Attention turns to the Illini

Time will tell, but at least it looks to be exciting rather than a boring blowout.
Never understood this take whatsoever.

If you're on the winning end of a blowout there is absolutely nothing boring about it. That's like saying you'd rather beat IL by 3 points on the very last drive.

Blowout wins are the absolute best thing in sports. It's stress-free, and every time you rack the score up and step harder on that team's neck it gets more fun.

I don't know about you, but watching those two TDs and the field goal in the 4th quarter when we were already up big against OSU in '18, and the entire 2017 nebrascka game were the most fun I've had watching sports of any kind in the last 10 years.
 
Never understood this take whatsoever.

If you're on the winning end of a blowout there is absolutely nothing boring about it. That's like saying you'd rather beat IL by 3 points on the very last drive.

Blowout wins are the absolute best thing in sports. It's stress-free, and every time you rack the score up and step harder on that team's neck it gets more fun.

I don't know about you, but watching those two TDs and the field goal in the 4th quarter when we were already up big against OSU in '18, and the entire 2017 nebrascka game were the most fun I've had watching sports of any kind in the last 10 years.
I like the blowouts as well as you do I think. Against Ohio State, twas awesome! I like the comeback wins prolly a little more. You get down, cuss, then the relief of a hard fought W. When Illinois sucks, it's not so fun. Kinda like watching Iowa beat up on Middle Tennessee State. Meh
 
I just got done watching that. I forgot how good a game that was!

Did you happen to notice Rodgers drop backs? It looked very awkward, I didn't pay much attention to it at the time. I used to think Rodgers was the greatest QB.

Man some of those hits Bell took and administered, he was such a beast back then. I hope he didn't suffer any permanent damage.
 
I was a student at Iowa then, and I have kicked myself ever since that game for not making the trip to Champaign, although Keith Jackson's call of the game was awesome itself. Late in the game, Illinois scored a garbage time touchdown on a pass to a receiver named Sean Wax. He celebrated like he had just won the game, and Keith was not impressed, saying something like "son you may have won the battle, but you have definitely lost the war!" In the era of Deion Thomas, that was music to my ears. I think I'm going to have to rewatch that game.
 
Never understood this take whatsoever.

If you're on the winning end of a blowout there is absolutely nothing boring about it. That's like saying you'd rather beat IL by 3 points on the very last drive.

Blowout wins are the absolute best thing in sports. It's stress-free, and every time you rack the score up and step harder on that team's neck it gets more fun.

I don't know about you, but watching those two TDs and the field goal in the 4th quarter when we were already up big against OSU in '18, and the entire 2017 nebrascka game were the most fun I've had watching sports of any kind in the last 10 years.

Last years' holiday bowl was like that too...
 
I was at that game too. And the one in 08 when we lost on a last second FG.
(that was the year we beat SC in the Outback bowl and Illinois finished 5-7)

So, yes, Iowa *can* lose in Champaign. To (on paper) worse Illinois teams.

The south wind off the cattle lots didn't help either.
That was the final time we we lost that season, and the last time we've lost to Illinois.

That was the game where reserve lineman Wes Aeschilman dislocated his hip. It was about as gruesome looking as injuries get.
 
Did you happen to notice Rodgers drop backs? It looked very awkward, I didn't pay much attention to it at the time. I used to think Rodgers was the greatest QB.

Man some of those hits Bell took and administered, he was such a beast back then. I hope he didn't suffer any permanent damage.
I didn't remember Rodgers was all B1G two years in a row. But I recall most of Hayden's qb's had this big drop backs. The reasoning was that it was easier to see the field; kinda like the standup tight ends.

Nick was like a runaway beer truck. Not much stopped him when he got a head of steam.
 
I didn't remember Rodgers was all B1G two years in a row. But I recall most of Hayden's qb's had this big drop backs. The reasoning was that it was easier to see the field; kinda like the standup tight ends.

Nick was like a runaway beer truck. Not much stopped him when he got a head of steam.
My favorite Rodgers memory was in a game early in his career. He faded back in the pocket and dumped it off to a RB or a secondary receiver on 3rd down. When he came off the field, Fry grabbed his face mask and practically tore the helmet off his head, then got in his face and started screaming and pointing downfield....Rodgers had committed a Sin According to Hayden: not looking first at your WR running the deep route. You ALWAYS looked to throw deep first. Always. Am guessing Rodgers never forgot that lessen. My, how things have changed.
 
"My favorite Rodgers memory was in a game early in his career. He faded back in the pocket and dumped it off to a RB or a secondary receiver on 3rd down. When he came off the field, Fry grabbed his face mask and practically tore the helmet off his head, then got in his face and started screaming and pointing downfield....Rodgers had committed a Sin According to Hayden: not looking first at your WR running the deep route. You ALWAYS looked to throw deep first. Always. Am guessing Rodgers never forgot that lessen. My, how things have changed".

Grady that part of your post hits the nail right on the head.
 
Yeah...Keith Jackson was awesome. I remember he was doing a Texas - Oklahoma game and it just starts pouring rain, and Keith says, "Oh Nellie, we have a really gully washer goin' on here". I'm like I don't know what a 'gully washer' is, but it fit the scene.

The thing i noticed about that Iowa - Illinois game in 1990...if they were playing by todays rules, there would have been at least 10 guys disqualified for targeting in the first half. Man, helmet first, high hits on defenseless receivers...that was a man's game.
 
Really apprehensive about the game with Illinois. Too many advantages for Illinois in this game, its a home game for them, two weeks off for their players to recover from their demise of Nebraska, and Iowa coming off a tough game with Nebraska's best shot. And you can't dismiss players looking ahead to the game with Wisconsin the following Saturday.

I'd feel more confident if the QB position for Iowa was better at passing but it is what it is. Any pass completion over 20 yards is questionable. BF needs to realize that right now Petras is not able to throw the deeper ball. I watched a number of games and I believe his problem is not getting enough air under the longer throws. The QB's making the long throws are letting the receiver run under the ball and dropping it into the receiver. The throw to Ragaini was too flat a projectory. Just my opinion.

I expect this to be a close scoring game and Iowa cannot commit turnovers which Illinois has been getting a lot of this year. I just hope the team is ready to play.
agreed. too many x-factors favoring them. Revenge for 63-0 last time there? As a program, they really need this too. Our QB will NOT be able to win a game for us, if he needs to.
 
Nick Bell. 6'3" - 255 lb RB. Literally, one of my favorite 5 Hawkeyes of all time, and I've been attending games for 34 years. LOVED seeing that guy haul the rock and defenders just bouncing off him!
I had him on my Mount Rusnmore of all time Iowa running backs when that poll came out a couple months ago, along with Nile Kinnick, Sedrick Shaw and Shonn Greene.

He may have been the most complete Iowa back of the Fry/Ferentz era. He was as good a receiver as runner, could run inside or outside, and turned pass blocking from a weakness to a strength.
 
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My favorite Rodgers memory was in a game early in his career. He faded back in the pocket and dumped it off to a RB or a secondary receiver on 3rd down. When he came off the field, Fry grabbed his face mask and practically tore the helmet off his head, then got in his face and started screaming and pointing downfield....Rodgers had committed a Sin According to Hayden: not looking first at your WR running the deep route. You ALWAYS looked to throw deep first. Always. Am guessing Rodgers never forgot that lessen. My, how things have changed.
That was at Ohio State and Fry also yanked Rodgers from the game for a couple series and inserted Tom Poholsky.

Ironically Poholsky had the same issue with not looking downfield, which is why he never fully developed at Iowa. His finest moments came as a redshirt freshman when Vlasic missed a month with a shoulder injury. After Vlasic graduated and McGwire transferred he was beat out by Chuck Hartlieb. Poholsky got one last chance as a fifth year senior and was quickly replaced in an Oregon blowout by Rodgers.

Poholsky was a check down artist who would have thrived under Kirk, but played for Hayden. As for Rodgers, it seemed like Fry was always getting in his face. But Fry loved to play him so whatever buttons he was pushing with Matt Rodgers were ones that worked.
 
Yeah...Keith Jackson was awesome. I remember he was doing a Texas - Oklahoma game and it just starts pouring rain, and Keith says, "Oh Nellie, we have a really gully washer goin' on here". I'm like I don't know what a 'gully washer' is, but it fit the scene.

The thing i noticed about that Iowa - Illinois game in 1990...if they were playing by todays rules, there would have been at least 10 guys disqualified for targeting in the first half. Man, helmet first, high hits on defenseless receivers...that was a man's game.
I'll never forget the hit Ohio State’s Troy Peel laid on Deven Harberts in 1988. I was sitting a couple rows behind Iowa’s bench and it sounded like two cars colliding. Today it would have been targeting and Harberts would have been in concussion protocol. In 1988 Harberts simply said he was fine, then caught a long TD pass later in the game.
 

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