Earn Your Stripes

There's something about sporting events under the lights that feels different than during the daytime (full discussion will come later this week). This weekend was no different with a 7:00 pm kick off inside of Kinnick Stadium. I didn't think the atmosphere was as electric as some of the recent night games but maybe that was just me. The opponent was Penn St, who had won twice in nine games against Iowa since Kirk Ferentz took over as head coach. I had no doubt in my mind that Iowa would win this game. The betting line was set at Iowa +7.5 and I predicted the final to be 28-10 (I should have put some money down). I was a little off with the final being 24-3 Iowa.

First I must say that the black and gold "stripes" looked amazing. I'm glad that the fans responded to the call and made it work. One thing I was kind of disappointed by were the pompoms that were handed out. The gold sections got gold pompoms and the black sections had black pompoms. This made the pompoms almost invisible; what should have been done was put black in the gold sections and gold in the black sections for some contrast. Regardless Kinnick looked better than I've ever seen.

This was another game where nothing was really learned about Iowa's team, and maybe that's one reason they didn't climb higher in the polls this week. They could have kept the offensive play book open and run up the score (I don't think Penn St could stop the offense) but that didn't happen. Instead the Iowa coaches wanted Penn St, and a true freshman QB, to beat Iowa in Iowa City. Normally I'm not fond of that technique but Iowa has a good enough team that it won't happen. One thing that was learned is that James Morris can come in and play middle linebacker with the first team defense and be just as effective as anyone else. Morris looked ready to play and take over the role as a starter next year.

One thing I didn't like so much was seeing Adam Robinson in so much. Sure he only had 28 carries but he could have been spelled a little bit by one of the freshman backups. The wear and tear on the body may not be evident this week, or in two weeks at Michigan (thanks to the bye week) but it could come into play later in the year, such as against Ohio St. We need the freshmen to see some Big 10 competition so that they are ready to go if something catastrophic happens.

The last thing I learned was that the Arizona game really was a anomaly for this Iowa team. The offensive line has looked very good all year except that one game. Special teams have been decent in all but the one game. Even Joe Paterno said Iowa losing to Arizona was a fluke. I know that a loss is still a loss and that we can't go back and undo the game (this isn't Minnesota where 55-0 in 2008 never really happened) but I can say that Iowa may still be one of the best teams in the country. Even Alabama beat Penn St 24-3 (at Alabama) in week 2. Just saying....