This popular restaurant, Peg Leg Pete's, sat on an inlet with boats docked to the rear. It is an Oyster Bar, but Dana and I stayed away and had great Calamari, Shrimp, Stuffed Grouper with Crab meat and the Seafood Chowder. Definitely worth the stop.

Here Dana is enjoying a cool beverage after a long bike ride. Our bartender, Shasta (left) was very engaging as she remembered every one's name after ordering. The most exciting part of the lunch was being witness to a dog falling into the water next to a docked boat. An older lady nearly ran me over on her way to the window in horror. When people began to shout, "The Dog fell in the water," Dana and I thought we heard "Dolphins in the water." The dog was saved and the older lady was relieved.

Night falls on the Gulf outside our room.

R & R

A little break from the Iowa winter finds my wife and I relaxing on the beaches of the Gulf of Mexico in Pensacola Beach, Florida. The attached pictures are the view from our weekend home. More pictures to follow over the weekend. For those interested, Colin is back in Iowa with Grandma and Grandpa and is excited about taking in the last Iowa Basketball game on Saturday.

Update 3.06 pm--shows the sun setting on Pensacola Beach and the waves rushing up on the shore.