Iowa Notes

[TIME TO MAKE $$$]

Iowa enters the bowl game on a nine-game win streak and last defeated Minnesota, 45-21, on November 16 in the Metrodome. Iowa is ranked No. 5 in the BCS, while holding down a consensus No. 3 ranking in the Associated Press and ESPN/Coaches Polls. Highlighting Iowa's 11-1 regular season were major conference road victories at then No. 8 Michigan, 34-9, on October 26 and then No. 12 Penn State, 42-35, on September 26. Iowa's lone setback on the year came out-of-conference vs. Iowa State, 36-31, on September 14. Iowa's 11 wins in 2002 broke the school-record mark of 10 previously set on three occasions.

In the postseason the Hawkeyes are 9-7-1 in bowl games and last defeated Texas Tech in the 2001 Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, TX. Iowa's last New Year's bowl game appearance came in the 1990 Rose Bowl against Washington. "It's interesting that you have the co-champs from the Big Ten and the Pac-10 playing in the Orange Bowl," commented Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz. "It's such a great ball game. We're co-champs of our conference. To play a team like USC, what a great challenge and great opportunity it is for our football team.

"We felt good about the progress of our football team last year, and knew this year we would have great senior leadership and would need some younger players to step in and fill some voids. Probably as much as anything, the win at Penn State, I think our team demonstrated the confidence it takes to win and play at a high level.

"Not playing since November 16, we had a great opportunity for our team to relax and enjoy what they worked so hard to accomplish over the course of the regular season. We got back to work this past Monday. I'm confident that we have a good plan and follow it, we'll be ready to go when the New Year comes around."

"We are honored to have been selected to play in the FedEx Orange Bowl," said Iowa Athletic Director Bob Bowlsby. "The rich tradition of the bowl and the quality of the opponent make us doubly proud to be involved. Additionally, I believe it is a genuine tribute to our coaches and student-athletes to be selected first in the BCS process."

 

[TIME TO MAKE $$$]

bump

 

[Grama]

TTM$?

How much does not playing since November come into play here?

How much weight do we put in the Big 10 vs Pac 10 bowl performance this year?

 

[ChuckyTheGoat]

Time:

Lots of Hawkeye fans made the trip. Should be about 3:1 ratio Hawkeye fans: Trojan fans.

GL

 

[TIME TO MAKE $$$]

thanks for the info guys, I really want to nail these last 2 games hard. Was their last game played on October 31st? or am I wrong here?

Man I feel like its World Cup season again!!!!

 

[wondo]

I really like Iowa in this one. Plus I think you have an added value (if you're an Iowa backer) of having Palmer win the Heisman. I think there is value wit playing them on the moneyline. After reading DTB's posts over the past few years on Bowl ML dogs, and watching the games, it seems like everything holds true. Within the first few minutes, you can tell which team has come to play and which hasn't. With a few exceptions (perhaps forseen? ie. Air Force) most of the dogs seem to be evenly matched and can outplay their opponent and win..... With such chance for anyteam to get blown out, it seems like playing fav's minus the points or dogs on the ml seems to be the way to go.

one very insignificant but interesting place to chekc out is ESPN.com's Bowl Picks. Everyone picks games straight up and ESPN adjusts their 'points' to reflect the percentage of people that pick a certain team -- the lower the #, the more people picked them.... anyway, it's kind of interesting, although its tought to really get a usuable trend from the numbers..... fwiw, iowa is about 50% picked as a straight up winner, no spread.

yo chucky -- good to see you -- don't hear much from ya until baseball . i've heard its the year of the goat (going to the restaurant charlie chiangs' party on jan 25 in arlington, anyone else???) so i hope the year of the goat might bring you some additional luck!

later

 

[Fluk]

TTM$ -
I believe Iowa's last game was on November 16, which is almost 7 weeks ago. I definitely think that will have some effect in the sharpness of their play, especially in the beginning of the game. I do like the points they are receiving, but you have to respect USC (who I believe was playing as good as football at end of season as anyone). Seems most Madjacker's might be on Iowa, I know we all want to hit these last 2 big and end on a good note.

What ya think?

Good luck
Fluk

 

[TIME TO MAKE $$$]

Damn commentators said Oct 31st....

In the last game I will be over OSU, +13 is just too many points when you have two undefeated teams that are both hungry for the championship. I said it before and I will say it again, who ever wants it more will win it, they are both talented teams and it can go either way.

But for the life of me I can't make my mind up who to take in regards to the Orange bowl.
:shrug:

This one could be a blowout by USC, and it could also come down to a fg. Just a matter of selecting the right side. A pass might be the best play for me.

 

[ChuckyTheGoat]

wondo:
Year of the Goat? Had no idea. Maybe that's a good sign. Hope that doesn't mean they cook goat and feast on goat for all of 2003.

Time:
I'm messing around w/ Iowa 1st qtr and Iowa 1st half for this game. Very good 1st half team. Avg 1st half score: Iowa 23-8 this yr. Trailed only one gm at half (Purdue).

GL, guys.

 

[TIME TO MAKE $$$]

But Chucky they haven't played in 7 weeks, so be careful with that one.. I expect USC to be quick out of the gate....Looking for the deep bomb.

But what do I know...

 

[ddubs]

I think I'll put in my 2 cents here......

Like TTM$ says, who wants it more will likely win the game. But I think Iowa's players, especially D is going at this game with the wrong approach. They've been talking a lot of trash after Palmer took the Heisman ahead of Banks. They talked about hitting him hard, legally and illegally, hurting him, knocking him out of the game because they feel that Banks deserved the trophy more than him. This is a quote from Cole, their 2nd-team All-American DT: "We're going to get hats on him, pile on him, wear him down, because he's not used to being hit," and Hodges says "If I'm going 100%, and I hit the quarterback with a late hit, I'm not mad at myself." LB Barr says "We're going to hit Palmer. We're going to try to knock him out of the game."

The real question is......will they get to Palmer enough times to even make him flinch?? Norm Chow's offensive playbook consists of a lot of quick strikes, 3 step drops, and let the receivers earn their YAC's. USC's only allowed 22 sacks this season, 2 in their last 2 games, including only 1 vs the Irish. If they are all just gonna have the tunnel vision on getting to Palmer and hurting him, they're not gonna be as aware of the other 10 guys on the field, and Norm Chow and his offense are gonna have a field day.

USC, on the other hand, have been working to get back respect since the embarrasing loss to Utah in last year's Las Vegas Bowl. They played the toughest schedule this year after going thru a grueling conditioning program in the off season. It was a surprise to the players how well they've played this season but they want to win this game more than anything to show everyone how far they've come.

There're a lot of other things I'd like to get into, but need to hit the hay, so maybe I'll add more tomorrow. If I were to pick a side it would be USC, but I'm really liking the Over here, because I think Iowa won't be able to contain Chow's (not Palmer's) offense. Besides their passing game, they've got some real good backs in Sultan, the fastest man in Pac-10, and Fargas, a quick but bruising back. I don't think they'll have problems scoring against Iowa.

Iowa should also do well here, because they also have very good passing game with Banks and rushing game with Russel. Banks's mobility should present a real problem to USC's D. Their 2 losses were to similar QB's in KSt's Roberson and Wazu's Gesser, who was 100% at that point.

But who knows?? Chances are the refs are gonna have a say in the final outcome in this game. Maybe I'll just watch the game, but most likely I'll have some dough on the Over, especially now it has started to move down.

Enough rambling, Good luck tomorrow, guys.

 

[Statman02]

how tough a schedule can you play ? USC had ten (count em ten bowl teams on a 12 game schedule)
Notre Dame
UCLA
Az St
Oregon
Washington
Wash St
Ore St
Kan ST
Colorado
Auburn

ok Iowa played 7
Minn
Wisc
Mich
Purd
Penn St
Iowa St

The implication is that So Cal played a bunch of bowl losers and Iowa beat a bunch of bowl winners.....lets roll with Iowa.....LOL

 

[aldabra]

talking heads agree

talking heads agree

Add to the mix Lee Corso and Herbstreet both like Iowa to upset......now I can lean towards USC and over....

 

[Grama]

the PAC 10 bowl season has looked horrible, with oregon, oregon st, wash, and wash st getting their brains beat in. usc's big wins are against these same teams and notre dame, who also had their asses handed to them.

big 10 has been surprising, but now the Iowa wins over wis and minn, each of who won their bowls (minn dominated), is more impressive.

still undecided

 

[joebell]

If you can find a prop bet dealing with a score in the first ___minutes I would hammer it. Iowa will score on its first drive, layoff - no-layoff, it doesn't matter...they will score,period

I can't seem to find the stat but they have scored on their first drive almost every game this year...

ON IOWA AND GO HAWKS

 

[ChuckyTheGoat]

Agree w/ joebell. Iowa is a quick starting team. Looks like they scored 1st in all but one of their gms this yr.

Here's what I'm trying:
Iowa 1st score(+135)
Iowa 1st qtr(+0.5) -110
Iowa 1st half(+3.5) +100

Time is right about the bomb, though. More you look at it, there's one mismatch in this game: USC Pass offense vs Iowa pass defense. USC's QB and WRs are pro players; Iowa's DBs are probably not pros imo.

 

[bigplaymakerjoe]

There might have been a lot of iowa fans make the trip, but TV reports, there will be many more USC fans in the stadium then Iowa fans. so 3:1 yes, but USC 3 fans to IOWA 1

 

[JCDunkDogs]

Re: talking heads agree

Re: talking heads agree

Add to the mix Lee Corso and Herbstreet both like Iowa to upset......now I can lean towards USC and over....

Don't you love those guys? Last year, Herbstreit was brilliant as a "go against him" play. This year, it was Corso's turn to play "contra-indicator."

I'm playing the OVER because, in addition to the many fine points being made on this forum regarding the OVER, I believe that:
a) at least one of these fine offensive machines is going to score their season average of middle 30s in points,
b) there will be one or two special teams big play/debacles (always good for an OVER), since IOWA is very good in the kicking game, and USC has a frosh punter and is mediocre at coverage, and
c) big games like this tend to get out of hand once the dam breaks, and there's a good chance it will for one or the other of these teams. ("Panic in the park," as one handicapper put it).

 

[ferdville]

I think Iowa's outright taunting of Palmer and their admitted desire to hurt him legally or otherwise is certainly not likely to help them.. They have said this out loud - Carroll knows it and the officials know it. They will be less likely to give them slack, though that is just an opinion. Who knows what the zebras will do? However, if Iowa puts too much effort into downing Palmer, Fargas will kill them up the middle. He has a great burst of speed even though he isn't the breakaway threat that McCullough is. As mentioned previously, USC seldom uses 5 or 7 step drawback for QB. Lots of plusses for both sides on this one.