Iowa Hawkeyes - Room for Improvement

With all but a couple of the college football week one games in the books it’s time to break one of the games down. The game I was most excited for was most certainly the Iowa Hawkeyes playing the team with the NCAA longest active win streak, the Northern Illinois Huskies. I was excited for this game for a couple of reasons. Reason one being they are my favorite college team and reason two begin the amount of uncertainty that was swirling around the Hawkeyes.

                The biggest question mark for the hawks was by far their running game. With Marcus Coker leaving the team, Mika’il McCall breaking his ankle and leaving the team, De’andre Johnson being dismissed from the team, Jordan Canzeri tearing his ACL, and the same with Barkley hill this left Iowa with just about one option: Sophomore Damon Bullock. As just a sophomore no one really knew if he could carry the weight to the team on his back, but boy did he ever. With 150 rushing yards including a game winning touchdown, Bulllock was a huge relief. However some other areas of the team are still a concern. With a new offensive line coach, it was clear from the get go that the Hawkeyes do not seem as strong as we have been in the past. Often times senior Quarterback James Vandenberg made mental mistakes that could have been corrected but he was given little to no time to throw. Beyond that, Iowa’s new offensive coordinator Greg Davis did an alright job. It was nice to see the Hawkeyes a bit more aggressive in 4^th down situations as well as at the end of the half. I would have like to have seen more passing by Vandenberg, but that is hard to do with what seemed to be a poor effort by the offensive line.

                Some positives that came out of the game would be the Hawkeye defense. With analysts saying their defense wouldn’t be too great under the new management of Phil Parker, they did a fine job given it being the first game of the year. With only a few miscues on pass coverage and a few missed blocks, the defense held to their roots and held the huskies to just enough points, and made big stops when the team needed them the most. It is also good to see junior kicker Mike Meyers start to improve. He made 4 of his 5 field goals during the game and each one holding a large amount of importance, he did a fine job and was the team leading scorer. Of course the biggest positive was that Iowa came through late in the fourth quarter with about 2 minutes left to score their only touchdown of the game. A win is a win in my books, may have been ugly, but at least there is plenty of room to improve. (WC 487)

Who I Am

To understand my life, you must understand football. My life is like a game, there is a mix of emotions jam packed into one four hour time period. A week is like a season, filled with ups and downs. Everything can be going my way, everyone on my side; then I fumble and what I had has gone the other direction. At times it is as if I am in the middle of an undefeated season, and I end up winning the super bowl. Other times I can be on a 12 game losing streak where a completed pass could brighten the day. However lately I would describe myself as yard marker, just absent mindedly watching from the sidelines, nothing going wrong, just peacefully, calmly, waiting, for the next time I will have to make a move.

I am the coach to call a timeout to ice the kicker right before the opposing team kicks a crucial field goal. However, I am also the guy who when getting shoved after the paly, doesn’t shove back. I would be the one to say “go for it!” when it is 4^th down and 3 yards to go on the 40 yard line, and I’d also be the guy to come up half an inch short of the 1^st down. Being in the middle of the play is something I could only dream about, and would love to be in that position. Being the quarterback would be the best fit for me. Leading the team every drive and making crucial decisions when the game is on the line. Those are the situations I live for. I don’t want to be recognized as the most valuable player; I just want to make a huge contribution to the team and not be recognized. I am like the upsets that happen. I lie low waiting for the perfect time to bring my A-game and then I surprise the world. Not everything comes easy; I have to work for everything. To understand my life, you must understand football. (WC 341)

Football Season Bearing Down

With the college football and professional football seasons bearing down upon us, there is a lot of hype surrounding them. There is more than you think riding on the first game. What will the jerseys look like, how will our defense be, who’s going to be the team MVP this  year, will we make a bowl game, how will our quarterback fair against one of the best defenses in the league? Those are all questions swirling around any football addicts head. There is so much uncertainty before that day. No one really knows what the team has to offer until they perform in a game. According to tvbythenumbers.com an average of 60% of football watchers spend between 6 and 10 hours watching football per weekend. Now this may seem like a lot, but that averages out to about two or three games in a weekend. 

                For some people football is what they live for. Every Saturday consists of them going to the stadium hours before the gates open to tail gate and have a great time before the game begins. Often going to a game is an all-day event that some avid fans do every Saturday or Sunday for over three months. Many women just, “don’t get it” and get very irritated with this addiction many men have. However, according to tvbythenumbers.com 55% of women are found plopped on the couch every weekend engaged in just about any game there is on television…just like the 73% of men that do the same. For me, football is a chance to take a break from whatever is going on and experience countless emotions run through my body. One game can cause us to feel happy, stressed, excited, mad, scared, hopeless, cheerful, or even anxious. You never know going into a game what you will feel like, or how it will turn out which is one reason so many people are engaged in the sport.

                This coming weekend an estimated 11 million people will be tuned in to just one game alone. That number is mind boggling to think about. These players are either in college or young adults and they have about 20% of the nation watching them; talk about performing under pressure. With one missed play, or one bad snap a player could lose the support of many fans. It is unfortunate that us as fans aren’t more accepting of these mistakes, but when it comes to college and professional football; we expect the best. (WC 410)