Iowa football fans aren’t too high on their team right now, but they have no idea what real pain is. Yes, the last two weeks have been brutal. They lost to a FBS team dressed up as a FCS power two weeks ago and then beat lowly irrelevant Rutgers in a fashion so unimpressive that it pretty much felt like a loss.
On top of that, they recently learned that their head coach is now college football’s equivalent of Arsene Wenger, the boss at Premier League club Arsenal; in power for life.
It’s not that Iowa football Kirk Ferentz is a bad coach, it’s just that like Wenger, he is cemented into that position, win or lose, high or low, until he decides he wants to leave.
Of course, the Hawkeyes woes are mere child’s play compared to what’s going on with EVERY team close to the city of Chicago.
Notre Dame– preseason top 10 in some power rankings, currently 1-3, lost to the only team that Northwestern has been able to beat.
Northwestern– coming off a 10 win season, they had their first four at home. At the end of September they’re 1-3 and again posses one of the worst scoring offenses in the nation.
Illinois– The Lovie Smith hire brought excitement and relevancy to the program that we haven’t seen since the Rose Bowl year of 2007. Week two saw the first sellout in half a decade. They’re winless against the FBS.
Northern Illinois– Have reached their conference title game the past six years. Now 0-4, with a loss to a lowly FCS opponent, and a QB1 out for the season.
That’s 3-12 combined.
TV: Kickoff is at 11 a.m. (CT) on ESPNU
SPREAD: Iowa Football -12
Radio: Here’s my segment on 1620 The Zone, KOZN Omaha previewing this game
Iowa Football Preview:
We learned just yesterday that leading receiver Matt VandeBerg his out for the season with a broken foot. He might be able to return for a bowl game, but he also might look into appealing the NCAA to get another year of eligibility.
He’ll be missed as C.J. Beathard leads a team that might need to start revising downward their season expectations. This will be their first B1G West game, so a return to Indianapolis is still there’s for the taking, but as the last two weeks have taught us, this current team is a far cry from the Iowa Hawkeyes of 2015.
Beathard definitely finished first in one area though- compelling interview story at B1G Media Day. This year’s edition of B1G Media Day was as dry and dull as any we’ve seen recently, but Beathard’s Donald Trump story, linked here, is a must read.
Hey, the Republican Presidential nominee called Beathard the next Tom Brady. Given how the Monday night’s debate was the most watched of all time (84 million viewers), now’s the time to revisit the Trumpian tale.
Fact checking all this hot garbage may end up crashing the entire internet tonight #debates #debatenight
— Paul M. Banks (@PaulMBanks) September 27, 2016
doubt the #debates will change my vote from Human Press Release to Dystopic Alternate Reality 1985 Biff Tannen in "Back to the Future 2"
— Paul M. Banks (@PaulMBanks) September 27, 2016
The Iowa football player to watch is reigning Jim Thorpe Award (nation’s best defensive back) winner Desmond King. Here’s audio of an interview at this link.
King will face a Northwestern offense that’s putting up dreadful numbers. The average just 16.3 points per game, last in the Big Ten by a touchdown. Their 3.1 yards per rush is next to last, while NU’s passing efficiency is also penultimate.
Ouch.
Northwestern Preview:
You see those brutal offensive numbers above, and you can understand why Wildcats fans are clamoring for the dismissal of NU Offensive Coordinator Mick McCall. This is not anything new, supporters have been calling for his head for the past three or four seasons.
It’s not going to happen though. Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald is extremely loyal to him and the rest of his staff. The case to replace McCall has been extremely strong since 2013 or 2014, but it still hasn’t happened.
You now look at what Trevor Siemian is doing in the NFL with the Denver Broncos, and wonder why he wasn’t dominant in college, and that only makes the case stronger.
McCall is kind of like the offensive version of Brian VanGorder, who Notre Dame just dismissed on Sunday. Like the situation with BVG and ND, jettisoning McCall still doesn’t fix all the other issues at work here.
NU’s offensive line is banged up, and even healthy it’s inexperienced and just not talented. I’m not sure anyone can really do much with that OL, but it certainly doesn’t help that Northwestern is relatively predictable to scheme against.
For Northwestern fans, there was plenty of cause for alarm Saturday night as we saw a ton of mistakes that conveyed a serious lack of discipline. So this week, Pat Fitzgerald will look to harshly instill some tough love in his Northwestern football team this week. Expect some very rough and tough practices this week in Evanston. (Here’s a link to more on that)
“These guys better figure it out pretty quick,” Fitzgerald said.
“They gotta walk out of the locker room, hug whoever they love, they better wake up and get ready to get their rear ends coached off this week.”
“That’s what’s going to happen, because I’m not going to sit here and I’m not going to take it.”
The topic came up again Monday in Fitzgerald’s weekly presser and you’ve just got to see his reaction in this video. His facial expressions and body language is just priceless.
We do have some positive Northwestern news though. Former Linebacker Napoleon Harris, who went on to have a solid NFL career with three different teams is now an Illinois state senator and small business owner.
Read this tale of Harris fighting off four individuals who tried to mug him, and then helped the police track down his assailants; who happened to murder suspects!
Then read what Fitzgerald had to say when we asked him about his friend and contemporary Harris on the B1G call!
Also, Austin Carr leads the Big Ten in receiving and receiving yards. Here’s a link to more on him.
Prediction: Iowa football 17, Northwestern Wildcats 14
The Wildcats defense, hyped up quite a bit this preseason, has actually turned out to be rather average when you look at the numbers at stats. Their kicking game is in absolute shambles. Normally, I would pick NU to pull off the upset here; because Iowa has been a team, up until the last couple years, that they’ve been able to consistently beat, despite the record disparity.
If there was a league power they would usually upset in a given year, it’s the Iowa Hawkeyes (2009! #NeverForget)
Not this time though; there are just too many problems with NU, and the Iowa Hawkeyes thorough pasting of the cats at Ryan Field last season is still too fresh in my mind.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication and Bold Global.
He also consistently appears on numerous radio and television talk shows all across the country. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram and Sound Cloud.