Sunday, August 31, 2008

Upgrade

Just for fun, let's move a$m into the "Toss Up" category from the "Probable Loss" group.

Peterclone

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Positive Sign

If I'm reading the drive charts correctly, Kent State only passed the BC 40 once, on their last possesion of the game, and were picked off.

While the ISU defense is a long way from BC's, I'll take tonight's result as a positive sign for next week.

Peterclone

Easy

From what I've seen this weekend, there's no excuse for SUI to not be 5-0 when they head to East Lansing.

Quality teams don't lose home games to MAC opponents, right? Right?

Peterclone

Friday, August 29, 2008

Same Old

Granted, Wake Forest is a wee bit better than SDSU, but Baylor didn't have the opener they hoped for.

Baylor is still eyeing ISU as their best chance for a B12 win. Until ISU shows me it can play competitive football on the road, I concur.

The Bears are also going to dumb down their schedule beginning in 2010. Unless you can get huge guarrentees to play on the road, load up on cream puffs. Just make sure they are cream puffs you can beat.


Peterclone

Thursday, August 28, 2008

It's Been A While

October '05 was the last time ISU stuck it to someone like that.

a$m 42-14
ksu 45-17

Granted, they were conference wins against Big Time Football schools, but after getting pushed around by a very good UNI team in last year's opener, taking the wood to someone is a good start.

I'm glad I was able to listen to John and Eric, as I haven't memorized the depth chart and I need to be told if a guy is first, second or third team. Lots of #2's and #3's got to play, and that's the point.

A big yardstick game next week, boys. No shortage of motivation.

Peterclone

Is He or Isn't He?

Put him in coach!

Schaub has overcome offseason surgery to his non-throwing shoulder to return to his starting role at quarterback. The Texans are hopeful with a healthy Andre Johnson in the mix, Schaub can play at the level they hoped when they traded two second-round picks to Atlanta for his services. If Schaub struggles early, there could be trouble in the fan base. Sage Rosenfels went 3-1 in the final stretch of last season, and there was a growing concern in Houston that he should have at least been able to compete for the starting job this year. Coach Gary Kubiak refers to Rosenfels as a starter and says the team is lucky to have him and Schaub. But Schaub is the Texans’ No. 1 guy, and he has proven when he is on that he can make good decisions and get rid of the ball with ease. The main problem is simply keeping him healthy and keeping him on the field.


Sage won games in a tough spot, and he's cheap by NFL standards. He will never wow you in drills, and doesn't have "upside", but he knows how to manage a dang game. The point isn't to show potential, but to win.

Sometimes the best guy doesn't get to play. It's good to know there are politics in every job.

Peterclone

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Arrowhead

I may have read the news reports incorrectly, and ISU's deal with Arrowhead is for $1.8M + gate for two games.

That's less of a deal than I first wrote, and if ISU goes 0-2, not worth doing, IMHO.

Peterclone

SDSU

In light of how '07 started, it would be foolhardy to get greedy with projection for this year. We should really try to walk before we run.

That said, I would really like a nice, boring, workmanlike win over SDSU Thursday. No flash, no blitzes, no double-reverse baloney. Basic schemes. The same 10 plays run 7 times each. Lots of reps for the second team. An unispiring but white-knuckle free 24-10 win.

My over/under for the season is 5 wins. 6-6 and I'm probably giddy. There will be a crazy "upset" in Ames. We'll find a way to lose in Waco. It will be that kind of year.

Peterclone

Odds and Ends

Ron Maly reminices about hoops in the Armory.

Rick Brown plays golf with LE. (Sorry about the delay on posting that.)

If Men's Hoops can't hit .500 this year, we can't blame the schedule.

CU has a problem with their neutral site game with CSU.

Bret Bielema is a chicken after all.

A fun diversion: Bring back the SWC. Cheating optional.

ISU appears on the list of Best and Worst B12 hires and fires. I'm again reminded how low the our bar is in the eyes of the league.

Major Hat Tip to the Wizard.

It's good to have full-time football back.

Peterclone

Friday, August 22, 2008

When The Bandwagon Empties...

...get out of the way, or you might get hurt.

It appears that one of the most insufferable SUI fans may have jumped ship.

Oh the humanity. Who will we make fun of now?

Peterclone

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Dollars

So the Newspaper Kohl's Depends On is reporting that Iowa State has agreed to play KSU twice in KC for $1.8 M plus 40% of what should be a sold-out gate.

From a financial standpoint, ISU cleans up. My back-of-the-napkin figures are that ISU grosses $2M or so per home game, so even a lousy KC crowd breaks even. I'm sure the cash from what would have been a trip to KSU is ten fold what they normally get for a B12 roadie, so its as if ISU picked up an extra home game in 2010 from a financial standpoint.

Too bad the game is in a town that ISU fan hates driving to, and ISU fan refuses to drink a touch of the fire water in that city, either. It might be tough to turn out both ISU alumni who live there, too.

Really, if a promoter can get that kind of money for a B12 game, ISU should move all of their games against KU, KSU and Mizzou to Arrowhead. It would be like the Packer's schedule back in the day when they played a couple "home" games in Milwaukee each year.

Then again, if ISU loses the 2009 game in what could have been a win in Ames, the cash might not be such a good idea.

It's all about the Benjamins.

Peterclone

ed note- I fixed an incorrect year above.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Bad Math

There has to be a mountain of jokes about this promotion, along the lines of "lottery players and Iowa State fans both have a poor grasp of how long their odds of winning are."

If you can't make fun of your own....

Peterclone

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Near Miss

Not a good recruiting start for Minny's Brewster.

Then again, he didn't want the ISU job.

ISU wearing a similar gold/gold monstrosity would have been worse than his hiring.

Peterclone

Inverse Correlation

There's a logic to winning football teams having an easier time http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifattracting kids to play in their band.

But ISU has been marching 300 kids in their band for most of this decade, without the winning football to back it up.

You could say the band is holding up their end of the equation. Now it's the football team's turn.

Peterclone

Next In Line?

Has it really gotten so bad in IC that articles like this actually seem rational? And a sidebar titled "Next In Line" has quality names in it?

I don't think it's that bad on Melrose Ave., but then I haven't had any dreams of a national championship lately, either. For what the black and gold folks are spending on football, they have a right to expect at least nine wins each year, and especially no losses to a half-assed football program like our beloved Silo Tech.

SUI fan expects a National Championship, and they should start cycling through coaches until they find the one who can bring them the title they so richly deserve. They should get what they're paying for.

KF, you're on the clock.

Peterclone

More of the Same

Hey- I'm back on the grid only to find that Nebraska fan thinks that only one year removed from The Great Callahan Meltdown things will return to their version of normal.

No chance your team will neeed a year or two to adjust, eh?

Peterclone

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Going Offline

I will be off the grid, literally, for the next couple of weeks.

Some of my time will be spent feeding my Cyclone agnst by watching my video collection of all of our most painful moments- Sam Hill's phantom travel, Mizzou '04, Hampton, the Missed FG against 'Bama, Michigan State '00, etc, etc, etc.

Wallowing in the suffering helps me appreciate every tiny success. More fans should do it. Humility is in short supply.

Chat amongst yourselves. See you on the other side.

Peterclone

Sunday, August 03, 2008

Random Bits

They like us! They really like us! Or at least they don't hate us. Our low ratio of idiots to the fanbase as a whole certainly helps.

Sage Rosenfels has a shot at starting in Houston. Nice backgrounder here.

Barney Cotton lands on his feet. I'm sure his experience working with 2-star talent in Ames will help him appreciate the 4-star talent he is working with now.

Alvin Bowen gets hurt at Bills camp. He may be out for the season. Great shot of Alvin here.

Peterclone

Stick to The Basics

Keeler trots out a number of football chestnuts, but he does go to the trouble of having a few stats to back things up.

The interesting one is turnover differential. The last five years ISU has been on the plus side of turnovers, they've gone bowling. 8 of 9 B12 schools did the same last year.

I've always suspected turnover margin was a sign of good or bad football, but those numbers really back it up.

Walk before running, boys.

Peterclone

Best. Unis. Ever.

No white. No blue. Old School shoulder stripes. A nod to the Earle Bruce years in color and design.

Now if we can win enough games to keep this look around.

Peterclone