Wisconsin @ Iowa Game Blog: Battle for the Heartland Trophy

The Heartland Trophy

9:10am UW’s first drive gets a couple nice first downs, but Sherer was off the entire drive…hopefully nerves. Josh Oglesby is getting dominated on a consistent basis, which is not a good sign.

9:17am 7-0 Iowa. Shonn Greene got to the second level pretty much any time he wanted. Major props to Iowa’s offensive line, which had their way with the Badgers. They got a 3-4 yard push every play and covered linebackers almost every play. It could be a long day if this keeps up.

9:19am Am I crazy to think that the BTN is slightly validated now that both Presidential candidates are airing commercials on the network? Not picking sides…but we’ll keep score. Obama 1 positive, 0 neg. McCain 0 pos, 1 neg.

9:24am Kyle Jefferson doesn’t look the same this year. Just caught an easy out pattern in his chest and fell down immediately. It looks like he doesn’t trust his hands as much as he did last year.

9:25am UW O-line dominated again, as the Badgers can’t get a 2nd-2 or a 3rd-2.

End of 1Q 7-0 Iowa. It’s been all Hawkeyes in the first 15 minutes. Both lines are dominating the line of scrimmage, and that really will be the key today. In these old-school Big Ten games, whoever controls the line of scrimmage and limits turnovers usually wins the game. Neither team has a turnover yet, but chalk up the LOS battle to the Hawkeyes in the first quarter.

9:43am Sherer apparently has a problem throwing the ball away. That’s twice when he’s been pressured and pretty much thrown it straight to a Hawkeye. Note to Dustin…don’t do that.

9:45am Obama 2 positve ads, McCain 1 negative ad

9:51am Another overrated part of football, that Barry Alvarez used to stress all the time, is the hidden yardage. In these throwback games, special teams yards can make all the difference. Wisconsin is about to start their 3rd drive of the day at the 20 yard line or worse. Lots of punting so far, but Iowa is secretly gaining a lot of yards.

9:59am Shonn Greene just showed why Iowa has missed him while he went back to JUCO. He ran through a bunch of arm tackles by the Badgers, including from both safeties, and gave the Hawkeyes a 14-0 lead.

10:03am SHOCKER ALERT! The most fragile fat-ass in college football is hurt again. PJ Hill just limped his way off the field, and hopefully into a backup role for the rest of his career.

10:06am These announcers are excellent, and I’m actually really enjoying listening to them. They are correctly pointing out the little things that make a difference, like when Glen Mason says “Sherer is adding an extra pump before all his passes, causing him to be slightly late.” Or Chris Martin saying, “70,000 people knew where Dustin Sherer was going with that ball. He stared down Beckum the entire time.”

10:13am Travis Beckum…welcome to the game. Nice to see you finally appear with 2 mins left in the half.

10:14 Holy Shit! Sherer threw the ball away!! Wait…hold the celebration, penalty for illegal formation, our 2nd of the day. That’s on the coaching…how do these guys consistently not know where to line up?

10:16am Finally, the Badgers are on the board. In probably their best drive of the day, Wisconsin gets a field goal from Phillip Welch to make it 14-3 Iowa.

10:21am Bielema is calling timeouts at the end of the half. This appears to be crazy considering his offense can barely move the ball. But give the man credit, he’s not conceding anything to his alma mater. But he could give Gilreath a shot at one more punt return, which is always dangerous.

HALF 14-3 Iowa. Well, that certainly wasn’t the Badgers best half of football. The lines for Iowa are in complete control of this game. The Badger linebackers haven’t made many plays, but to their credit they’ve been getting covered up pretty well by the Hawkeye o-line getting to the second level. So what snap, irrational judgements can I make as of right now….Shonn Greene has too many double letters in his name, and he belongs in the NFL. Dustin Sherer is not a D1 quarterback, maybe not even D1AA (FCS). PJ Hill is finally where he belongs…on the bench.
Not to toot my own horn…but here’s some proof on my hidden yards comment. Iowa only has 30 more yards at halftime. UW leads in Time of Possession, by 3 mins and has run 13 more plays that the Hawkeyes. UW has converted 44% of 3rd downs to Iowa’s 25%. Both teams have 10 first downs. Iowa leads this game 14-3. Hidden yards are the difference in this game. Toot fucking toot.

10:47am Damnit Comcast…my screen goes grey for a split second about every three seconds. You have no idea how annoying this is. Big stop by the Badger D.

10:48am My BOY! #85 David Gilreath just got a seam…but got tackled by the kicker. I don’t think anyone in college football has been caught by the kicker as much as DG…but I still love him. Badgers have come out to play in the second half….and penalty. That’s more like it.

10:52am A pass to Beckum leaves the Badgers with 4th-3, and Phillip Welch nails his second field goal of the day. 14-6 Iowa. Now that I think of it, with as terrible as Phillip Welch was throughout the spring and particularly in the spring game, he’s my most improved for the Badgers this year.

10:58am Obama 3 positive ads, McCain 1 negative ad.

11:04am Another stalled drive in the red zone for the Badgers, but Welch proves reliable again chipping another field goal in to cut the lead to 14-9 Iowa. UW is looking much improved, but field goals will not win this game. We need some tugs.

11:08am Personal foul on Casillas the thug for late hit on the passer. I swear to you, there is no dumber player in the Big Ten than Jonathon Casillas. Not book smarts, but just general stupidity. He is second on my list behind PJ Hill of people I hate that everyone else loves.

11:10am Shonn Greene. Touchdown. Demoralizing is an understatement. The Hawkeyes caught the Badgers in a blitz and ran a perfectly executed draw play. Greene went untouched for 52 yards and his 3rd touchdown.

11:20am So there were just offsetting penalties on a punt…and I’m pretty sure the refs messed that one up, because they moved the Badgers back 15 yards. Which is wrong if the penalties are offsetting. Either way, some guy named Paki just blocked the punt…and Brad Nortman’s miserable freshman season continues. Excellent.

11:23am IT’S OFFICIAL…the wheels have come off of Bucky’s Bandwagon. Play action with a ridiculous 1-handed catch by a big TE for the Hawkeyes. One move and he’s taking it to the house. 28-9 Iowa.

11:27am Josh Oglesby…welcome to college football. I know you were thrown into the LT position by an injury to Carimi…but please try to get a hand on someone…anyone. Two plays in a row, you got beat off the edge without touching the guy…not good.

END 3rd Quarter 28-9 Iowa. This one is pretty much Britney’s career right now. The wheels came off, you know it’s over, but there is part of you that won’t give up hope on that epic comeback. I hate that part of myself right now.

11:41am Sherer stares down Beckum on 3rd down for the 84th time today…aaaaannnnddd picked. Anyone surprised?

11:46am Obama 3 positive ads, McCain 2 negative ads

11:47am Christina Aguilera just made another hit record to rub it in Britney’s face…. Errrr, Shonn Greene just ran for his 4thTouchdown today. 35-9 Iowa. Anyone that wants to tackle him today is welcome to join the Badgers.

11:51am Sherer stares down Beckum…Pat Angerer picks him off. Where have I seen this before? By the way, Pat Angerer, Iowa’s MLB, is having himself a GAME! 16 tackles and two picks so far. I’m sure there is some joke about being angry right here, but I’m too dejected to think of it. Where’s my drink?

11:58am Field Goal…38-9 Iowa. Obama 4 positive ads, McCain 2 negative ads. Tolzien in the game, white flag waved. And as I say that…Zach Brown Touchdown. Granted he carved up the backups for Iowa, but good for him. He’s been forgotten with the success of Clay, and he’s reminding the coaches why he’s a valuable commodity. 38-16 Iowa.

FINAL 38-16 Iowa. Shonn Greene went for over 200 yards and 4 TDs. Pat Angerer had 16 tackles and 2 INTs. I’m gonna go out on a limb and name them the players of the game. Wisconsin continues its downward spiral, dropping to 0-4 in conference play and 3-4 overall. Iowa wins two conference games in a row for the first time in a while. Obama outspent McCain 2-1, but McCain went all negative and Obama was all positive. Shonne Greene gave his O-line props during the postgame interview, and rightfully so, he wasn’t touched very often today.

This One Time on the Band Bus...

Is it me, or does the Wisconsin Marching Band make you think that all those band camp stories from the American Pie movies are pretty much dead on? The letter sent out by the school this week verified what we all knew was probably true...people got drunk and stupid on a bus like college kids do, and someone shockingly got offended. This isn't a post to make fun of the offended party...we're not that mean. No, F&BT merely wants to highlight the stupidity of the band members. As fun as the trip may have been, any time you have to start a story with, "This one time, on the band bus...", you should probably just quit talking right there. Unless you're as hot as Alyson Hannigan....then you may continue of course.

Alas, the 5th Quarter will be happening this Saturday night, as the band has been reinstated. And if you think about it, Brett Bielema has got to be the happiest person on earth. Of the two major home games which would be recruiting target weekends, to not have a band at either game, which adds an incredible amount of electricity to the stadium and makes the students exponentially more engaged in the game, would have been disastrous. Props to Mike Leckrone and Lori Berquam for getting the band back on the field.

My 100% Bias Post: I Still Think Iowa's Pretty Good

While watching (or attending) every Hawkeye game this year, I can't help but think the team is pretty good. However, a couple days after the game I wonder if I'm totally nuts. Here's what I know so far:

1. Stanzi > Christensen. Sure, Ricky needs some time to develop, but there's no doubt he has a far greater upside than Jake.
2. Shonn Greene is a beast. If he is healthy, he could be the best back in the Big10.
3. The Hawkeyes have played well enough to be 6-0 (3 losses by 9 points combined is tough to stomach)
4. Turnovers and Red Zone Inefficiency will kill a team's momentum, confidence, and record.

Thinking about this team makes me feel like Ed Norton in Fight Club or Bruce Willis in 12 Monkeys, constantly questioning my sanity. Obviously, after a 3-3 start, I've got to re-think my initial projections. I can honestly see this team winning-out if they can take care of the goddam ball in the red zone. But, who knows, that could be crazy-talk. Maybe they won't win another game.

PS - Last week's game did nothing to improve my opinion of Michigan State. I still think they're the most consistently overrated team in the Big10 and maybe the nation (possible contenders are Clemson and Arizona State). I have no respect for MSU, and I'll take that to my grave. Remember Rob Lowe's plan to "stop the trucks...stop Tommy Boy", well, without a Javon Ringer freakout, MSU is not a nationally ranked team. In fact, they're incredibly mediocre. Stop Javon Ringer...stop Sparty!

The Journey: J Leman Refuses to Give It Up

Am I wrong? Is it not weird that he's all over this show? The guy was a great player last year, and certainly deserved to be honored as one of the school's 10 best linebackers on Saturday...but what in the name of Glenn Mason is he doing on this TV show again? (sidenote: Glenn Mason is an announcer for the BTN now. Do you think he rubs it in people's faces in Minnesota when he eventually goes there for a game? Do you think the BTN ever assigns him to a Gopher game? I would definitely watch Mason talk about how far Minny has fallen since he left and Timmay! took over.) Anyway, the interview with Leman wouldn't have been bad at the alumni luncheon...if that was the first time we saw him. But good ol' J managed to make his own uninvited, incredibly awkward entrance in the scene where the equipment manager was comparing the old-school helmets to the current ones. Leman just sort of walked into the picture, out of nowhere, stood there, smiled, and gave his qualified approval of the old-school uniforms. All this after showing up in the intro of the first episode to talk about the 2007 season and what he expects from the 2008 Illini. My big thing is, why?

This isn't 2007. I feel bad for Leman that he's not on an NFL roster right now, but showing up on a BTN program at your old school on a weekly basis is like going on The Surreal Life to revive your acting career...it's nothing but downhill. Just like the Surreal Life cast members are pretty much doomed to only appearances on other terrible VH1 shows (Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, anyone?), J Leman may be doomed to nothing more than a college legend that couldn't let go. This guy should be working to shape the next phase of his career or life, not hanging on to a team and program that is clearly moving on without him. And that's what it seems like Leman is doing, hanging on. It's fine if he is there to work out while waiting for another shot at the NFL, or if he's getting enough credits for his degree. But J, please...please!...try to avoid the cameras that are following the team. It makes you look a little sad, and takes some of the luster off your great college career.

On the other hand, I almost would love the show even more if the BTN kept showing him every week...kind of in the way that you cheer for crashes in NASCAR.

Other quick-hit thoughts from this weeks show:
1) Juice Williams is a dad? I legitimately did not know this. Also, did anyone else get the feeling that his girlfriend let him get away with not doing many of the chores just because she knows a payday is coming sometime soon?
2)The Zooker says "dad-gum" quite often. Pretty much in every speech he gave, it was "dad-gum this" or "dad-gum that". Does he never swear in general or is he simply just aware of the cameras?
3) Those throwback unis were sweet. I feel like this is true for a lot of teams, and makes you wonder why some teams ever upgraded in the first place?
4) The Zooker was dead-on in his speeches at halftime and after the game. The guy is a great motivator and certainly knew exactly how to handle those situations. Props.