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Nightmare game for Nebraska today, as the Huskers lose at home to sad sack Iowa State 9-7.
The big comeback against Mizzou two weeks ago hinted that Nebraska football may be back on the rise, but two ugly losses in a row at home has thrown the program back down the stairs.
(Dude is from Omaha)
I’ll keep saying it Coach O.: Turner Gill?
• The Lakers had a tougher time in Game 2, needing overtime to beat the Magic - and no goaltending calls on Courtney Lee’s final regulation shot.
• Could Pacman Jones be wocka-wocka-walking back to the Cowboys?
• Chad Johnson Ochocinco embraces his newfound “Mexican” heritage by already planning his 1st TD celebration - hanging a pinata on the goalpost & whacking it with an end zone pylon.
• Hope you Memphis Redbirds fans have fun tonight during Stubby Clapp Appreciation Night!
• Recently retired Rodney Harrison rants about how the NFL is turning soft & pansy-esque.
Recall, if you will, the collective jaw of the sports world hitting the floor in April when Iowa State’s superhero, Cael Sanderson, decided to leave ISU for the relatively unheralded Penn State. While most of the wrestling world pointed and laughed at ISU, Cyclone fans were livid, and probably rightfully so.
(”Hey, let’s make this guy feel unwelcome. What could go wrong?”)
One tiny problem: he’s still in Ames as we speak, working on things like summer wrestling camps. And as the CEDAR RAPIDS GAZETTE notes, it’s probably not a good idea to give jilted fans multiple months to get their Glenn Close on, whether it’s to you, your wife, or your infant son: Read more…
In all of college wrestling history, there’s been exactly one person who’s ever gone his entire career without losing a single match: Cael Sanderson. The native Iowan, Iowa State alum, and Iowa State head coach is, quite simply, the face of Iowa State wrestling’s past, present, and future. He even made it onto a Wheaties Box–and that was before he won a gold medal in 2004. He is, in all likelihood, the most beloved son of Iowa (sorry, Tom Arnold and Ashton Kutcher).
(Yeah, that autographed box is probably a little less valuable in Iowa today than it was yesterday.)
Oh, did we accidentally use the present tense? Yeah, let’s just do a find/replace and toss in some “was”es instead, because, as KCCI reports, Sanderson just peaced out and went to Penn State. For an idea of how surreal a move this is, imagine if Phil Jackson left the Lakers and went to… well, hell, Penn State. And if you’re thinking, “Hey, Iowa State, didn’t they already choke away a coach under hilarious circumstances recently?”, yes, yes they did. Read more…
There’s a delicious nugget of irony to the news that according to the DES MOINES REGISTER, Iowa State’s new offensive coordinator, Tom Herman, is A) a member of Mensa International and B) trying to implement a brand new spread offense at ISU. That is, of course, that any idiot can tell that his plan is doomed to failure from the start.
(Just because you dress like the USC Trojans doesn’t mean Pete Carroll’s on your sideline.)
You see, Herman’s idea is good … if you’re living in 2002. As of about 5-10 years ago, the spread offense came to be known as a jumpstart for teams of inferior talent, a way to generate excitement and maybe a few upsets. The problem is, as Chris Brown (definitely not him) of the very aptly named SMART FOOTBALL puts it:
[The spread] has morphed from an equalizing offense, one used by less talented programs to level the playing field, to one that merely amplifies the latent talent, so talented teams can expose mismatched defenders but there are now fewer opportunities for less talented teams and the spread may not be well situated for these “up-and-coming” programs now that it is so popular.
Southern Mississippi gave Larry Eustachy a second chance after the former Iowa State coach’s career had gone belly up in 2003 after photos of him partying with students at Missouri came to light. At this point, I think it’s fair to say that his comeback has been a bust (and not a beer bust, either). After leading Cyclones to two NCAA tournament appearance in five seasons, he has yet to get the Golden Eagles to the post-season in his first four seasons, and at 14-14 it isn’t happening this year either.
So THE NEW YORK TIMES says that Eustachy did the right thing: he gave back a $25,000 bonus he had earned through ticket sales and various incentives. Granted, he kept his $380,000 base salary, and this might be seen as a cheap way to generate some goodwill and avoid being fired, but still: that’s about 3,000 12-packs of Natural Light we’re talking about (plus enough left over to keep the Omega Chi fire pit going all semester).
You’ve got to feel sorry for incoming Iowa State football coach Paul Rhoads. He inherits a team that avoided the three best Big XII teams (Texas, Oklahoma, Texas Tech)… and still went 0-8 in conference play. When we say they suck, we mean it: Iowa State sucks. So what’s their big plan to turn this ship around and bring the glory back to Cyclone Nation*??? Open tryouts!
(This won’t happen.)
We’re not sure why Iowa State’s doing this. ISU draws most of its students from the state of Iowa, where the level of talent is already pretty low–and that’s before all the schools in state pick over the talent. Like some ag tech kid is going to walk onto the field and run a 4.3 out of nowhere? Like the next Brett Favre is slaving away in a computer lab? Come on. Marky Mark’s not walking through that door!
• Nice to see Ana Ivanovic giving herself a good workout Down Under.
• Just like an Iraqi journalist, Chris Webber takes aim at Charles Barkley by chucking a shoe at Chuck.
• With no chance at an NFL career, a former Iowa State RB sadly decides to jump to his death.
• What pumps you up for gametime? For 49er defensive standout Patrick Willis, it’s cold baths & Phil Collins.
Every year, about 65,000 football players complete their college careers, all with hopes to continue their careers in the National Football League. However, only about 300 players ever actually make it to an NFL roster. One of these hopefuls was former Iowa State running back Stevie Hicks.
From 2003 to 2006, Hicks had led the Cyclones in rushing each of the four seasons he played in Ames. And not only was he a star on the field, but well-liked off it, with friends & family recalling how “he was nice to everybody”, and was “really, honestly, truly a good kid.”
Unfortunately, Hicks’ dreams of playing in the pros never came to fruition, not helped by injuries he suffered in his later ISU seasons. And the disappointment of seeing his playing career end was apparently too much to take - so he chose to jump to his death.
One of college football’s preeminent blogs, THE WIZ OF ODDS, digs up the weirdest coaching rumor to come out in awhile - courtesty from KXNO-AM’s Larry Cotlar in Des Moines.
(Bonus: All The Iowa Baby Backs lardass Fulmer Can Handle)
Cotlar claims he heard from a reliable source that recently ousted Tennessee football coach Philip Fulmer is interested in the now-vacant coaching position at Iowa State.
I received a very interesting phone call yesterday. On the line was someone I respect and trust telling me something that I found very intriguing. He told me that he had spoken with former University of Tennessee head football coach Phil Fulmer and that Fulmer had indicated an interest in the Iowa State coaching vacancy.
