Northern Iowa Beats Number One North Carolina

The Northern Iowa Panthers basketball program pulled off one of the biggest wins in school history.  They took down the number one North Carolina Tar Heels at home by a score of 71-67.  Of course, this isn't the first time they've shocked the world.  In 2010, the Panthers pulled off perhaps one of the biggest upsets in the Tournament's history.  Everyone picked the number one overall seed Kansas Jayhawks to win it all.  They never game eight seed UNLV or nine seed UNI a chance.  But UNI was under seeded by at least four seed lines, and Ali Farokhmanesh hit an unbelievable three pointer with about thirty seconds left in the game, and UNI won 69-67 to advance to the Sweet 16 where they later lost to Tom Izzo and number five seed Michigan State.
In the Kansas, game the Panthers got up by double-digits early, and held off a late surge by the Jayhawks at the end, this went the complete opposite way.  The Tar Heels got up early, as they held a 41-32 lead at halftime.  So, the Panthers had stayed in it, and you'd think that since the Tar Heels were the number one team in the land, that they'd pull away.  And, it sure did look like the Tar Heels were going to pull away easily.  They got up by sixteen points, and it sure looked like this ballgame was over. But, something clicked for the Panthers and the switched was flipped.  They had an outburst.  They had a 29-8 scoring run where they totally dominated the Tar Heels.  They took their first lead of the game at 63-58, and it was within five points the rest of the game.
With about twenty seconds in the game, the Tar Heels took it out at half court with about twenty seconds left after a Panther foul down three.  They got an offensive rebound after a missed three pointer, but the Heels cross-court pass was picked off by Jeremy Morgan, which pretty much ended the game, and the Panthers made one free throw after being  fouled, and that was it, the Panthers did it.
The Panthers got 21points from Wes Washpun, 19 from Matt Bohannon, whose three pointer gave them the lead for good, 14 points from Paul Jesperson, and got their lead from a Wyatt Lohaus bucket, a big one for the sophomore.
 It was played for former Linn-Mar Lion player Marcus Paige, his homecoming game, a North Carolina tradition in a star's senior season, who could not play because of a broken hand suffered in practice.  His loss showed, as the Tar Heels got flat out dominated in the second half, and forced zero turnovers against the Northern Iowa Panthers in the second half.
 

Northern Iowa Football Makes FCS Playoffs

It was a great weekend for Northern Iowa Panther athletics.  On Saturday, the Panther basketball team upset the number one team in the country, the North Carolina Tar Heels.  The Tar Heels came for Marcus Paige as his homecoming game, a great tradition for North Carolina Basketball started by Dean Smith and continued on by head coach Roy Williams.  Paige is a senior from Linn-Mar High School in Marion, but broke his hand and could not play.
But, I'm digressing a little.  The Panther football team beat the now 3-8 Southern Illinois Salukis by a score of 49-28.  With that win, the Panthers were a 7-4 football team. A 7-4 record is usually a pretty 50-50 proposition to advance into the field of 24 with 14 at-large bids.  But, playing in the Missouri Valley Football Conference, or just the MVFC, the toughest conference by far on the FCS level, almost guarantees that a 7-4 team will get in.  The schedule the Panthers played also helped them a ton, and gave them their second straight at-large bid.  Their losses included @ Iowa State, @ #3 seed North Dakota State, @ #2 seed Illinois State , and Western Illinois.  All three FCS teams made it into the Playoffs, and Iowa State is an FBS schools.  They had wins against Eastern Washington, Cal Poly, and the big one was an ugly 10-7 victory at South Dakota State.  So they didn't have any eye-popping wins, only one against a playoff team (SDSU), but they also beat who they needed to.
So now they will face the Eastern Illinois Panthers, and they earned home field advantage.  The EIU Panthers were one of the last four teams in, as they were 7-4 from the Ohio Valley Conference, or the OVC.  The EIU Panthers have been a familiar team in the FCS Playoffs scene, but are best known for being the team that Dallas Cowboys quarterback and undrafted free agent Tony Romo.  Last week, they forced seven turnovers and beat the Eastern Kentucky Colonials at home 21-7 in a virtual play-in game.  The OVC only produced two playoff teams this year, but the other one is the Jacksonville State Gamecocks, who went 10-1 and pushed the SEC's Auburn Tigers to overtime, where they suffered their only loss of the season.  So, basically their record is 10-0.  The Gamecocks were number one almost the whole season, replacing the Bison from North Dakota State after they lost to Montana.  The OVC only had four winning records, and an 0-11 Austin Peay Governors team.  The MVFC had five, and Missouri State was an awful one win team.
The biggest controversy was the 6-5 Western Illinois Leathernecks getting in over a 7-4 North Dakota or a 9-2 Bethune- Cookman team from the non-automatic MEAC conference.  But, WIU had a lost at FBS Illinois, so they were really 6-4.  With the tough schedule and wins such as at Northern Iowa, the Leathernecks deserved a bid in my opinion.
Another story line was The Citadel.  They beat the SEC East's South Carolina Gamecocks last week, and I think that put them in for sure.

Hawkeyes, Tigers Stay Unbeaten as Buckeyes, Cowboys fall

Another week of college football meant another week of crazy gamed.  At this point in the season, there are only two undefeated teams in the FBS.  The 11-0 Iowa Hawkeyes and the 11-0 Clemson Tigers.  Both teams had easy wins over bad teams at home to Purdue and Wake Forest respectively.
The two other undefeated teams, Ohio State and Houston fell to 10-1.  Houston was never in the playoff consideration, as playing in the AAC is a big disadvantage.  They got beat 20 to 17 on the road at Uconn.
Ohio State lost to number nine Michigan State at home on a last second field goal by Michael Geiger 17-14.  Ohio State faced a lot of controversial issues after the game, mainly from their play calling.  They only got Heisman contender Ezekiel Elliott twelve carries the whole game.  I was cheering against the Buckeyes, and I thought it was just awful playcalling.  Elliot didn't hold back on his post-game comments.  He said there's no way that he is coming back, and that the coaching staff didn't put them in a position to win.  Ever since they lost offensive coordinator Tom Herman for the head coaching job at the now 10-1 Houston Cougars.  Nothing clicked all year, and their repeating as champions is almost over.
Iowa has established themselves as the top team right now as the top team in the Big Ten.  They are also third in the Amway Coaches' Poll at number three, and got a first place vote for the first time, in well, a long time.  Iowa should be in the top four come Tuesday and maybe even number three, hopping Notre Dame.  The Hawkeyes clinched the Big Ten West, and have to beat Nebraska and probably Michigan State in the Championship to get into the Playoffs.  If they go 12-1, they will most likely go to the Granddaddy of them all, the Rose Bowl against the Pac-12 champions.  The Iowa Hawkeyes are in a good spot.

Peyton Manning Benched

It finally happened.  The Denver Broncos finally benched Peyton Manning.  Yes, benching an all-time great such as Peyton Manning, was a good decision for the Broncos to be put in a better position to win games. 
Manning has gotten up there in age.  He is thirty-nine, and his age has really showed here in the last couple of years.  Last year, he was sailing passes over receivers heads in December and in the AFC Divisional Game against his former team, the Colts.  The offense this year has really struggled, and, in fact, most of the points that they had scored came off of defensive and/or special teams scores.  The main problem was Manning. He now has a noodle arm.  Last year, his old arm got tired, and the main reason for his troubles.  He is no longer an elite quarterback in the League, and I'm not even sure he can be a viable starter in the NFL.  In a day where he became the NFL's all-time leader in passing yards after needing three coming in (now ahead of Brett Favre), he might have had his all-time worst performance
Today, against a divisional rival, the Kansas City Chiefs, Manning threw four picks, before he got benched in favor of Brock Osweiler, the quarterback from Arizona State.  For the record not that it matters at all, but on my bench in fantasy football, he scored -7 points. Of course, Roethlisberger came in and got at least 30 points.  But, Manning does not look good out there.  He looks like a man that shouldn't be in the NFL anymore.
I'm not entirely sure that this is a fore sure benching, but it is still a huge deal.  Osweiler might take over as the full-time starter, or maybe they thought that the game was a fluke.  Or, Manning was hurt, and head coach Gary Kubiak was just trying to take him out to prevent Manning from getting hurt even more.
Me, personally, I would take him out for good.  I think that Brock Osweiler would give the Broncos the best shot to win.  He's young, and he's been in Denver for a decent amount of time, so their should be a great level of confidence in him with the offense, and getting his chemistry down with his receivers.  As a Steelers fan, I wouldn't mind facing a Manning lead team in the Playoffs.
The next question is, does Manning retire after the season?  This was a question going around last year, which turned out to be an easy decision for him to come back.  But, I think he finally hangs up the cleats after this year, and goes easily into the Hall of Fame.  He's won five MVP's, and broke numerous records, so there's no question he's a first ballot selection. He has had all types of problems winning in the Playoffs, and only going `1-2 in Super Bowls.  That will hurt him in the conversation for the best quarterback of all-time.  Either way, it's been a great honoer to watch him play, and the NFL will certainly miss his presence.

Hawkeye Basketball Tips Off

Another year of Iowa Hawkeye basketball started on Friday.  This season starting hasn't been talked about much, because of Iowa's football team starting 10-0 and being ranked as the number five team in the nation.
But, the Iowa basketball team is off to a fast start, at 2-0.  Of course, they haven't played anybody. But, that's all right, because it is only the first weekend, and it's a good time to get it sorted out with a young team like the Hawkeyes. On Friday, the Hawkeyes tipped off against a good one-bid league team, the Big South's Gardner-Webb Runnin' Bulldogs.  The Hawkeyes won that game 76-59.  Today's game was not that close.  The Hawkeyes played the Coppin State Eagles from the Mid Eastern Athletic Conference, another one-bid league.  The Hawkeyes started on a 22-2 run, and they never looked back.  Iowa was ahead 52-22 at halftime, and they won 103 to 68.  It was a fast paced game that took less than an hour and forty-five minutes to complete.
But, it gets tougher on Thursday, as the Hawkeyes will head up to Milwaukee to face off against the Marquette Golden Eagles.  The Eagles are coming off of a very tough season after their coach, Buzz Williams left to coach at Virginia Tech. They are in full rebuild mode, but have a great recruiting class that they got for the 2015 class that will present a tough challenge for the Hawkeyes. But, with young talent comes growing pains, as the Golden Eagles suffered a home loss to the Belmont Bruins from the Ohio Valley Conference 83-80.  This is the first year of the Gavitt Tip Off Games, games that will be played in the non-conference portion of the schedule between a Big Ten and a Big East team.  It is named to remember and honor former Providence athletic director and the first ever commissioner of the Big East Conference, Dale Gavitt.
Then, with their first two games of the season being the pregames, the Hawkeyes will fly down to Orlando to play in the Advocare Invitational against Dayton.  They will then play against either Notre Dame or Monmouth.  They could also meet up against Wichita State, a top 25 ranked team.
They also will play at top 10 in-state rival Iowa State.
At least Iowa got through without getting upset in a crazy opening weekend, such as Wisconsin getting beat by Western Illinois, Illinois by North Florida, and former Iowa coach's Steve Alford UCLA getting beat by Monmouth.  The road to March is just starting.
   

Iowa Moves Up to Number Five

The second batch of the College Football Playoff rankings came out this Tuesday, and the rankings  did not disappoint Hawkeye fans.
The top four this week was Clemson at number one, Alabama at number two, Ohio State in the three spot, and Notre Dame at number four rounding out the final four.  So no surprises there at all in the slightest.  But the real surprise was the Iowa Hawkeyes at number five.
The Hawkeyes jumped all the way from the ninth spot to their first top five ranking since the 2009 Orange Bowl, season, the last and only other time that the Hawkeyes were 9-0.  The move up shows just how much respect that the Committee has for the Hawkeyes.  As the Chair, Arkansas AD Jeff Long said, the Hawkeyes don't have an explosive offense, such as Big 12 teams Baylor and Oklahoma State, they are just plain consistent.  They don't commit very many penalties or turn the ball over.  It's not sexy, but week in and week out, they have taken care of business and won football games to remain undefeated.
Rounding out the rest of the top ten is Baylor, Stanford, Oklahoma State, LSU, and Utah.  Five through eight was where the Committee spent most of their time deliberating according to Long, and is a crap shoot.  The thing that sets the Hawkeyes apart is their two top 25 wins, both on the road at 18 Northwestern and at 25 Wisconsin.  The Hawkeyes, along with Notre Dame, are the only two teams that can claim two top 25 wins, but the Hawkeyes wins both came on the road.
Iowa is put ahead of Baylor because Baylor hasn't played anybody.  Baylor hasn't played a team with a winning record the whole year, while Iowa has played five.  Oklahoma State moved up from 14 to 8, but should not be in the top 4, because they beat number eight at home.  So they shouldn't move up eleven spots, even though it was in blowout fashion.  Iowa is ahead of  Stanford, in part because they beat Northwestern by thirty on the road, while Stanford lost and looked terrible at Ryan Field.  No, it being played at 9:00 Am Western Time isn't an excuse.
Things change from week to week, but, by the rankings, it seems if Ohio State and Iowa were to meet in the Big Ten Championship, it would be a de facto play-in-game for a Semifinal spot.  Even though a lot of people hate the Hawkeyes because they think they're not good, such as Colin Cowherd and Paul Finebaum.  The Committee like the Hawkeyes, and that's the opinion that matters.

Undefeateds Fall in College Football

It was a wild week in the world of college football.  After the first rankings were released by the Committee last Tuesday, we saw were they thought the top teams were positioned at.  Well, the rankings will see a shakeup after this week.

The first upset of a top ten team was Oklahoma State over TCU.  Oklahoma State didn’t just win, they absolutely demolished the eighth ranked Horned Frogs.  So now, TCU’s playoff chances are almost over, depending how far they drop after receiving a good beat down from number 14 Oklahoma State.  A big question now is, how far does Okie State rise after this?  Do they hop teams such as the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Stanford Cardinal?  I say that for sure they hop into the Top Ten, but I have no idea how far up they will go.

The Navy Midshipmen beat the 13^th ranked and undefeated Memphis Tigers.  I don’t think that Memphis had a shot to make it into the Playoffs, but they for sure had the best shot to get into a New Year selection committee bowl.  But, instead the Midshipmen will probably end up ranked in the Top 25 and having a shot at a really good bowl game.

Lastly, the #2 ranked LSU Tigers lost on the road to one-loss SEC West rival Alabama by a score of 30-14.  LSU just got plain outplayed by the Crimson Tide, who will most likely get a trip to Atlanta with a game against Florida, which, if the Tide win, will clinch them a playoff berth.  LSU, meanwhile is in a tough spot.  They will drop, and I don’t think they will have a shot to get in unless Alabama somehow loses in the regular season.  Leonard Fournette and company look to be headed for a Committee Bowl Game.

Injury Bug Strikes Again for Steelers

It happened again.  Again, the Pittsburgh Steelers have an injured skill player.  This time, for the second time this season, Steelers fans watched quarterback Ben Roethlisberger lay on the ground in pain after a sack by Aldon Smith.  At first, it was thought to be that knee he hurt week 3 against the St. Louis Rams.  But, it was foot on the other leg. 

When it was showed on the replay, his foot did not look good.  He could not put any weight on the injured foot.  The worst was feared.  Could it be his Achilles? If he tore it just like Steve Smith Sr. did the week before, he season would for sure be over.  If Roethlisberger’s season was over, the Steeler season would be over.  There is no way they could win a Wild Card berth with Landry Jones under center with Le’Veon Bell already being out for the season.

He was sent to local hospital right away for an MRI, so it sounded bad.  But, a few hours later, ESPN’s Adam Schefter got word that it was only a sprained foot, and that he should only miss a few weeks.  So again, for the second time this season, Big Ben and the Steelers caught a humongous break.  The MCL sprain looked for sure like it would be an ACL tear, and this one looked like it might be a season ender.

 I can’t remember a team having such bad luck with injuries as this Steeler team has this year.  Of course, I’m pretty young at 16, but still.  They lost All-Pro center Maurkice Pouncey in the preseason and it looks like his season is probably done.  Then, Roethlisberger gets hurt in Week 3 against the Rams and missed four games.   Then, they lose tackle Kelvin Beachum to an ACL tear in Week 6 against the Arizona Cardinals.  Then, as soon as Ben gets back, they lose All-Pro running back Le’Veon Bell to a brutal MCL tear.  Then, of course, Roethlisberger hurts his foot his second game back against the Oakland Raiders.  They have also lost defenders for some games, such as linebacker Ryan Shazier.   Second round pick, cornerback Senquez Golston, didn’t see a snap before getting ruled out for the season.  Safety Will Allen came back finally after getting hurt Week 5 on Monday Night Football at the San Diego Chargers.

It is just sort of unfair.  Coming into this season, the Steelers were expected to have the best offense in the league.  With the best running back in the league, the best receiver, a rising star at receiver, and an elite quarterback, how could you think otherwise?  But that combo of Bell, Antonio Brown, Martavis Bryant, and Roethlisberger only were all on the field together for 16 total snaps the whole season due to suspension and injuries. 

But yet, with all of that talent being hurt or suspended, the Steelers are still 5-4 and currently hold onto the second Wild Card spot in the AFC.   They just beat the now 4-4 Raiders, so they own a .5 game lead and the head-to-head tiebreaker.  With how weak the AFC and the NFL in general is, 9-7 could easily get you into the Playoffs.  The Steelers have the toughest schedule in the NFL, and the toughest part comes after the Week 11 bye

Coming up, the Steelers have the Cleveland Browns coming to town for a one o’clock battle in Pittsburgh to cap off the three game home stand for the Steelers.   Although Landry Jones will be under center for the Steelers, this is one that the Steelers should still win this football game against Johnny Manziel and the tough defense of the Browns.  Then, the Steelers have a timely bye to see if they can get Roethlisberger healthy for a showdown at the Seattle Seahawks and their intimidating home.

Iowa Basketball loses to Augustana

It wasn't a good Friday night for the Iowa Basketball team.  It was their second scrimmage before the season opener next Friday.  They won last week, as expected, against Division Two Sioux Falls.  But, this second scrimmage did not end the same way.
It was going to be a tough game for sure, as their competition was Augustana (SD) Nobody knew much about them coming in.  But, they are the number one team in Division Two Basketball.  So, it should've been close, which it was. 
Iowa was playing catch-up the whole game.  They were down 36-41 at halftime.  So they were in a good spot to come back and win as expected.  But, it got worse from there. With 14 minutes left in the game, the Hawkeyes were down 46 to 61.
But, it got better from that point on.  Iowa got on a 16-5 run, and with 5:24 left got to within four at 62-66.  Then, with Iowa down three with eleven seconds left, Junior guard Peter Jok hit a three pointer that tied the score at 74.
So, the Vikings had the last shot in the game.  Then, Dan Jensen hit a great fade away jumper over Senior center Adam Woodbury for the Vikings win, 76-74
This isn't good, but it's not time to panic.  The record is still 0-0, and it was just a glorified practice.  Fran was trying to get everybody reps, and they wouldn't go as deep on the bench as they did Friday.
Also, remember this.  Michigan State lost last year to a 1-8 Texas Southern team in OT.  They, of course, made it to the Final Four.  
Iowa starts play for real on Friday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena against the Gardner-Webb Bulldogs at 8:30 CST on ESPN3.

Steve Smith Sr. Tears Achilles, Is His Career Over?

Sunday was a brutal week for injuries in the NFL. But the two biggest were two star players from the AFC North whose seasons were ended. The first one was Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le'Veon Bell, who severely tore his MCL(More on that later this week).  The other being a torn Achilles for Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Steve Smith Sr.
Coming into this season, Smith Sr. said this would be his final year.  Now, the question is, does Smith Sr. come back for one last year since this one got ended halfway through the season?
I bet that Smith Sr. will seriously consider it.  I, for one, think that he will play next season.  I don't think that the fierce competitor inside Smith Sr. will make this decision easier.
I also think that either way, he should be in the Hall of Fame in Canyon, Ohio.  He joined the top ten in receiving yards in the game before he got hurt, and was a star for all those years as a Carolina Panther, and showed he was not too old after the Panthers released him as a Baltimore Ravens.  He will go down as a great player to watch compete and as a top receiver of his generation.

First Playoff Committee Rankings Come Out Tuesday

Finally, we are at that point in the college football season where we have the first Committee Poll come out on Tuesday.  The question is, how much different will the Poll be from the AP and Coaches' Polls.  The two polls are quite similar. There is only one team in the AP's Top 10 that is different than the Coaches' Top 10, which is Iowa, who is ranked number 10 in the AP and 11th in the Coaches'. There are minor differences like Clemson being ranked third in the Ap and fifth in the Coaches'.
I don't think that there should be many differences, but an interesting team to watch is the Iowa Hawkeyes.  For some reason,  the talking heads at ESPN and SEC fans and whoever else has no idea what they're talking about when it comes to Iowa.  They keep bringing up their schedule as a bad thing, but it's actually the opposite.  In fact, they have the third toughest schedule within all the unbeatens in the FBS.  I think for now, their schedule thus far will help them in the rankings, but in the long run with their remaining schedule, it could hurt them.  SOS is a big point for the Committee, so that will be interesting to see how that folds out.
For me, this is my top four.  At number one, the Ohio State Buckeyes.  At number two, the Baylor Bears.  At number three, the Clemson Tigers.  And, at number four, the Louisiana State Tigers.  My next two teams would be the Texas Christian Horned Frogs and the Michigan State Spartans.
Now, I have no idea what the Committee will do, but that's what I think it will be in my opinion.  So my top ten would be OSU, Baylor, Clemson, LSU, TCU, MSU, the Alabama Crimson Tide, the Iowa Hawkeyes, the Stanford Cardinal and then the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at number 10.
But, I think the Committee will put Iowa at number ten, Stanford at nine, and Notre Dame at eight, and keeping Alabama at seven.
The real poll will be released on Tuesday, and after that, every other poll means absolutely nothing.  It will come out Tuesday on ESPN at 7:00 EST