Some of the Odd makers have Iowa is a 20 to 1 odd to becoming BCS Champions this year.

Iowa has one of the nations best defensive lines as well as having most of the defense from last year back.

Iowa’s offense is mostly back with a big question mark on the offensive line. If Iowa can put together the right combination of players for the offensive line then Iowa will have a strong shot of becoming Big Ten Champs as well as a shot of playing in a BCS game this year.

Iowa could have a strong case for the BCS National Championship game this year with a healthy strong team. Could we see a glimpse of the 1985 football team again this year as well?

And the winner is the Green Bay Packers. Green Bay Packers drafted Bryan last night during the NFL Draft in New York City. He is also going the wear the number 75 for the Packers and help protect Aaron Rodgers. With his speed and size, he will be a great fit with Green bay. Good Luck Bryan.

Here is the depth chart for the Spring Practice that is scheduled on Saturday April 17th at 1 PM.

SE – DJK/Sandeman
WR – McNutt, K. Davis
QB – Stanzi, Vandenberg
RB – Rogers, White
FB – Morse, Leppert
TE – Reisner, Herman
LT – Reiff, Tobin
LG – Vandervelde, Orne
C – Koeppel/Ferentz
RG – Gettis, Hundertmark
RT – Zusevics, Van Sloten

K – Murray/Mossbrucker

DE – Clayborn, Daniel
DT – Klug, Nardo
DT – Ballard, Daniels
DE – Binns, Forgy
OLB – T. Nielsen, Petersen
MLB – Tarpinian, B. Davis
WLB – Hunter, Johnson
CB – Prater, Castillo
CB – Hyde, Bernstine
SS – N. Nielsen, Steinbrecher
FS – Swanson, Donatell

P – Donahue, Guthrie

Injuries are listed below.
Paki O’Meara – knee sprain
Brandon Wegher – should sprain
Lance Tillison – fractured hand
Nolan MacMillan – sports hernia surgery

Players that are being held out of practice this Saturday.
Jewel Hampton
Adam Robinson
Paul Chaney
Tyler Sash
Brett Greenwood

The Iowa Hawkeyes spring football practice started at 4:20 PM yesterday and will finish up on April 17th with the open practice at Kinnick Stadium. I will post the Spring Depth Chart later.

The Iowa Hawkeyes defeated the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets 24-14 last night in the Orange Bowl. Iowa finish the season 11-2. This is the second time in history and under Coach Kirk Ferentz that Iowa finished the season with 11 wins.

This is also Iowa’s first BCS bowl win and first win against an ACC team in nine attempts.

Iowa is going to the Orange Bowl in Miami Florida on Jan. 5th, 2010. It was I little nervous seeing the Fiesta Bowl going against what they said by not picking Iowa.

#10 Iowa (10-2) will be facing #9 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (11-2). The Yellow Jacket won the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) championship game against the Clemson Tigers. So the Hawkeyes will be facing the best team from the Atlantic Coast Conference.

The Hawkeyes have just under a month to prepare for Georgia Tech’s triple option offense that help them win the ACC this year.

The Hawkeyes are now starting to see the rewards for finishing the season 10-2. This is just the fourth time the Hawkeyes had finished with ten or more victories under coach Ferentz.

Iowa had a league high ten players selected by the media and by the coaches for their teams. Penn State had the second high number of players selected followed by Ohio State.

Iowa also received two other rewards as well.

Coach Ferentz was named the Coach of the Year for the third time by the media. He won this honor in 2002 and 2004 seasons.

Junior offensive tackle Bryan Bulaga received the Offensive Lineman of the Year award by the conference’s coaches.

Hawkeyes earning coaches first team honors were offensive guard Dace Richardson, offensive tackle Bryan Bulaga, tight end Tony Moeaki, defensive end Adrian Clayborn, linebacker Pat Angerer as well as defensive backs Tyler Sash and Amari Spievey.

Hawkeyes earning coaches second team honors were wide receiver Derrell Johnson-Koulianos, offensive center Rafael Eubanks, and linebacker A. J. Edds.

Hawkeyes earning media first team honors were Bryan Bulaga, Adrian Clayborn, Pat Angerer, and Tyler Sash.
Hawkeyes earning media second team honors were Rafael Eubanks, Dace Richardson, Tony Moeaki, Amari Spievey, offensive tackle Kyle Calloway, defensive back Brett Greenwood.

Congratulations to all of the Hawkeyes who were named to the teams as well as Coach Ferentz for his third coach of the year award.

Next season looks very promising for the Hawkeyes with a possible run for the Big Ten Title and another chance to win ten or more games again. This should make any Hawkeye fan proud and energized for next season.

Coach Todd Lickliter is under a lot of pressure going into Friday’s game against Bowling Green. Not just the normal pressure of being a head coach or the pressure the fans are giving him and the team. But the pressure of repeating history over again and the results that followed it.

If Iowa (0-2) shall lose on Friday against Bowling Green (1-1), then this will be the third time in Iowa’s history that they lost the first three games of the season.

Last time this happened was the 1920-1921 season. Iowa finished that season 9-10 overall and 6-6 in the Big Ten under head coach James Ashmore. Back then it was good for a sixth place finishing in the conference. At the end of the season, Coach Ashmore was fired after coaching three seasons. His record was 29-28 overall and 17-17 in the Big Ten during his time at Iowa. His best team finished fifth in the Big Ten in his second year.

The only other time Iowa has lost that many games at the beginning of the season was the 1917-1918 season. That year the Hawkeyes lost the first six games of the season. Iowa finished 6-8 overall and 4-6 in the Big Ten for ninth place finish. Iowa’s coach was Maury Kent during that season. He suffered the same fate as Ashmore at the end of the season. Kent coached Iowa for five years. His best finish in the Big Ten was seventh place twice. His five year record at Iowa was 42-36 overall and 10-29 in the Big Ten.

Coach Lickliter is also feeling the pressure of finishing the season with a losing record. There was only one other time in history that Iowa had a losing record for three straight seasons. It was under coach Rollie Williams between 1929 and 1932 seasons. This was also Coach Williams first three seasons. He coached Iowa for 14 years and finished second in the Big Ten once. His teams mostly finished on the bottom half of the conference. He also had seven winning seasons in his 14 years with the Hawkeyes.

The bottom line is that this season as well as future seasons will be horrible unless coach Lickliter can change things around. He really needs to have his first winning season be this season. Lickliter has been focusing on the team’s defensive playing. It goes back to defenses will win the game. I believe this in some sports like football and soccer. In basketball, you need to have good scorers on the team if you want a chance to win.

The Butler coaching style is starting to show why it doesn’t work in the Big Ten. The Big Ten is not the Horizon league.

Currently the Big Ten has six top 25 teams in the nation and is a tougher conference than the Horizon. I don’t see Coach Lickliter staying around much more than a few more seasons before he is replaced.

Iowa (5-2, 9-2) loses their second game of the season to Ohio State (6-1, 9-2) at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio. Ohio State scored a 39 yard field goal in overtime to beat Iowa 27-24. This was an epic nail biter game for both teams. Both teams played with their hearts.

With this win, Ohio State secures their spot at the Rose Bowl even if they lose against Michigan next week. A loss to Michigan will allow another team (Penn State, Iowa, or Wisconsin) to become Co-Champion of the Big Ten.

Iowa stills have a shot in getting an at-large BCS bid. Currently Ohio State, Iowa, and Penn State are ranked in the top 14 in the BCS poll. By the rules, if a conference has three teams that are ranked in the top 14 in the BCS poll, then the BCS selectors has to take two out of the three teams.

Iowa has the lead over Penn State for three reasons. They are as follows.
• Iowa has beaten Penn State 21 -10.
• Iowa is ranked 13th and Pen State is ranked 14th in the BCS poll.
• Penn State lost last week to Ohio State 24-7 as Iowa lost 27-24 in overtime.

THE GAME

Iowa’s offense gained the most overall yards than any other team against the Ohio State’s defense this season. As well as scoring the third most points against Ohio State. Iowa gave up 229 rushing yards while only allowing 94 passing yards.

Redshirt quarterback James Vandenberg went completed 60 percent of his passes for 233 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions. Two of the three interception was from a deflection and a hail mary pass. This was very impressive for being his first start as a college quarterback.

Safety Brett Greenwood and wide receiver Colin Sandeman both played very well in this game for their first game back since injuries. The biggest surprise was having running back Adam Robinson back from his high ankle sprain injury.

THE INJURIES

Quarterback Ricky Stanzi is out for the rest of the season. He is working on returning before the bowl game. His surgery on his ankle was successful.

Running back Brandon Wegher did not play in the Ohio State game. He is battling sore ribs from the Northwestern game.

Linebacker Jeremiha Hunter injured his ankle during the second quarter of Ohio State’s game. He did not play in the second half and is questionable for the Minnesota game this weekend.

NEXT WEEKS GAMES

The Hawkeyes will host Minnesota (3-4, 6-5) on Saturday at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa. This is Iowa’s last chance to try to win 10 games this season as well as keeping their BCS at-large hopes alive. The Hawkeyes are favored to win by 10 points by the odds makers.

Ohio State travels to Michigan (1-6, 5-6) on Saturday. Ohio State will represent the Big ten Conference in the Rose Bowl as Michigan tries to get bowl eligible.