Tracer Bullet

Hopefully it will inspire your fans to rush out and actually make your stadium 1/2 full for your last home game. Do I smell 25,000? Eh, what does it matter. We're somehow never going to beat Northwestern again. Low blow, but I saw it coming. Good to know I was spot-on about Hawkeye fans using the "If we had X player..." excuse, just as they used it for Greene last season. Injury excuses don't really count when the team that beats you causes the injury. that makes no sense Which part doesn't make sense? If you want to argue that injury excuses are always crap, you could make that argument. By why does it hinge on whether the current opponent caused the injury?

Hopefully it will inspire your fans to rush out and actually make your stadium 1/2 full for your last home game. Do I smell 25,000? Eh, what does it matter. We're somehow never going to beat Northwestern again. Low blow, but I saw it coming. Good to know I was spot-on about Hawkeye fans using the "If we had X player..." excuse, just as they used it for Greene last season. Injury excuses don't really count when the team that beats you causes the injury. that makes no sense

What, does the truth hurt Truf? If you can't attack the message, attack the messenger. whose truth?

seems like between MLB and CFB there have been a ton of bad calls this year. Are the refs getting worse or is technology just making the bad calls that obvious to the fans.

struggling with the decision to give that ball to navy when the whistle was blown before the ball had been picked up by anyone.

where was the defender that caused the UM returner to trip which resulted in the penalty?

I didn't see the roughing call or hold, but if a ball carrier can draw a personal foul by lowering his helmet and charging a defender we might as well cancel the sport they've been calling questionable hits when the defender lowers his head all season. it's not like this is a new thing that they just did this game. doesn't really matter if you agree with the overall rule, it's been strictly applied this year.

I have to say this is hilarious. No one seemed to care about the BS roughing the passer call on Iowa or the BS holding call that negated a TD. But one questionable call in Iowa's favor and you all jump on the refs. how do you all feel about the refs not reviewing that one? I assume you're all pissed at the injustice.

holding? of course unimpressed by the Referee today.

What's the beef against Boise? Just rooting for the underdog and don't think Boise deserves to be ranked in the top 10. They had one good win against Oregon to start the season and haven't played a good team since. While you're not wrong, that one good win came against what may be the best team in the nation right now (yeah, I said it). Ignoring where they are now, Oregon by no means was the best team in the country in September.

The first game of the year? After what they did to Oregon, teams are going to be even less likely to play them to start the year. Most teams are much better in November than they were in September, so I can't blame any team for not taking that game. If you're a contender, there is absolutely no upside to it.

Yes, he did. Of course, you have to have a quality arm and be able to read defensive backfields to run a pro-style offense though. Two things he can't do. why is everyone so sure that Pryor is a moron and can't read defenses? He sure isn't performing well at OSU, no question. But he's also just a sophomore, running an offense that's relatively new to him and OSU doesn't seem to know how to use him well. Is he failing out of classes or was he getting like a 1.8 in HS or something? Why are so many people positive that he's stupid?

didn't Pryor pick OSU b/c he wanted to run a pro-style offense to improve his chances of success in the NFL?

or those are 2 different groups of posters or nobody said he'd be an idiot for getting hermida at all Plenty of people have been saying that Hermida is not that good. He's a decent insurance policy but he shouldn't be counted on as a savior. And no one in here has said he's a savior and that he'll single-handedly carry the Sox to the WS next year. I don't recall any of the people praising this move for Epstein saying elsewhere that Hendry would be an idiot for getting Hermida for very little. Hermida would have been a great insurance policy for us too.

Coach Cut is doing a heluva job there. Yeah he is. The old joke was that he relied on having a Manning to succeed wherever he went. I guess that isn't the case anymore. I wasn't happy when triple bypass caused him to step down at ND. Would have loved to have him back.

would be funnier if the press didn't look like a 5 year old boy

Think Jimmy's actually hurt seriously? I was under the impression he could have played if he needed to, but up 23 there was no reason to keep him out there. Michael Floyd should be back this week, thank God. It's odd that in a year where two ND players are receiving some attention for Heisman votes, we're finally getting back a guy who might be better than both. I'm not sure how hurt Clausen was or is. I'm positive he'll start and play at least half the game. But I'm hoping the defense can play assignment football, we can get up a couple scores early and Sharpley or the Wildcat can take over in the 2nd half. I don't think Clausen was as hurt as he was against PU when he had to play to lead the comeback. But he was hobbling pretty bad. I'm not sure I want Floyd back yet. Unless it's solely to get timing back, he doesn't need to see the field against Navy. No reason to bring him back early and have him re-injure his shoulder and miss the biggest remaining game on the schedule (Pitt). I think/hope we'll see a lot of Hughes or Allen, if he's healthy, and some deep passes to Tate and Goodman early and win this one going away. Navy is no WSU, but they shouldn't be able to keep up with ND's size and speed. I miss Floyd. I'm excited to see him back. I wouldn't expect him to play much though, like you said. Just get him out there and warm him up for Pitt when ND's really going to need him. Navy shouldn't be a problem at all - ND's been relatively good against the run and hideous against the pass, and the Middies can't pass. This will be my 3rd and last game at the stadium this year and I look forward to a nice easy one (hopefully). How long does it take to recover from ACL surgery? Damnit

Think Jimmy's actually hurt seriously? I was under the impression he could have played if he needed to, but up 23 there was no reason to keep him out there. Michael Floyd should be back this week, thank God. It's odd that in a year where two ND players are receiving some attention for Heisman votes, we're finally getting back a guy who might be better than both. I'm not sure how hurt Clausen was or is. I'm positive he'll start and play at least half the game. But I'm hoping the defense can play assignment football, we can get up a couple scores early and Sharpley or the Wildcat can take over in the 2nd half. I don't think Clausen was as hurt as he was against PU when he had to play to lead the comeback. But he was hobbling pretty bad. I'm not sure I want Floyd back yet. Unless it's solely to get timing back, he doesn't need to see the field against Navy. No reason to bring him back early and have him re-injure his shoulder and miss the biggest remaining game on the schedule (Pitt). I think/hope we'll see a lot of Hughes or Allen, if he's healthy, and some deep passes to Tate and Goodman early and win this one going away. Navy is no WSU, but they shouldn't be able to keep up with ND's size and speed.

With 2 injured QBs, here's hoping for a whole lot of wildcat this weekend. Run Golden Run.

that's because the other six undefeated teams haven't played 9 games yet. not necessarily. though unlikely in some cases, any of those teams could lose next week. and they've all had a bye.

so they made mistakes but still beat a vastly inferior team by 18. They're still the only team in the country with 9 wins.

come on. they trailed by more than a touchdown going into the fourth quarter. part of the margin of victory was an interception returned 90 yards for a touchdown after the ball bounced off of 30 players, and indiana also got jobbed out of 7 points by a terrible review ruling. in addition to that they needed indiana to completely choke and then give up to win by that margin. so fumble/INT returns shouldn't count in the final score? b/c that's going to turn a few of Iowa's nailbiters into bigger wins (Arkansas State had a 75 yard pick 6, UM had a pick 6, probably others). Iowa's defense causes TOs. Why is that a bad thing for Iowa? The overturned TD may or may not have been a TD. I didn't see a replay that showed convincingly that he was in. I can certainly see why the replay guys thought his leg landed out at the same time the foot landed in. It was a close play. Playing the what if game with the most recent victory while not looking in detail at all the other games is sort of a load of crap though. Stanzi had a crappy 3rd Qtr and a very good 4th Qtr. Indiana's not a great team. They have some talent, but they have a lot of flaws. Shouldn't be surprising that as the game goes on, the better team is going to pull away. With the obvious exception of points scored in "garbage time" when both teams have scrubs in, it's surprising to me that 4th Qtr points are somehow less valuable in your opinion than points scored earlier in the game. They won by 18. It wasn't a nail-biter.

this is ridiculous. ok you honestly don't see why Iowa fans would care about the respect their team is given? They have one really challenging game standing between them and an undefeated season, but a lack of respect is likely going to cost them a chance to play for a national title. ETA: even if they beat OSU convincingly, they probably won't jump Texas or the SEC champ. When's the last time an 8-0 Big Ten team was behind an undefeated MAC team in the polls? Or behind both an undefeated MAC and undefeated MWC team in the coaches poll? they're behind a MAC team? i must be looking a different poll than you are. (i'm assuming you meant WAC) here's the thing, though. a lot of the board's iowa fans are smart enough to know that "knowing how to win" is bogus and margin of victory matters. yes, florida and alabama have each had a close shave, but those have come against teams that are fairly good (arkansas, tennessee), not sun belt and i-aa teams. and iowa has been doing it nearly every game. clearly iowa is a good team and they're 9-0, but it's also hard for anybody to rank them ahead of teams like texas, alabama and florida who are winning easily most weeks against similar competition while iowa is winning nailbiters every week. Yes, WAC. And Iowa is doing it with a mediocre QB and their #4 RB. They had a nail biter against UNI, no doubt. Arkansas State was close, but they didn't really have a good chance to win (down 3 with less than 20 seconds to go at your own 20 yard line isn't a "good chance" to win). UM was a "nail-biter" and they won on a last minute drive at MSU at night. But they blew out ISU and beat a now-top 20 Arizona team, a then-top 5 PSU (on the road), and a now top-25 Wisconsin team (again, on the road) all by 2 scores or more. Then they destroyed Indiana (yes, 42-24 is a big margin). Iowa doesn't have a great offense. They're going to struggle to put up 30 points in any game. But they have a great defense that gets better as the game goes on. They aren't going to blow a lot of teams out b/c their QB isn't good and they're this close to pulling a student out of the stands to play RB. I think it's interesting that they beat "good" opponents by more than they beat "bad" teams. Gives me hope that they'll show up to OSU and beat them soundly to move into the title discussion.

this is ridiculous. ok you honestly don't see why Iowa fans would care about the respect their team is given? They have one really challenging game standing between them and an undefeated season, but a lack of respect is likely going to cost them a chance to play for a national title. ETA: even if they beat OSU convincingly, they probably won't jump Texas or the SEC champ. When's the last time an 8-0 Big Ten team was behind an undefeated MAC team in the polls? Or behind both an undefeated MAC and undefeated MWC team in the coaches poll? To further illustrate - undefeated Iowa was jumped by a 1-loss Oregon team. Iowa might jump back if they beat OSU, but that's not guaranteed. Thankfully, respect doesn't play a part in what bowl each team ends up in.

this is ridiculous. ok you honestly don't see why Iowa fans would care about the respect their team is given? They have one really challenging game standing between them and an undefeated season, but a lack of respect is likely going to cost them a chance to play for a national title. ETA: even if they beat OSU convincingly, they probably won't jump Texas or the SEC champ. When's the last time an 8-0 Big Ten team was behind an undefeated MAC team in the polls? Or behind both an undefeated MAC and undefeated MWC team in the coaches poll?